| Ali Abdullah Ahmed | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 12, 1970 Yemen |
| Died | June 10, 2006 Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |
| Detained at | Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |
| Alternate name | Salah Addin Ali Ahmed Al-Salami |
| ISN | 693 |
| Charge(s) | No charge (extrajudicial detention) |
| Status | Death in custody |
Ali Abdullah Ahmed also known as Salah Ahmed al-Salami (Arabic: علي عبدالله احمد) (January 12, 1970 – June 10, 2006) was a citizen of Yemen who died in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 693. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1977, in Ib, Yemen.
Ali Abdullah Ahmed died in custody on June 10, 2006. His death is widely reported to have been a suicide.[2]
His younger brother, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, was also held in Guantanamo.[3]
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On June 10, 2006 the DoD reported that three Guantanamo detainees, two Saudis, and one Yemeni committed suicide.[4] DoD spokesmen refrained from releasing the dead men's identities.
The next day, June 11, 2006, Saudi authorities released the names of the two Saudi men.[5] Later that day the DoD released the names of all three men.[6] The dead Yemeni man was identified, for the first time, by the DoD, as Ali Abdullah Ahmed. The dead Saudis were identified as Yasser Talal Al Zahrani and Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi.
The Washington Post reported that the DoD allege Ahmed: "was a mid- to high-level al-Qaida operative who had key ties to principal facilitators and senior members of the group." -- and that "Throughout his time in Guantanamo, he had been non-compliant and hostile to the guard force,"
The Washington Post reports that Ahmed was a "long-term hunger striker." -- There were several widespread hunger strikes during 2005. A widespread hunger strike that began in late May 2005 or early June 2005 came to a negotiated end on July 28, 2005. Detainees report the camp authorities had agreed to several key concessions, and that they were forced to resume the hunger strike on August 8, 2006.
Initially the DoD reported that none of the three dead men had legal representation.[7] However, on June 14, 2006 the DoD had to acknowledge that Ahmed did have legal representation. But they had yet to give his lawyers the clearance required to visit with him.
Mani Al-Utaybi's legal team reported that they had waited over nine months for the DoD to grant them clearance to see Al-Utaybi.[8] They said that the DoD would not allow them to correspond with Al-Utaybi, because they claimed his legal team did not know the DoD's official spelling of Al-Utaybi's name.
At its height more than 100 detainees participated in this hunger strike. The Department of Defense's position was that detainees did not have the right to refuse medical treatment and began force-feeding detainees. Detainees complained that the force-feeding were administered in a particularly brutal manner.
Approximately three dozen detainees remained participating in this hunger strike in January 2006, when the DoD instituted a new measure—the use of "restraint chairs". Detainees would be strapped immobile in the restraint chairs, during the force-feeding, and for a period of time afterwards. The DoD explained they took this measure so the detainees could not induce vomiting and void the force-fed formula before they began to really digest it. Detainees claimed that the force-feeding caused them extremely painful cramps, and that they would be held in restraint for hours, even if they soiled themselves. The DoD said their policy authorized restraining the detainees immobile for only 45 minutes following the end of the force-feeding.
All but four of the hunger strikers ended their hunger strike just a few days after the initiation of the use of the restraint chair in January 2006. The Washington Post reports that Ahmed continued his hunger strike from late 2005 to May 2006.
Ali Abdullah Ahmed and Yasser Talal Al Zahrani had previously been listed on the DoD's two official lists. The other Saudi, previously named as either "Maniy bin Shaman al-Otaibi" or "Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al Habradi", had not been previously listed on either official list.[1][5][9][10]
On June 14, 2006, Ali Abdullah Ahmed's father claimed that his son couldn't have committed suicide, and alleges that he was instead "assassinated by American soldiers".[11]
On 18 January 2010, Scott Horton of Harper’s Magazine published a story denouncing al-Salami's, Al-Utaybi' and Al-Zahrani's deaths as accidental manslaughter during a torture session, and the official account as a cover-up. [12]
A report, Death in Camp Delta, was published by the Center for Policy & Research of Seton Hall University School of Law, under the supervision of its director, Professor Mark Denbeaux, denouncing numerous inconsistencies in the official accounts of these deaths.[13][14]
All three of the families of the dead men have challenged the American post-mortems.[15] The families all took steps to have second post-mortems after the bodies were returned to them.
Patrice Mangin, who headed the team that volunteered to examine Al Salami's body, said that it was routine to remove some organs that decay rapidly.[15] Some family members had expressed concerns when the bodies were missing the brain, liver, kidney heart and other organs.
Mangin however said that the US authorities had kept Al-Salami's throat, and that his team couldn't state an opinion as to whether he hanged himself until it was returned.[15]
In 2005 attorneys initiated a habeas corpus petition on Ali Abdullah Ahmed's behalf.[16] Following the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, restoring habeas corpus to the detainees, his attorneys re-initiated his attorneys to re-initiate his habeas petition. They argued that the Department of Defense had withheld important information to substantiate their claim that he committed suicide.
A habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Mohammed Ahmed Taher, on July 18, 2008, reports that he is the younger brother of another Yemeni captives it identified as Salah al-Salami.[3] The petition identifies Salah al-Salami as the Yemeni who died in custody on June 10, 2006. Mohammed Ahmed Taher's petition reports his mental stability has been seriously affected by his brother's death.
On August 23, 2008 Josh White writing in the Washington Post reported the paper had received 3,000 pages of documents arising from the NCIS investigation through Freedom of Information Act requests.[2] He reported that the NCIS report attributed the deaths to lapses on the part of the guards, and to a policy of leniency for the compliant captives.
The report said the deaths were in Camp 1, which has now been closed, a camp for compliant captives, and that the men's bodies were masked by laundry they were allowed to hang up to dry.[2]
The NCIS report identified the dead Yemeni as "Ali Abdullah Ahmed Naser al-Sullami". It quoted from what it claimed was his suicide note:
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The Washington Post was able to quote from what it described as a "previously secret" document which stated[2]:
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The Washington Post quoted the initial reaction of his lawyer David Englehart to the documents' release[2]:
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Salah al-Salami and fellow Saudi Yassar Talal al-Zahrani had habeas corpus petitions filed on their behalf, prior to their deaths.[17] In December 2009 the Obama Presidency argued that the their petitions should be quashed, because their CSR Tribunals had determined that they were "enemy combatants". Talal al-Zahrani's father countered: "It doesn't really matter if this was an intentional death or an accidental death or suicide. The point is that the U.S. government bears responsibility."
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