| Khandan Kadir | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 (age 42–43) |
| Arrested | 2002-09-20 Khowst American GIs, Jan Baz and his militiamen |
| Released | 2006-10-11 Afghanistan |
| Detained at | Bagram, Guantanamo |
| Alternate name | Kadeer Khandan |
| ISN | 831 |
| Charge(s) | No charge (extrajudicial detention) |
| Status | Repatriated |
Khandan Kadir is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 831. Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1969, in Safra-andarikhail, Afghanistan.
Contents |
Khandan Kadir was captured approximately a year after the Taliban were overthrown.
The allegations against him were that he was an ally of an Afghan warlord named Pacha Khan. Khan had raised local forces to rise up against the Taliban when the Americans and Northern Allicance invaded. He was rewarded with official administrative control over an area of Afghanistan. But he quarreled with other administrators, and eventually quarreled with the Americans. Open fighting eventually broke out, and he became considered a renegade. Guantanamo analysts have justified the continued detention of captives who knew him, even if their own capture predates the time when he stopped being an ally and started being an enemy.
Khandan Kadir's account was that he had worked as a pharmacist during the Taliban regime. He said he hated them and avoided them, and that anyone who lived in Khowst would testify that he took risks in letting his disdain for the Taliban show, by cutting his beard short, listening to music — a prohibited activity under the Taliban, and avoiding the mosque, when a member of the Taliban was leading the service.
According to Khandan Kadir, after the Taliban were overthrown he was appointed the local director of the anti-drug branch of the National Department of Security — a more junior position that Pacha Khan's, but one senior enough for him to form working relationship with the local American agents. He claimed he was having conflict with Pacha Khan long before his conflict with the Americans experienced enough problems to class him as a renegade.
Khandan Kadir said that his capture was due to a false denunciation from Pacha Khan, and Pacha Khan's nephew Jan Baz lead a mixed force of American forces and Pacha Khan's forces, to his home. He said the documents he was captured with fully supported his account.
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 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.
Kadir chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[5]
Khandan Kadir requested the testimony of two witnesses. At the time of his Tribunal the rules did not permit him to question his witnesses, in person, even if they were fellow Guantanamo captives.
The allegations Khandan Kadir faced, during his Tribunal, were:
- a. The detainee is a member of forces associated with the Taliban.
- The detainee was captured in the company of Jan Baz, the nephew of Pacha Khan.
- Pacha Khan, a renegade Pashtun Commander, has conducted military operations against the Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA) and coalition forces.
- The detainee claims to have worked as the head of Office Number 7, for the Afghan National Security Division (NDS) in Khowst.
- The NDS denied that the detainee was an officer in their service and they do not consider him a recruited source.
- The detainee ran a safe house for members of the Karim explosive cell in Khowst.
- The detainee was arrested by Americans at his neighbor's house in Khowst, Afghanistan on 20 September 2002, attempting to elude capture by hiding with a group of women.
Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".
They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat—or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.
Kadir chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[6]
Kadir's Assisting Military Officer, referring to Kadir's Enemy Combatant Election Form, told his Board they first met on November 30, 2005, for 62 minutes. Kadir told his Assisting Military Officer he wanted to present six letters to his Board. And they met, a second time, on December 1, 2005 for Kadir to bring in his letters.
Kadir's Assisting Military Officer told his Board that Kadir was "cooperative and polite throughout both interviews".
Kadir was given a copy of his Unclassified Summary of Evidence memo, translated into the Pashto language.
The following primary factors favor continued detention
- a. Connections/Associations
- The detainee stated he support Hizb-e-Isalmi Gulbuddin and Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, as did the United States during the Soviet invasion. However, Hizb-e-Isalmi Gulbuddin is now considered the enemy.
- During the Russian Jihad, the detainee was a nurse for Hizb-e-Isalmi Gulbuddin but has no involvement with Hizb-e-Isalmi Gulbuddin since 1992.
- b. Intent
- The detainee related that he owned a Kalashnikov and a pistol. The detainee stated that he never used these weapons against the United States. The detainee only has the weapons for protection. The detainee said that it is common in his town to carry a Kalashnikob. His job requires that he carry a Kalashnikob.
- The detainee is suspected of running a safe house in Khowst. This safe house is believed to be his home on in close proximity.
- c. Other Relevant Data
- The detainee was captured in Khowst in his house on 19 September 2002. He had been on duty all week and came home on Friday. The detainee claims his enemy had him arrested.
- Various documents, allegedly from government officials, were found. They authorized unimpeded movements through checkpoints and security and offer vehicle clearance.
- The detainee was authorized to carry a weapon.
The following primary factors favor release or transfer
- a. The detainee claimed he has never attended any military schools or received any military training.
- b. The detainee was very forthcoming during the interview. The detainee is of above average intelligence and cooperated throughout. The detainee strongly believes that he has been wrongfully imprisoned, because an individual threatened to have the detainee arrested by the Americans.
