Abdullah Khan

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdullah Khan

---

image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth year and age|1956
place_of_birth = Oruzgan, Afghanistan
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 950
group =
alias =
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = repatriated
occupation = merchant
spouse =
parents =
children =

Abdullah Khan is an Afghani held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Khan's Guantanamo ISN is 950. The Department of Defense estimates he was born in 1956.

Background

Khan testified that he was a merchant, from the Northern, Uzbek portion of Afghanistan, who traveled to Southern Kandahar Province in 2003, for the first time since before the Taliban took power.He testified he was threatened, in a Kandahar market place, by locals, who held animosity against him from his earlier visit decades earlier. He felt threatened, so went early to the home of his host Haji Shahzada.

Khan testified that his host invited another man over for dinner and that they spent the evening playing cards.The next day American forces arrested him, his host, and the other guest, based on a denunciation. Khan believed his enemies had falsely denounce him to the Americans, telling them he was the well-known Taliban Governor Khirullah Khairkhwa. Khan believed his enemies collected a large bounty through the American bounty program.

Khan told his Tribunal that his American interrogators in Afghanistan insisted they knew he was lying about his identity. He told his Tribunal they insisted they knew he was really Khirullah Khairkhwa, and that if he didn't confess they would send him to a worse place.

Khan told his Tribunal that he was sent to Guantanamo.He told his Tribunal that the other captives informed him that Guantanamo already held the real Khirullah Khairkhwa,that the real Khirullah Khairkhwa had been captured more than a year before he was captured.

Khan told his Tribunal that when his Guantanamo interrogators also insisted they knew he was Khirullah Khairkhwa he requested that they check the prison roster, and verify they already held the original Khairkhwa. He told his Tribunal that none of his interrogators checked the prison roster, because they kept leveling the accusation against him that he was Khirullah Khairkhwa.

Khan told his Tribunal that the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his Tribunal, which had been shown to him just a few days earlier, was the first time the accusation that he was Khirullah Khairkhwa was dropped.

Khan told his Tribunal that the allegations on his Summary of Evidence were brand new to him, that none of the questions his interrogators asked him were related to the allegations.

The main allegations against Khan's host Shahzada, and his fellow guest Nasrullah were that they spent the previous evening with Khirullah Khairkhwa. Shahzada was one of the 38 captives whose Tribunal determined he had not been an enemy combatant after all.Washington Post Khan and Nasrullah's Administrative Review Board hearing recommended their repatriation in 2005.

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=March 2008

Initially the Bush Presidency 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 Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

ummary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Khan'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on
January 5 2005.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000600-000699.pdf#80
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal - Khan, Abdullah
date=January 5 2005
author=OARDEC
pages=page 80
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-02-26] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:"'a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban::#The detainee was a Taliban cook for about two and one half months.:#The detainee fought for two years in the jihad against the Soviets.:#The detainee was in charge of ammunition distribution during the Russian jihad.

:"'b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition::#The detainee is alleged to have been a Taliban airfield commander.:#The detainee may have information regarding attacks against the United States and coalition forces sic.:#The detainee is suspected of moving weapons.:#The detainee discussed plans to conduct attacks against the United States and/or Coalition Forces sic.:#United States Forces arrested the detainee with two other detainees in Kandahar Province.

Transcript

Khan chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_52_3643-3869.pdf#59
title=Summarized Detainee Sworn Statement (ISN 950) "part 1"
date=date redacted
pages=pages 59-63
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-03-26] cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_52_3643-3869.pdf#14
title=Summarized Detainee Sworn Statement (ISN 950) "part 2"
date=date redacted
pages=pages 14-20
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-03-26] On March 3 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published twelve pages of summarized transcripts 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=] For unexplained reasons the Guantanamo intelligence analysts who managed his case file separated the five pages that recorded the allegations and Khan's response to them from the rest of his testimony.

Response

In response to the allegatios: [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_52_3643-3869.pdf Allegations and response (.pdf)] , from Abdullah Khan's " Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 59-63]

* Khan denied being a member of the Taliban, or having any sympathy for their ideas.
* Khan acknowledged serving as a cook for the Taliban. He offered the following account of how he came to be a cook:
* Khan acknowledged fighting the Soviet invaders. He couldn't remember whether he fought the Soviets for two years or two months. Khan acknowledged that he had been responsible for distributing bullets to other anti-Soviet fighters. Khan said the anti-Soviet commander he fought under was Neymatullah.
* Khan offered a long account of his capture and hand-over to American forces. Khan had worked in the area where he was captured prior to the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. A year after the Karzai administration took over the administration of Afghanistan Khan returned to that area, for the first time since the Taliban took power, to sell produce at a large open-air market. Khan described meeting two men he described as the murderers of two of his family members, who he felt were trying to intimidate him. Khan said he decided to proceed directly to the home of Haji Shahzada, a well off landowner he had worked for in his youth, who had invited him to spend the night at his house. Khan believed that these men played a role in the false denunciations that lead to his capture.
* Khan denied having any information regarding attacks on the United States.
* Khan responded to the allegation that he was suspected of moving weapons:
* Khan denied discussing plans to attack the United States. He had spent the evening prior to his capture having dinner and playing cards with his host Shahzada and some friends of his.

