Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani

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Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Al Bihani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 128. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Bihani was born in 1980, in Tabokh, Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[edit] Identity

Captive 128 was identified inconsistently on various official Department of Defense documents:

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV.  The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.       The neutrality of this section is disputed.  Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[5][6] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[7]

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.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ghaleb Nassar Al Bahani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 12 October 2004.[2] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

[edit] Transcript

Al Bihani chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[8]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Al Bihani faced during his Tribunal were:[8]

a. The detainee was an associate of the Taliban and/or Al-Qaida.
  1. The detainee is a Yemen citizen who lived in Saudi Arabia and traveled to Afghanistan via Doha and Karachi Pakistan. The detainee remained in Afghanistan from May through November 2001.
  2. The detainee stated that he went to Afghanistan to fight Jihad with the Taliban.
b. The detainee participated in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.
  1. Upon arriving in Afghanistan the detainee traveled immediately to thr front where he supported the mujahidin.
  2. The detainee traveled on Taliban aircraft, stayed in Taliban guest housing, and upon arriving at the front line he received a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition.
  3. The detainee delivered supplies to the front lines.
  4. The detainee was part of 400-600 man force that surrendered to General Dostum's forces.
  5. The detainee was present during the prison uprising in Mazar-E-Sharif [sic] .

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearings

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".
Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".[9]

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.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani's Administrative Review Board, on 18 October 2005.[3] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 19 June 2006.[4] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ a b OARDEC (12 October 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Bahani, Ghaleb Nassar pages 38-39. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  3. ^ a b OARDEC (18 October 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Bihani, Ghaleb Nassar pages 53-55. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  4. ^ a b OARDEC (19 June 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Bihani, Ghaleb Nassar pages 3-5. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  5. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  6. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  7. ^ Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials. United States Department of Defense (March 6, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  8. ^ a b Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 23-26
  9. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.