- c. The detainee related that he has never been a member of any terrorist organization. The only terrorist organization that he has knowledge of is the Taliban.
- d. The detainee stated that he is against the Taliban because they do not build or help his community by building roads, schools, lighting, etc. The Taliban terrorizes the people and have destroyed schools.
- e. The detainee was asked about the Usama bin Laden tape found in his house. The detainee claimed it was not a tape but only a cover from a tape. The detainee claimed that his enemy Pasha Khan left the tape cover at his house.
- f. The detainee related he worked with Americans before his detainment. The detainee identified a journalist/reporter whom later stated his worked for American Intelligence.
- g. The detainee stated, when American Forces entered the country, he was approached and worked with Americans who said they worked for American Intelligence. The Americans stayed at his house for 15 days before moving to the airport.
- h. When asked his thoughts on Afghanistan's future, the detainee replied his goal was to assist in the development of Afghanistan. The detainee wants better resources, schools, roads and broad-based, established democratic government. Additionally, the detainee would also like to see Afghanistan develop relationships with foreign countries.
- i. The detainee seems to not like the Taliban, al Qaida or the Jama'at Tablighi. The detainee volunteered to work with Americans against these groups if could return to Afghanistan.
- j. The detainee is not upset with the United States, but is frustrated with the methods used to capture people. The detainee claims other Afghans who have a grudge against someone else are just accusing people because of personal rivalries and are making up stories about people who are actually innocent. The detainee claims that a person by the name of Jan Baz turned him in to United States Forces for a reward.
- k. The detainee claimed to be a Jama'at Islami member. The detainee explained that the group opposes the Taliban Forces. The Jama'at Islami used to pass out anti-al Qaida posters offering monetary rewards in exchange for information to the schools in the area.
- l. In the spring of 2002, the detainee stated he was offered a job with the new Afghanistan government of Karzai. The detainee also state that he was made the director of the 7th Division of the Afghanistan National Security Office in Khowst, Afghanistan. The detainee claims a letter of appointment to this post is among his belongings held by United States Forces. His responsibilities included monitoring media, hospitals, schools and tracking narcotics trafficking.
| ISN 831 | ||||
| Exhibiit # | Date | Classification | Guantanamo # | |
| EC-C1 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 00365 | not included with the transcript |
| EC-C2 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 01462 | not included with the transcript |
| EC-C3 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 02436 | not included with the transcript |
| EC-C4 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 02437 | not included with the transcript |
| EC-C5 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 02438 | not included with the transcript |
| EC-C6 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2005-A 02938 | not included with the transcript |
| ISN 831 | ||||
| Exhibiit # | Date | Classification | Guantanamo # | |
| EC-D1 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2003-I 00154 | Three family photos[7] |
| EC-D2 | unknown | unclassified | Guan 2003-I 00236 | More photos[8] |
Khandan Kadir is one of the sixteen Guantanamo captives whose amalgamated habeas corpus submissions were heard by US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton on January 31, 2007.[9]
On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Qadar Khandan.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
The McClatchy report quoted a local security official named Ismail Khosti, who asserted that Qadar Khandan was a low-level commander in Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's forces.
|
Qadar Khandan reports being beaten and subject to abusive interrogation in both the Kandahar detention facility and the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. He described being held in isolation, and suspended by his hands round the clock, for twenty days—a technique Bagram staff had used that killed two captives in December 2002.
|
In Guantanamo he reports interrogators had him sent to spend much of his time in solitary confinement—including two periods of seven months straight. The rules for humane treatment in US domestic prisons never allow prisoners to be left in solitary for more than thirty days.
The BBC interviewed 27 former captives held in Bagram in June 2009.[17][18] Khandan was mentioned by name in the BBC Report, where he was referred to as "Dr Khandan".[19][20]
According to the report Khandan said:
"They did things that you would not do against animals let alone to humans. They poured cold water on you in winter and hot water in summer. They used dogs against us. They put a pistol or a gun to your head and threatened you with death. They put some kind of medicine in the juice or water to make you sleepless and then they would interrogate you."
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wright, speaking on behalf of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, claimed Bagram met "international standards for care and custody".[21] The Guardian quoting Wright's claim that GIs who abused captives had been punished, called it "an apparent allusion to the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal in Iraq."
Wright said:
"There have been well-documented instances where that policy was not followed, and service members have been held accountable for their actions in those cases."
On January 15, 2010, the Department of Defense complied with a court order and published a heavily redacted list of Captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility.[22] There were 645 names on the list, which was dated September 22, 2009. It was reported that three of the individuals on that list had the same name and ID number as former Guantanamo captives.[23] The author also noted that all the other Bagram captives had ID numbers that weren't in the same range as those used at Guantanamo, and he asserted that these three men, Kadir Khandan, Gul Zaman and Hafizullah Shabaz Khail were in fact former Guantanamo captives.
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||