Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari

---

image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth date|1973|09|17
place_of_birth = Hawalli, Kuwait
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 228
group =
alias = Abdullah Kamel,
Abdullah Al Kamel,
Abdullah Kamel Abdulla Kamel,
Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel,
Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel,
Abdullah Kamel Abudallah Kamel,
Saliman,
Al Saliman
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = repatriated
occupation = Electrical Engineer
spouse = yes
parents =
children = yes
csrt_summary = Wikisource-inline|Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari Summary of Evidence 19 February 2006|Summary of Evidence
csrt_transcript = Wikisource-inline|Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari Summarized Sworn Detainee Statement|Transcript

Abdullah Kamel Abdullah Kamel Al Kandari is a citizen of Kuwait, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf
title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=May 15 2006
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 228.

Al Kandari was born on September 17 1973, and was married in 1996.Al Kandari worked for eight years, in the Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity and Water, as an electrical engineer. He supported his wife, their children, his father-in-law, sister, and her children.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902
title=Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=March 6 2007
accessdate=2007-09-22] ]

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.

ummary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Kamal'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on
20 September 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000201-000299.pdf#51
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Kamal, Abdullah
date=20 September 2004
pages=page 51
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-03-13] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:"'a. The detainee is a member of al Qaeda::#Detainee traveled to Afghanistan, via Iran, after 11 September 2001, with approximately $15,000 U.S. dollars.:#Detainee was captured with a Casio watch, model F-91 W, a common watch used by al Qaeda to detonate improvised explosive devices.:#One of the detainee's known aliases was on a list of captured hard drives (sic) associated with a senior al Qaeda member.

Transcript

Al Kandari agreed to cooperate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. cite news
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_9_1018-1088B.pdf#30
title=Summarized Sworn Detainee Statement
pages=pages 30-37
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=30 September 2004
accessdate=2008-03-13
quote=] The Associated Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Al Kandari's dossier, and made it available for download.

Al Kandari's travel to Afghanistan

Al Kandari acknowledged traveling to the area of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He said his purpose was humanitarian aid. He acknowledged taking $15,000. $13,000 of which he used to aid refugees, reserving $2,000 for his return to Kuwait. He had never traveled to Pakistan or Afghanistan before. And didn't know anyone associated with al Qaeda or the Taliban.

Amnesty International says he was captured during a sweep when Pakistani authorities arrested all foreigners.

Al Kandari's Casio watch

Al Kandari seemed surprised that his possession of his watch was regarded as evidence that he was a security threat. He said that his model was very common and popular in Kuwait because it had a feature that helped the owner know what direction Mecca was, in order to perform their daily prayers.

The Tribunal asked Al Kandari if he had ever modified his watch. He said the only work that had ever been performed on it was a simple replacement of a worn out battery.

The Tribunal officers asked Al Kandari if his watch had a feature that helped him pray to Mecca. His watch did have that feature. The Tribunal documents refer to him owning a Casio F91W watch. The F91W does not have the Mecca prayer feature.

When transcripts from detainees CSRTs and ARB hearings were made public on March 3, 2006 it became known that at least eighteen detainees remained in detention, in part, because they wore a Casio watch. Only one captive's Personal Representative challenged the credibility of this allegation.

Al Kandari's aliases

The unclassified portion of Al Kandari's dossier says his known aliases were found on captured Al Qaeda hard drives.

Al Kandari asked the name that was found on the computer.The unclassified portion of his dossier doesn't list any of those aliases. But the various documents refer to him by many different names, with no explanation for the discrepancy. Those names are:

Board recommendations

In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Decision_memos_183-265.pdf#20
title=Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 228
date=25 July 2006
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-03-13
pages=page 20] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Decision_memos_183-265.pdf#21
title=Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 228
date=18 May 2006
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-03-13
pages=pages 21-28] The Board's recommendation was unanimousThe Board's recommendation was redacted.England authorized his transfer on 25 July 2006.

The Administrative Review Board (ARB) determined ISN 228 continues to be a threat to the United States and its allies.

