Hammdidullah

Hammdidullah is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] American counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1973, in Sarpolad, Afghanistan and the Department of Defense assigned him the Internment Serial Number 953.

Identity

While the two official lists his name as Hammdidullah, his Tribunal addressed him as Janat Gul.^[1][2][3]

CNN reported that Hammdidullah surrendered on November 24, 2001, but the allegations prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal state that he was captured in January 2003.^[3][4]

Press accounts of his term at Ariana Airlines

Hammdidullah was quoted by the International press during his term at Ariana Airlines.^[5] CNN referred to him as Hamidullah.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

Hammdidullah chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3]

allegations

The allegations that Hammdidullah faced during his Tribunal were:^[3]

a. The detainee is a Taliban member and is associated with al Qaeda:

1. The detainee admitted he is a member of the Taliban.
2. The detainee is a former president of Ariana Airline.
3. The Taliban controlled Ariana Airline.
4. The Taliban used Ariana Airline to transport their members.
5. Ariana Airlines provided free flights to Konduz, Afghanistan for individuals joining the fight against the Northern Alliance.
6. Taliban forces utilized Ariana Airline form Kandahar to Kabul.
7. An active al Qaida member and licensed pilot brought in other al Qaida members to work for Ariana Airline.
8. An individual with plans to engage in hostilities against the United States had strong ties to Ariana Airlines.
9. The detainee was arrested in January 2003 in Lashkargar, Afghanistan.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that detainee 953, who they call Janat Gul was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, and was, eventually, released.^[9]

Guantanamo Medical records

On 16 March 2007 the Department of Defense published medical records for the captives.^[10] According to those records Hammdidullah was 67.5 inches tall, and he was weighed just three times: on March 23, 2003, when he weighed 126 pounds, and in January and March 2003, when he weighed 113 pounds. His records indicate he declined to be weighed in February 2003.

Namesakes

On January 16, 2010, the Department of Defense was forced to publish the names of the 645 captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility.^[11] One of the indiviuals on the list was named "Janat Gul".

References

1. ^ ^{a b} list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Hammdidullah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 31-48
4. ^ Taliban in north surrender in droves, CNN, November 24, 2001
5. ^ Airline head says hijacking may be mass asylum bid: Negotiations resume after escape of flight crew, CNN, February 9, 2000
6. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
7. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
8. ^ "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". United States Department of Defense. March 6, 2007. http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902. Retrieved 2007-09-22. 
9. ^ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants", Washington Post
10. ^ JTF-GTMO (2006-03-16). "Heights, weights, and in-processing dates". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2008-12-25. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhumanrights.ucdavis.edu%2Freports%2Fheights-weights-and-in-processing-dates&date=2008-12-25. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
11. ^ "Bagram detainees". Department of Defense. 2009-09-22. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclu.org%2Ffiles%2Fassets%2Fbagramdetainees.pdf&date=2010-01-17.