Sufyian Barhoumi

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Sufyian Barhoumi

---

image_size =
image_caption = | date_of_birth = Birth date|1973|07|28
place_of_birth = Algiers, Algiers
date_of_arrest =
place_of_arrest= | arresting_authority=
date_of_release = | place_of_release=
date_of_death = | place_of_death =
citizenship = | detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 694
group =
alias =
charge = Faced charges in November 2005, before the Presidentially authoritized military commisssions.
Faced charges in May 2008, before the Congressionally authorized military commissions.
penalty =
status =
csrt_summary =
csrt_transcript=
occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = Sufyian Barhoumi is a citizen of Algeria, 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 694.The Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 28 1973, in Algiers, Algiers.

Charges before a military commission

On July 6, 2004, United States President
Bush ordered that Sufyian Barhoumi be charged before a military commission.cite news
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/d20051215prtbbarhoumi.pdf
title=To the Secretary of Defense
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=George W. Bush
date=July 6 2004
accessdate=2008-05-03
quote=Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that, effective this date, Sufyian Barhoumi shall be subject to the Military Order of November 13, 2001.
format=PDF] The appointing authority approved the charges against Sufyian on November 4 2005.cite news
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/d20051220barhoumichargesapproved.pdf
title=Military Commission Case No. 05-0006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=John D. Alternburg Jr.
date=November 4 2005
accessdate=2008-05-03
quote=The charges against Sufyian Barhoumi (a/k/a Abu Obaida, a/k/a Obaydah A1 Jaza'iri, a/k/a Shafiq) are approved.
format=PDF] Barhoumi faced the charge of "Conspiracy".cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/d20051104Barhoumi.pdfhttp://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/d20051220barhoumichargesapproved.pdf
title=USA v. Barhoumi
date=November 7 2005
accessdate=2007-02-27
publisher=US Department of Defense
format=PDF] His five page charge sheet listed thirteen general allegations, that were essentially identical to those of
Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi.Sufyian Barhoumi,Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, and two other captives, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Omar Khadr had their charges confirmed on the same day as Barhoumi.Sufyian Barhoumi, Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, and Binyam Ahmed Muhammadall faced conspiracy charges. Omar Khadr faced both murder and conspiracy to murder charges.

Four other men, David Hicks, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi,had their charge authorized by President Bush approved in 2004.One other man, Abdul Zahir, had his charges confirmed in January 2006.

In July 2006, after considering Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the President lacked the Constitutional Authority to order Military Commissions. The Supreme Court ruled that only the United States Congress had the authority to order Military Commissions.So the charges against all ten men were dropped.

In the fall of 2006 the United States Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, authorizing commissions similar to those previously authorized by President Bush. Several of the other men who had been charged before the Presidentially authorized commissions had new charges filed against them before Congressionally authorized commissions.

On May 29 2008Barhoumi,Jabran al-Qathani andGhassan Abdullah al-Sharbiwere charged before the Congressionally authorized military commissions.cite news
url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/05/pentagon-files-new-charges-against-3.php
title=Pentagon files new charges against 3 Guantanamo detainees
publisher=The Jurist
author=Andrew Gilmore
date= May 30, 2008
accessdate=2008-06-01
quote=] cite news
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080529Sufyian.pdf
title=Charge sheet (2008)
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=May 29 2008
accessdate=2008-06-01
quote=
format=PDF]

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 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 Sufyian Barhoumi'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on
16 September 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000500-000599.pdf#61
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Detainee Sufyian Barhoumi
date=16 September 2004
pages=page 61
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-05-03] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:

Transcript

Barhoumi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_12_1179-1239.pdf#24
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=pages 24-38
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-05-03] On March 3 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite news
url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/US-releases-Guantanamo-files/2006/04/04/1143916500334.html
title=US releases Guantanamo files
publisher=The Age
date=April 4, 2006
accessdate=2008-03-15
quote=]

Testimony

Barhoumi and the Tribunal President exchanged opinions on whether Barhoumi should be allowed to see all the evidence against him. Barhoumi said his father was a lawyer, and he knew the laws of evidence. He knew he was entitled to see the evidence against him.

Barhoumi pointed out he traveled to Afghanistan before the attack of September 11, 2001, before the American invasion, when Afghanistan and America were at peace. He acknowledge traveling there for military training - but in order to go fight in Chechnya, not Afghanistan.

Barhoumi acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan, from Britain, in 1999

Barhoumi lost the fingers from his left hand during land mine training, and some minor wounds on his legs. A member of the Tribunal asked if the bandages on his legs were due to those wounds. Barhoumi replied::"“Maybe you won’t believe me, but that’s an investigation. They [guards at Guantanamo Bay] did that to me, for a year and a half. From walking for an hour and a half with chains on. There was an investigation, about a 2 month investigation. It was cut from the top and the bottom at the base of my leg. It happened here, not before.”

Barhoumi acknowledged attending two training camps. Under pressure from his interrogators he confessed to attending a third camp, but he told his Tribunal he lied due to the pressure interrogators were putting him under.

While fleeing Afghanistan Barhoumi said he became part of the group that contained Abu Zubaydah. He was captured with Abu Zubaydah. But he didn’t really know him.

When asked about an allegation that he had been part of a plan to attack the United States Barhoumi replied::"“I never! That is strange, very strange. I want to laugh. Honestly, I want to laugh at those allegations. If I were so dangerous, I would not be here. This is very strange.

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.

In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 or 2006.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_1_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf
title=Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=August 9 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_2_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf
title=Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=July 17 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] There is no record that an Administrative Review Board convened in 2005 or 2006 to review his detention.

References

External links

* [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/commissions_exhibits_barhoumi.html Commissions Transcripts Exhibits, and Allied Papers]
* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051107/omar_khadr_051107/20051107%3Fhub%3DTopStories&cid=1102222795 US military charges Omar Khadr with murder] , "CTV", November 7, 2005
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-11/08/content_492384.htm&cid=1102222795 US charges five Guantanamo detainees with war crimes] , "China Daily", November 7, 2005
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/07/omarkhadr051107.html&cid=1102222795 Canadian held at Guantanamo charged with murder] , "CBC", November 7, 2005
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0%2C1280%2C-5399561%2C00.html&cid=1102222795 Five More Guantanamo Detainees Charged] , "The Guardian", November 7, 2005
* [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13106909.htm&cid=1102236034 Supreme Court to hear challenge to military commissions] , "San Francisco Mercury", November 7, 2005