Mahbub Rahman

Mahbub Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to U.S. supervised imprisonment in Afghanistan.[1][2]

His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1052.

According to the Department of Defense Rahman was born in 1985 in Khowst, Afghanistan.

Contents

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.[6] 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.

Rahman chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[7]

According to the BBC Rahman was accused of spying on U.S. forces.[8]

Witness requests

Rahman requested three witnesses, Azimullah, Mohammed Salim and Rahman Tulah. His Tribunal's President determined that they would be relevant. Azimullah was another Guantanamo detainee, and his testimony was made available. Mohamed Salim was held in Bagram, but the Bagram authorities had not responded to the Tribunals requests for testimony.

The Tribunal's President asked Rahman to offer more details of who Rahman Tulah was. He informed them he was another student at Faizal Quran, the Madrassa he attended, and that his tribal name was Sadarai. They were captured together.

The Tribunal's President determination that Mohammed Salim and Rahman Tulah's testimony was "not reasonably available".

Allegations

The allegations against Rahman during his Tribunal were:

a. The Detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban:
  1. The detainee agreed to spy on the Americans.
b. The Detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee acknowledged shooting an Afghan Militia Force (AMF) soldier and two civilians in April 2003.
  2. The detainee directed others to a cemetery used as a staging and hiding area prior to assault on Firebase Salerno.
  3. Afghan Militia Forces captured the detainee and three others on I June 2003.
  4. When captured, the detainee had in his possession two AK-47s, bayonets, a binoculars, and a spare videocassette for a video camera in the possession of one of the three other captured comrades.
  5. The Detainee did no surrender willingly; gunshots and grenades were exchanged with the AMF.

Administrative Review Board hearing

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.

Rahman chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[9]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for every captive for whom an Administrative Review Board hearing was convened, summarizing the "factors" for and against their continued detention. Those factors were always broken down under two headings: "The following primary factors favor continued detention"; and "The following primary factors favor release or transfer". The factors favoring continued detention were further subdivided under sub-headings like: "Training"; "Intent"; "Commitment"; "Associations". And the factors under those sub-headings were sequentionally numbered.

Te Summary of Evidence memo was always read out, in its entirety, at the beginning of the hearing. Most captives were offered an opportunity to hear the factors read out, one at a time, so they would have an opportunity to respond to each in turn.

Some captive's transcript recorded the factors, and the captive's responses, but did not record the headings, sub-headings or sequential numbering.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

  • The detainee was captured on 1 June 2003, along with four others, one of whom was a Saudi [sic] whose mission was to photograph Chapman and Balerno Bases for possible future attacks.
  • In late March 2003, Abu Laith al-Libi, an al Qaida facilitator, planned and coordinated a foiled reconnaissance mission to film the Salerno forward operating base and the villages surrounding the city of Khowst, Afghanistan.
  • Al-Libi is the al Qaida southern Afghanistan regional commander. He is responsible for operations in the areas of Khowst, Paktia andh Ghanzni Provinces, to include Miran Shah, Pakistan [sic]. Al-Libi is a Libyan who specializes in explosive devices and guerilla warfare.
  • The detainee had been provided with a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition, and a military cargo belt.
  • On the evening of 28 May 2003, al-Libi's group met with Abdul Rakhman and a student recruited from the Nazamia Madrassa at a house in the mountains near Naurak, Pakistan. The plan was for Rakhman to take the members of the team to Khowst, Afghanistan, so that they could film the airfield.
  • Abdul Rakhman is a known Arab al Qaida member who has been reported to operate in the Shahi Kowt area.
  • The Nazamia Madrassa has been previously reported on for its affiliations with Afghanistan Ant-Coalition Militia. In March 2003, this Madrassa was reported as being used by al Qaida, Taliban, and HIG personnel for training. It was cited as having been frequently visited by Jalaluddin Haqqanni in 2002. Reports also indicate personnel from Nazamia Madrassa were, in the past, sent across the Afghan-Pakistan boarder [sic] to collect intelligence on United States and coalition forces in Khowst Province.
  • Gulbuddin Hikmatyar founded HIG as a faction of the Hizb-Islami party in 1977, and it was one of the major Mujahadin groups in the war against the Soviets. HIG has long established ties with Usama Bin Laden. HIG has staged small attacks in its attempt to force United States troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, overthrow the Afghan government, and establish a fundamentalist state.
  • Jalaluddin Haqqani is the former Taliban Minister of Tribal Affairs and personal friend of Usama Bin Laden.
  • On the afternoon of 1 June 2003, three men, not including the detainee, were asking people in the village of Kondee, which is east of Salerno, where Salerno is located. One of the men they asked was an Afghan Militia Force soldier. He did not answer them, but made his way to Salerno to inform his superiors.
  • When he arrived at the burial ground near Salerno, Rakhman took the camera to being filming. Shortly thereafter, shots rang out.
  • When the AMF moved towards Kondee to investigate the three men asking questions about Salerno, the three men began firing on the AMF with AK-47s. All three were apprehended after a short firefight.
  • The three men were brought to Salerno for questioning. They had one AK-47, one pistol, one ICOM radio turned to the Salerno security frequency, one set of binoculars, eight hand grenades, one small video camera. The men stated that there was another man neat the Lakan Madrassa.
  • The AMF arrested two more men at the Madrassa with two AK-47s, bayonets, one set of binoculars, and a spare videocasette for the video camera. The detainee was one of the two men captured at the compound. The detainee was identified as someone who shot an AMF soldier in March.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

  • The detainee stated he supports the new Afghani government and fully believes America's presence with Afghanistan [sic] is important to achieving peace within his country.
  • The detainee claims he is not presently, nor has he ever been affiliated with al Qaida.

Transfer to U.S. supervised imprisonment in Afghanistan

On November 25, 2008 the Department of Defense published a list of when Guantanamo captives were repatriated.[10] According to that list he was repatriated on August 31, 2008.

The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. 2006-05-15. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-15. 
  2. ^ a b "International Travel". Center for Constitutional Rights. 2008. http://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR_Annual_Report_2008.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-13. "CCR attorney Pardiss Kebriaei traveled to Kabul to follow the situation of Guantánamo prisoners being returned to Afghanistan. Since April 2007, all such prisoners have been sent to a U.S.-built detention facility within the Soviet era Pule-charkhi prison located outside Kabul."  mirror
  3. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  4. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  5. ^ "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". United States Department of Defense. 2007-03-06. http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
  6. ^ "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1773140.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-11.  mirror
  7. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mahbub Rahman'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 93-108
  8. ^ Pentagon reveals Guantanamo names, BBC, March 4, 2006
  9. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Mahbub Rahman's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 90
  10. ^ OARDEC (2008-10-09). "Consolidated chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased". Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/09-F-0031_doc1.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 

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