Abdul Zahir (Guantanamo captive 753)

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdul Zahir

---

image_size =
image_caption = | date_of_birth =
place_of_birth = | 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 = 753
group =
alias =
charge = Faced charges before a military commission on January 18 2006
penalty =
status =
csrt_summary =
csrt_transcript=
occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children =

Abdul Zahir is an Afghan detained in United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/WorldNews/w012085A.htmSuspected terrorist charged in Afghan grenade attack that injured Canadian] , "CJAD", January 20 2006] Charges were leveled against Zahir on January 20 2006, by the Guantanamo military commissions. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/04/terror/main1468271.shtml Alleged Qaeda Member Faces Tribunal] , "CBS News", April 4 2006]

Zahir's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 753. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1972, in Hasarak, Afghanistan.

Zahir was charged with conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attacking civilians. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20320547.htm US brings charges against 10th Guantanamo prisoner] , "Reuters", January 20 2006] [http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2006/nr20060120-12344.html Military Commission Charges Referred] , "US Department of Defense", January 20 2006] cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2006/d20060120zahir.pdf
title=USA v. Zahir
date=November 7 2005
accessdate=February 27
accessyear=2007
publisher=US Department of Defense] Zahir is the tenth detainee to be charged.

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 date=December 2007

Originally the Bush administration had asserted that the United States could detain indefinitely anyone captured in Afghanistan.Several of the President's legal advisors had stated that the USA was not bound by the Geneva Conventions in Afghanistan; Al Qaeda fighters didn't qualify because they weren't answering to a sovereign state; Taliban fighters didn't qualify because almost no other states recognized the Taliban as a legitimate, sovereign government.

Critics mounted legal challenges to this policy. Justice James Robertson ruled that the United States was obliged under article 5 of the third Geneva Convention to treat all prisoners as lawful combatants, who would be entitled to prisoner of war status, unless a competent tribunal had determined that they were not lawful combatants.

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Administrative Review Boards were instituted in response.However, the final terms of reference for these bodies did not give them the authority to determine whether or not a captive was a lawful combatant who qualified for POW status.

Zahir was one of the 317 detainees who chose to testify before his Tribunal. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_12_1179-1239.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdul Zahir's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" pages 1-8]

Allegations

The allegations against Zahir were: [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_12_1179-1239.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdul Zahir's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" pages 1-8]

:""'a Detainee is a member of Al Qaida:#"Detainee was a translator for Abdul Hadi, a known member of Al Qaida for a period of three years.:#"Detainee translated for HADI when he spoke with Mullah Abdul Satar Ahmadi, the leader of Taliban soldiers in the North of Kabul.:#"Detainee is able to identify several members of Al Qaida and the Taliban from his stay in the ASHARA.:#"Detainee's duties were to safe keep and distribute funds for various Al-Qaida and Taliban members.

:""'b Detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States and/or it’s sic coalition partners.:# "'-missing from the transcript-:#"...involved in a grenade attack on Western journalists in the spring of 2002.

Testimony

*Asserted he was just an employee, and had no affiliation with Al Qaeda – would not have joined Al Qaeda because it was a terrorist group..

*Acknowledged translating between Al Iraqi and Satar.

*Didn't get to know any foreigners at the guesthouse because his boss wouldn't let him...

*Never handled money when he worked for Hadi. Acknowledged accepting $40,000 from Hadi, in trust, when he fled Afghanistan. Acknowledged passing it on to a single individual.

*Denied engaging in hostilities. Said that he believed that the allegation that he was involved in an attack on Western journalists was merely because he was able to inform American authorities who did launch the attack. Pointed out that he didn’t flee when Al Qaeda and the Taliban fled, because he didn’t think he had anything to fear because he hadn’t done anything wrong.

ee also

*Kathleen Kenna

References

External links

* [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13673202.htm Pentagon announces war-crimes charges against a 10th captive at Guantánamo -- an Afghan citizen] , "Miami Herald", January 20 2006
* [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_30_2048-2144.pdf Testimony by Abdul Zahir as witness for detainee Islam (p.10)] "Pentagon" "Reprocessed Combatant Status Review Tribunal"