The memos report that, according to the
Enemy Combatant Election Form, captive 228's Assisting Military Officer: quotation|"... indicated that the EC was uncooperative and unresponsive and chose not to participate in the ARB."

The memos also reported:quotation
The ARB has complied with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. In making a determination of status or disposition of this detainee, the ARB has assess, to the extentpracticable, whether any statement derived from or relating to this detainee was obtained as aresult of coercion; and the probative value, if any, of any such statement. In addition, theARB considered any new evidence that became available relating to the enemy combatant status ofthis detainee.

Press reports

On July 12 2006 the magazine "Mother Jones" provided excerpts from the transcripts of a selection of the Guantanamo detainees. [http://motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/07/detainee_sidebar.html "Why Am I in Cuba?"] , "Mother Jones (magazine)", July 12 2006] The article informed readers::"More than a dozen detainees were cited for owning cheap digital watches, particularly “the infamous Casio watch of the type used by Al Qaeda members for bomb detonators.”The article quoted Al Kandari, and three other watch owners::"When they told me that Casios were used by Al Qaeda and the watch was for explosives, I was shocked…. If I had known that, I would have thrown it away. I’m not stupid. We have four chaplains [at Guantanamo] ; all of them wear this watch."

One of Abdullah Kamel's lawyers, Kristine A. Huskey told "Newsday" thatcite news
url=http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wogit174307762jun17,0,7685080.story?coll=ny-worldnews-toputility
title=Inside a Gitmo review: A Saudi detainee faces military panel, without seeing a lawyer or evidence, that decides his fate
author=Letta Tayler
date=June 17, 2005
accessdate=2007-07-15] :

Meetings with attorneys

According to an article in Marie Claire magazine Kristine A. Huskey was one of Abdullah Kamel's attorneys.cite news
date=December 2006
url=http://www.marieclaire.com/world/news/gitmo-girl
title=Gitmo's Girl
author=Jennifer Senior
publisher=Marie Claire
accessdate=2007-07-14] Huskey described her surprise upon first meeting with Guantanamo clients, like Abdullah Kamel, that they preferred food brought from Guantanamo fast food outlets to the Arabic delicacies she and her colleagues had brought from the Continental US.Abdullah Kamel's favorite was a cheese pizza from the base's Pizza Hut.

Repatriation

The "Washington Post" reported, on September 10 2006, that Al Kandari would be returned to Kuwait soon. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091000322.html Two Kuwaitis to leave Guantanamo soon: group] , "Washington Post", September 10 2006] The Emir of Kuwait personally requested Al Kandari's release, and that of another Kuwaiti man named Omar Rajab Amin.

Acquittal confirmed

On May 29 2007 the "Miami Herald" reported that a Kuwaiti appeals court had upheld the acquittals of Al Kandari and Omar Rajab Amin.cite news
url=http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/121909.html
date= May. 29, 2007
title=Kuwait clears two former Guantánamo captives
publisher=Miami Herald
accessdate=2007-05-29]

The McClatchy interview

On June 15 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Abdulla Kamel al Kandari. cite news
url=http://services.mcclatchyinteractive.com/detainees?page=2
title=Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 2
publisher=McClatchy News Service
author=Tom Lasseter
date=June 15 2008
accessdate=2008-06-16
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fservices.mcclatchyinteractive.com%2Fdetainees%3Fpage%3D2&date=2008-06-18 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/20
title=Guantanamo Inmate Database: Abdulla Kamel al Kandari
publisher=McClatchy News Service
author=Tom Lasseter
date=June 15 2008
accessdate=2008-06-16
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdetainees.mcclatchydc.com%2Fdetainees%2F20&date=2008-08-01 mirror] ] The McClatchy report said that Thomas Wilner, his lawyer, went to the secure facility, to review the classified evidence that prompted the additional allegations on the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for his Administrative Review Board hearings. Lawyers for the captives have to go through a security clearance first. And there was one location they could travel to to review classified evidence.

The report said that Wilner found no evidence in the classified dossier to back up the new allegations.

References

'

External links

* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510172004?open&of=ENG-KWT Amnesty International's summary of Al Kandari's case]