Awal Gul

Awal Gul is a citizen of Afghanistan, 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] Awal Gul's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 782. The Department of Defense reports Awal Gul was born on July 1 1962.
Sawati Ghundi, Afghanistan.

Press reports

"USA Today" reported that Awal Gul: "...had played a key role in persuading Taliban commanders to surrender Nangarhar Province to a council of tribal leaders."cite news
url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/24/alert.htm
title=U.S. forces mark Christmas on alert
publisher=USA Today
date=December 25 2001
accessdate=2008-05-20
quote=]

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

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.

Gul chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_11_1145-1178.pdf#13 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Awal Gul's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 13-28]

Allegations

The allegations against Gul were: [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_11_1145-1178.pdf#13 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Awal Gul's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 13-28] :""'a. Detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with al Qaida.:#"Detainee was trained in the use of Stinger missiles in Pakistan:#"Detainee associated with Usama Bin Laden on three occasions.:#"Detainee served intermittently as commander of a Taliban supply base near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for ten years.

:""'b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or its coalition partners.:#"Detainee fought against the Northern Alliance in Kabul on the Gul-Da-Da-Ra front lines and was the commander of a ten-man unit.:#"Detainee was the commander of “Taliban Unit Four,” a 250-soldier unit, for approximately five years.

Testimony

Gul told his Tribunal that he had served with the Taliban. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_11_1145-1178.pdf#13 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Awal Gul's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 13-28] That he had submitted several written resignations, which had not been accepted, but which had caused him to demoted to mind an empty warehouse. He told his Tribunal he thought the Taliban would have killed him if he had tried to resign, without permissions. After the Taliban fell he enlisted with an anti-Taliban leader named Hazrat Ali. However, when Ali learned he had worked for the Taliban he told him he had to turn himself in.

Gul told his Tribunal he thought he surrendered on February 10 2002. [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/56CE220C-CDE0-4068-9D17-5F623FCE58EA.htm Extracts from prisoners' hearings] , "Al Jazeera", March 4 2006] However press reports his capture on December 25 2001. [http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/strike/1225alert.html U.S. Marines move to state of alert] , December 25 2001] [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011226/world.htm#3 Commander held for aiding Al-Qaida] , "Tribune India", December 25 2001]

References