Abdul Matin

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdul Matin

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image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth =
place_of_birth =
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 1002
group =
alias = Abdul Mateen, Shah Zada
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status =
occupation = Science teacher
spouse =
parents =
children =

Abdul Matin is a citizen of Afghanistan 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 1002.

One reason Matin is notable is that one of the reasons he was detained was that he was captured wearing a Casio F91W digital watch. [http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060310/NEWS07/603100334/1009 Casios cited as evidence at Guantanamo] , "Detroit Free Press", March 10 2006] [ [http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/gtmo/casio_48_3273_abdul.pdf Casio page of Abdul Matin's] Combatant Status Review Tribunal]

Matin testified at his CSR Tribunal, in 2004, about images from Abu Zubaydah's interrogation being shown to captives, by their interrogators, during their own interrogations, when the existence of these images was being withheld from the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Identity

Captive 1002 was identified as Abdul Matin on both official lists. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006] [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] But he testified to his Administrative Review Board that for the first six months he was in US custody his interrogators insisted he was really named Shah Zada. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_10_21352-21661.pdf#192 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Abdul Matin's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 192-202 - August 2005] Abdul Matin said he had his Red Cross visitors to thank for helping with letters that satisfied the Americans that he was not Shah Zada.

Captive 1002 was identified as Abdul Mateen by Lieutenant Colonel David N. Cooper, military lawyer who certified the documents released from captive 1002's dossier in response to his petition for habeas corpus.cite news
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/publicly_filed_CSRT_records_4414-4515.pdf#30
title=Abdul Mateen v. George W. Bush: Declaration of David N. Cooper
pages=page 30
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=February 7 2007
accessdate=2007-11-12]

The release of the other two men the USA called Shahzada

Abdul Matin testified that he learned that Guantanamo contained another captive who the Americans called Shahzada, who had already been released. In fact the USA called two other Guantanamo captives Shahzada, and they had released both of them. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_50_3381-3489.pdf#88 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Haji Shahzada's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 88-96] [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"] , "Washington Post"] cite news
url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/05/14/gitmo.inmates.reut/index.html
title=U.S. divulges new details on released Gitmo inmates
date=May 14 2007
publisher=CNN
accessdate=May 19]
accessyear=2007] cite news
url=http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1433833520070514
title=FACTBOX: Pentagon releases data on former Gitmo detainees
date= May 14, 2007
publisher=Reuters
accessdate=May 19]
accessyear=2007] According to Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a DoD spokesman, the first Guantanamo captive the USA called Shahzada, whose real name was Mohammed Yusif Yaqub, was really an unrepentant Taliban commander, who returned to the battlefield in 2003, and was killed in combat on May 7 2004.Gordan claimed Mohammed Yusif Yaqub really had been a Taliban commander all along, who had fooled American intelligence analysts into releasing him.

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.

Matin chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_48_3249-3297.pdf#23 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdul Matin's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 23-50]

Allegations

The allegations Abdul Matin faced, during his Tribunal, were: [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_48_3249-3297.pdf#23 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdul Matin's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 23-50] :

Transcript

Matin chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_10_21352-21661.pdf#192 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Abdul Matin's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 192-202 - August 2005]

Enemy Combatant Election Form

Abdul Matin's
Assisting Military Officermet for 30 minutes on August 26 2005.His Assisting Military Officer's officers notes record that Abdul Matin was "very polite" during their interview.A copy of his Summary of Evidence memo translated into Farsi. was left with Abdul Matin.

Response to the factors

*Abdul Matin denied being given a position by Taliban intelligence official Sharifuddin. He denied knowing Sharifuddin. He acknowledged meeting Sharifuddin exactly once, in 1998, when Sharifuddin imprisoned him for several months.
*Abdul Matin denied being a threat while at Sherbergan prison. He said that he spent his entire time there with an untreated broken leg, that did not permit him to walk to the latrine, and he spent much of that time sitting in clothes soiled by his own waste. He explained to his board that the Sherbergan prison was a corrupt, for-profit enterprise. Knowing that he was rich the prison authorities had tried to extort $30,000 from him, or they would turn him over to the Americans.

Abdul Matin's account of himself

*Abdul Matin said he had left Afghanistan in 1981, shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and had live most of the next 20 years as a refugee in Pakistan.
*Abdul Matin had made annual trips to Afghanistan, to collect rent. He was his father's heir, and owned 3500 acres, and several dozen storefronts. By Afghan standards he was a rich man. Unfortunately that wealth had triggered animosity, both during the Taliban regime, and during Hamid Karzai's administration.
*Abdul Matin's 1998 capture by Sharifuddin, the Taliban intelligence official the allegations named as his boss, had been triggered by jealousy over his wealth.
*Abdul Matin said he had been working as a Science teacher in Pakistan.
*Abdul Matin said the Hamid Karzai had advertized requesting Afghan emigres with professional skills, doctors, nurses, teachers, to return home, because their skills were desperately needed. So he returned. However, he had only been back in home town for one day when he his leg was broken by a terrorist explosion in the bazaar. The same explosion that injured him killed or wounded 160 other people.
*Abdul Matin appealed to an acquaintance for help. He didn't know anyone well after his long absence

econd annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Matin'ssecond annualAdministrative Review Board, on 4 April 2006.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_900-1009.pdf#13
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Matin, Abdul
date=4 April 2006
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 13-15
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-11-12] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

Transcript

Abdul Matin chose to participate in his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing.cite news
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Transcript_2698-2800.pdf#20
title=Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings for ISN 1002
pages=pages 20-26
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=April 2006
accessdate=2007-11-12] The summarized transcript from his hearing was 26 pages long.

Discussion of classified evidence

Abdul Matin and his Board's Presiding Officer had a discussion over the classified evidence against him.His Presiding Officer clarified that he would not be allowed to learn of, or try to refute, any of the classified evidence against him.

Enemy Combatant election form

Abdul Matin and his Assisting Military Officer met on April 12 2006.His Assisting Military Officer described him as "...very cooperative and cordial throughout the interview."Abdul Matin was given Persian copy of the Summary of Evidence memos.

His Assisting Military Officer told his Board that Abdul Matin was originally reluctant to attend his second Board hearing because he was disappointed in the outcome from his attendance at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal and his first Board hearing.

References