Salih Uyar

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Salih Uyar

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image_size =
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date_of_birth = Birth year and age|1962
place_of_birth =
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
citizenship = Turkish
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 298
group =
alias =
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = no longer enemy combatant, released
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Salih Uyar is a citizen of Turkey, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] [http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/guantanamo/030506DetailsOfSome.htm Details of some Guantanamo hearings] , "Centre for International Policy", March 5 2006] His detainee ID number is 298.

Casio watch

When the Department of Defense was forced to comply with US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff's court order to release the documents from the Guantanamo detainees's Combatant Status Review Tribunals Uyar's name came to light. [http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/guantanamo/030506DetailsOfSome.htm Details of some Guantanamo hearings] , "Centre for International Policy", March 5 2006] '

One of the reasons he was detained was that he was captured wearing a Casio F91W digital watch. [http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/guantanamo/030506DetailsOfSome.htm Details of some Guantanamo hearings] , "Centre for International Policy", March 5 2006]

Uyar asked his Tribunal: "If it's a crime to carry this watch, your own military personnel also carry this watch, too, Does that mean that they're just terrorists as well?" [http://www.ciponline.org/cuba/guantanamo/030506DetailsOfSome.htm Details of some Guantanamo hearings] , "Centre for International Policy", March 5 2006]

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 Salih UyarCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on 15 December 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000300-000399.pdf#40
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Uyar, Salih
date=15 December 2004
pages=page 40
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-05-26] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:

Transcript

Uyar chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/guantanamo/SalihUyar.pdf#15
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=page 15
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-05-26] 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=]

Allegations

The allegations that Uyar faced during his Tribunal were: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/guantanamo/SalihUyar.pdf Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Salih Uyar's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - [] ]

Testimony

Uyar acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan, and various other countries, as part of an informal independent study program. One of the things he was trying to teach himself was Arabic.He acknowledged losing his passport when he tried to leave Afghanistan on foot, after the US started bombing Afghanistan, and Pakistan closed the border crossings. He acknowledged owning a Casio watch, but he only carried it to tell time. He wasn't aware that terrorists used it to build bombs. He also pointed out that the Guantanamo guards wore the same model, and asked if that made them terrorists. Uyar said he believed he had accounted for all fourteen months he spent in Afghanistan.Uyar denied that the person he had stayed with prior to the US attacks was an al Qaida member.

A Tribunal member asked for further details about his host, and, in particular, his occupation. Uyar said that his host was a refugee from Iran, and, so far as he could tell, he didn't have a job.

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", 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 Uyar, and three other watch owners::"If it is a crime to carry this watch, your own military personnel also carry this watch. Does this mean they’re just terrorists as well?"

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

According to "The Washington Post" Uyar was one of the detainees who was determined not to have been an "enemy combatant" after all. [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"] , "Washington Post"] They report that Uyar has been released.

Habeas corpus

A writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf.cite news
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/In_re_Gitmo/gov_mot_to_dismiss_20070419.pdf
title=Exhibit C: List of No Longer Enemy Combant Detainees With Pending Habeas Corpus Petitions Who Have Been Released From United States Custody
page=page 64
pages=
publisher=United States Department of Justice
author=
date=April 17 2007
accessdate=2008-05-05
quote=] It was amalgamated with other petitions, and heard by US District Court Judge Reggie Walton, as part of Mohammon v. Bush.

In September 2007 the United States Department of Defense published 179 dossiers in response to captives' habeas petitions.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_publicly_filed_CSRT_records.pdf
title=Index for CSRT Records Publicly Files in Guantanamo Detainee Cases
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=August 8 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29] But they did not publish his.

References