Testimony

* Khan explained that he was not Khirullah Khairkhwa, the Governor of Herat. The bounty hunters who sold him to the US said he was Khairkhwa, in order to get a higher price for him.
* Khan explained that he was a shop-keeper. He said he had a limited association with Haji Shahzada , a prominent landowner. Shahzada was also held in Guantanamo, but in another compound. Khan had done a day of grape picking for Shahzada, years prior to 9-11. More recently he had sold Shahzada a dog.
* Khan was arrested while staying at Shahzada'a house in Kandahar, while on a trip ot buy supplies for his shop. He said that this kind of hospitality, among acquaintances, who were from the same area, was not unusual in Afghan culture.
* One of the allegations against Khan was that he was an airfield commander and pilot. Khan replied that he was illiterate, and didn't even know what a pilot was.
* Shahzada submitted a written statement, which Khan's Personal Representative said confirmed Khan's account. When the Department of Defense partially complied with Judge Jed Rakoff's court order they did not include Shahzada's statement. His Personal Representative said he filed a polygraph] report that he said confirmed Khan's account.

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.cite news
url=http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/storyarchive/2007/07octstories/102907-2-oardec.html
title=OARDEC provides recommendations to Deputy Secretary of Defense
publisher=JTF Guantanamo Public Affairs
author=Army Sgt. Sarah Stannard
date=October 29 2007
accessdate=2008-03-26
quote=] 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.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Khan's Administrative Review Board.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000694-000793.pdf#78
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Khan, Abdullah
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=July 27 2005
pages=pages 78-79
accessdate=2007-10-07]

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:"'a. Commitment:#The detainee fought approximately two years in the jihad against the Russians sic. He was responsible for distributing ammunition.:#The detainee cooked for the Taliban for approximately two and a half months.:#New documentation found on the detainee says he is pro-Taliban. He may have shared this information with other detainees.:#The detainee is suspected of moving weapons.

:"'b. Connections/Associations:#During the two years the detainee support the jihad against the Russians, his commander was Namatullah Khan.:#During the two and a half months the detainee cooked for the Taliban, he worked for Mullah Omar's brother who was one of the Taliban sic Commanders.

:"'c. Other Relevant Data:#United States Forces arrested the detainee with two other detainees in Kandahar Province.:#The detainee believes that Mullah Jan (his enemy) betrayed him for money. When the U.S. announced they would pay money in exchange for a Taliban leader, the detainee believes that Jan told the Afghanistan Army and the U.S. that he was a Taliban leader.:#The detainee states that Mullah Nor Jan is from his village. The detainee's family has been enemies with Jan's family for 30 to 40 years. The feud was from years ago when Jan's family killed two of the detainee's uncles over a land dispute.:#In the September-October 2001 timefram, a foreign service prepared a list of Arabs and Afghans who were issued visas from the Pakistani Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. The detainee was issued a visa on 15 September 2001.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

:

Transcript

There is no record that Abdullah Khan chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.

Recommendations

The recommendations of his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official, were made public on September 4 2007.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Decision_memos_000583-000677.pdf#75
title=Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation for ICO ISN 950
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=October 21 2005
accessdate=2007-10-07
pages=page 75] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Decision_memos_000583-000677.pdf#77
title=Classified Record of Proceedings and basis for Administrative Review Board decision for ISN 950
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=August 25 2005
accessdate=2007-10-07
pages=page 77-81]

The Administrative Review Board's recommendations quote Abdullah Khan's Assisting Military Officers' report from his Enemy Combatant election form that he declined to attend his Tribunal because he did not want to return to Afghanistan -- that he wanted to live out the rest of his life in Guantanamo.

The recommendations were heavily redacted. It is not clear what the Board recommended. The Board's recommendation was unanimous.But the Department of Defense only made public the recommendations of captives who the Designated Civilian Official had cleared for release or transfer from Guantanamo.

Abdullah Khan's Board's recommendations contained three notable unredacted passages:
* Recruitment. Members of known terrorist organizations or known or suspected terrorist support organizations recruited the EC.
* (U) Organizational affiliations.. The EC has been a known affiliate of organizations that espouse terrorist and violent acts against the United States and its allies.
* (U) Behavior. The EC's behavior during interrogation and detention do not indicate that he poses a dangerous threat to the U.S. and its allies.

References