| Sharbat | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 (age 38–39) Khairo Village, Afghanistan |
| Detained at | Guantanamo |
| ISN | 1051 |
| Charge(s) | No charge (held in extrajudicial detention) |
| Status | Repatriated |
Sharbat is an Afghan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1051. American Counter-terrorism analysts estimated he was born in 1973, in Khairo Village, Afghanistan.
Sharbat was transferred to Afghanistan on February 8, 2006.[2]
Contents |
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.
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Sharbat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 2 November 2004.[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:
- a The detainee committed a belligerent act or supported hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners.
- The detainee was captured in the Khowst Province, Afghanistan.
- The detainee was arrested within 500 meters of the site of and Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on a patrol.
- The detainee is a known Anti-Coalition Militant who took pictures of AMF soldiers and U.S. persons and turned them over to the al Qida office in Wana, Pakistan.
- The detainee was involved in the shooting of a former AMF soldier.
- The detainee is a member of Hezb-E Islami, Gulbuddin (HIG).
- The HIG is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide as having long-established ties with Usama Bin Laden.
- The detainee held a meeting of Senior HIG officials at his residence on 10 December 2003, to discuss a planned rocket attack on the Loya Jirga.
- The detainee was actively seeking new recruits and former HIG members to join the organization in the Kabul, Afghanistan are in September 2003.
Sharbat chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a five page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[7]
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.[9] 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.
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Sharbat's Administrative Review Board, on 9 August 2005.[10] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.
- a. Comittment
- On 27 May 2003, in Khairo Village, Khost, at 11:00 local time, the detainee was arrested within 500 meters of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on Coalition Forces, on the backside of a hill where his brother Qader was found running from Afghani Military Forces.
- b. When questioned about whether he knew Qader the subject denied that he knew Qader or any [sic] knowledge of the blast. The detainee stated he didn't hear the explosion or see the dust plume. He only later admitted knowing Qader after his brother identified the detainee.
- c. During Questioning in December or 2003, the detainee stated he never heard an explosion, but later changed his story stating the explosion was far away.
- d. The detainee has provided varying stories about his circumstances of capture. He stated he was watching his goats through binoculars when he was detained. Alternatively, his brother was looking through the binoculars when they were detained. Finally he stated he witnessed his brother being arrested and ran over to inquite about his brother and was arrested as well.
The following primary factors favor release or transfer
- a. The detainee stated he had always told interrogators his brother was a good man. The detainee stated he never denied being related to his brother, or even knowing him when they were first detained.
- b. He stated he always told interrogators he knew Qader and that they were both detained because of lies.
- c. The detainee said he did not have any dealing with the government and did not understand if the new Karzai government made any changes.
- d. The detainee's name and photograph were shown to several detained al Qaida members, none of whom recognized the detainee.
Sharbat chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[11] In the Spring of 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a seven page ummarized transcript from his Administrative Review Board.[7]
Sharbat was one of sixteen Guantanamo captives to initiate a suit for their freedom in early 2005.[12] Carol Rosenberg, writing for the Knight Ridder News Service, reported that "The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., docketed the cases on May 3 after a series of single-paragraph pleas from captives arrived in the court's mail." She called the suit extraordinary, because the captives were working without benefit of legal assistance, and some of the captives were illiterate.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman chose to treat the requests as habeas corpus petitions, and waived the normal $5 processing fee.[12]
On November 26, 2008 the Department of Defense published a list of captives' dates of departure from Guantanamo.[13] According to this list Sharbat was released on February 8, 2006.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||