Abdulrahim Kerimbakiyev

Abdulrahim Kerimbakiyev is a citizen of Kazakhstan held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment 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] Kerimbakiev detainee ID number was 521.The Department of Defense reports that Kerimbakiev was born on January 4 1983 in Semei, Kazakhstan.

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.

Kerimbakiev chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_1_0001-0097.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 1-9]

ummary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Rahim Kerimbakiev's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 22 September 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000400-000499.pdf#42
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Kerimbakiev, Abdul Rahim
date=22 September 2004
pages=page 42
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-01-15] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:"'a. The detainee is associated with Taliban and al Qaida::#The Detainee traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan from Kazakhstan in September, 2000.:#Detainee’s travel route took him through Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar, Pakistan and through Kandahar, Afghanistan.:#The Detainee has family ties to known terrorists in Pakistan.:#One of Detainee’s “family ties” is a member of a terrorist group responsible for attacks in Uzbekistan.:#The Detainee resided in Taliban provided housing and worked as a cook in a Taliban camp.:#The Detainee was captured in December 2001 at his house in Kabul.

Testimony

Kerimbakiev acknowledged traveling to Kabul in September 2000. He traveled with ten family members, his grandmother and siblings. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_1_0001-0097.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 1-9]

He denied having any relatives in Pakistan.

He denied that any of his family were tied to any terrorist group in Uzbekistan.

He confirmed being capured in 2001, in the middle of Ramadan.

He said he and his family were driven to travel to Afghanistan through poverty. He acknowledged that the Taliban had provided them with a house, where he tried to grow vegetables.

Kerimbakiev seemed confused by many of the Tribunal's questions, and didn't answer many of them. His Tribunal asked, several times, what he did in return for the Taliban's generosity. It is one of the questions he didn't answer.

Administrative Review Board hearings

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.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev's first annual Administrative Review Board, on May 2 2005.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_001046-001160.pdf#43
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of
date=May 2 2005
pages=pages 43-44
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-01-13] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:"'a. Commitment:#The detainee traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan from Kazakhstan in September 2000.:#Detainee's travel route took him through Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar, Pakistan and through Kandahar, Afghanistan.:#The detainee was recruited by the Taliban in Kazakhstan.:#The detainee was captured in December 2001 at his house in Kabul, Afghanistan.

:"'b. Connections/Associations:#The detainee has family ties to known terrorists in Pakistan.:#One of the detainee's "family ties" is a member of a terrorist group responsible for attacks in Uzbekistan.:#The detainee is a member of the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party/Movement (ETIP/ETIM).:#The detainee and his family were financially supported by the Taliban and resided in Taliban provided housing. In October 2001, the detainee departed Kabul, Afghanistan to work as a cook at a Taliban Military Camp.:#The detainee and the individuals he traveled with, chose a cover story for their recruitment in Kazakhstan.

:"'c. Other Relevant Data::Anti-Taliban Forces in Kabul, Afghanistan captured the detainee and seven other al Qaida members; there were also 3 anti-aircraft missiles confiscated at the time.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

::The detainee denied having any terrorist affiliation or information about terrorist activities directed or planned against the United States. He further denied knowing about anyone possibly having such information.

Missing Transcript

Kerimbakiev had agreed to cooperate in an interview with his Assisting Military Officer, but he chose not to attend his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_1_395-584.pdf#136 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - pages 136-137] His Assisting Military Officer submitted a summary of his interview with Kerimbakiev to the Board.The Department of Defense did not include that summary together with the transcript that mentions it.

econd annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 8 April 2006.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_599-699.pdf#14
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Kerimbakiev, Abdulrahim
date=8 April 2006
pages=pages 14-16
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-01-15] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:"'a. Commitment:#The detainee and his family departed Kazakhstan for Afghanistan in September 2000. They traveled from Kazakhstan to Kabul, Afghanistan via Karachni, Islamabad, and Peshawar, Pakistan and then through Kandahar, Afghanistan.:#The detainee and his family lived in Kabul, Afghanistan in a house assigned to them by Taliban officials.:#In Kabul, Afghanistan the Taliban supported the detainee's entire family financially for thirteen months while the detainee and his three brothers studied the Koran full-time at a nearby mosque.:#In Kabul, Afghanistan the detainee and a friend worked as assistant cooks with the Taliban for 10 Afghani Rupees twice per month.

:"'b Connections/Associations:#The detianee's uncle worked for the Taliban as a simple soldier.:#The detainee and his friend were offered jobs as Taliban cooks by an associate fo the detainee's uncle.:#According to a foreign government service, the detainee was a first-generation sic member of extremists sic associated with a criminal/jihadist group in Almaty, Kazakhstan who left Kazakhstan for Afghanistan circa 2001.:#According to a foreign government service, the detainee traveled to Afghanistan to join the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party/Movement leader to become a terrorist.:#The Department of Homeland Security lists the Eastern Turkistan sic Islamic Movement as a foreign terrorist organization. It is described as a small Islamic extremist group based in China's western Xinjiang Province and it is one of the most militatn of the ethnic Uighur separatist groups. This group is suspected of having received training and financial Assistance from al Qaida.

:"'c. Intent::The detainee renounced his Kazak citizenship, stating that he abandoned it when he moved to Afghanistan. The detainee stated that if he was released he would attempt to move to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

:"'d. Other Relevant Data:#The detainee was captured by United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan troops on 2 December 2001, during Ramadan, in Sharakambar, Kabul district sic, Afghanistan.:#The detainee was captured in a group of eight people assessed to be al Qaida members.:#When asked what his thoughts were regarding the attacks on America, the detainee laughed and smiled.:#The detainee has a history of being non-cooperative and has stated to previous interrogators that he is proud of himself for resisting during questioning.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

:

Release

The Associated Press reports that three of the four Kazakh detainees in Guantanamo were repatriated and set free. [cite news |author=Associated Press |url=http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=19889 |title=Three ex-Guantánamo detainees free in Kazakhstan |work=The St. Petersburg Times |date=2006-12-26 |accessdate=2008-06-18] According to the Herald Magrupov, Ihlkham Battayev and Yakub Abahanov were the three released men.Fact|date=June 2008

ee also

*Terrorism in Kazakhstan

References