Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai

Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai is a citizen of Afghanistan, 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] Peerzai's Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 562.American intelligence analysts estimate that Peerzai was born in 1977, in Baghran, sic Afghanistan.

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.

Peerzai chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_14_1292-1317H.pdf#24 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 24-34]

allegations

The allegations against Peerzai were:

:

Testimony

Peerzai claimed to be a supporter of former King Zahir Shah. He claimed that he had defeneded the Americans to other Afghans, and told them that he was “George Bush’s soldier”

His explanation for the pocket litter was that Mullah Ehsanullah gave him these things when he was learning to read. He said the notebooks contained lists of mundane items, bread from the bakery, a petrol.

He said he was captured in Kajaki, not Klianjki.

He also admitted he was jailed in Iran, in 1990 or 1991, for nine years, for smuggling hashish.

He said he was falsely denounced by Said Shah and Haji Abdul Khaliq.

Habeas corpus

Two separate writs of habeas corpus were filed on behalf of captive 562.They were file under the names: "Ahsanullah Pirzai" and "Ihsan Ullah Peerzai", Pirzai v. Bush, 05-CV-1242 and Peerzai v. Bush, 05-CV-1243.cite web
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/OK_v_Bush/govt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf
title=RESPONDENTS’ RESPONSE TO COURT’S AUGUST 7, 2006 ORDER
date=August 15 2006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-23] The Department of Defense published unclassified documents related to the habeas petitions of 179 captives.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 documents arising from either of the two petitions files on behalf of captive 562.

Both cases were filed before US District Court Judge RCL. The two cases have consecutive case numbers.

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. 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.

Peerzai chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_7_20497-20750.pdf#134 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 134]

Enemy Combatant Election Form

Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai's transcript does not include his Assisting Military Officer reading from his or hernotes recorded on the Enemy Combatant Election Form.

"The following primary factors favor continued detention:"

:""'a. Commitment:#"The detainee was arrested in early February 2002 in the village of Kajacki in the Helmand Province.:#"The detainee was identified as Taliban and turned over to Americans "sic" by two individuals for whom he worked.:#"When captured, the detainee was in possession of pocket litter containing a list of known Taliban.:#"Notebooks found on the detainee at the time of the capture contain codes know "sic" to be used by the Taliban.:#"The detainee confirmed that he had two million Afghanis in his possession when arrested. He claims 600,000 came from his brother, 1,000,000 from his father and 400,000 were his own.

:""'b. Connections/Associations:#"The detainee tried on at least two occasions to get a job with the Taliban government.:#"The detainee worked as a clerk for Haji Mullah Sharif Adin who was the Governor of the Tangi "sic" of Kajaki District.:#"Haji Sharif Adin worked for the Taliban Intelligence Chief, Qari Hamid Ghul, during the Taliban rule.:#"Haji Sharif Adin was expected to attend a meeting at the home of Haji Ghul Agha. Agha is responsible for an explosion in front of the Kandahar Mayor's office in May 2002.:#"Agha and the Hezbe Islami Gulbuddin "sic" are suspected of planning several of the recent bombings in Kandahar and are planning to target U.S. personnel in the near future.:#"Hezbe Islami Gulbuddin "sic" (HIG) has long established ties with bin Laden. HIG has staged small attacks in it's "sic" attempt to force U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, overthrow the Afghan Transitional Administration, and establish a fundamentalist state.:#"The detainee had a working relationship with persons known by him to be associated with the Taliban.

:""'c. Other relevant data:#"The detainee spent 9 years and 4 months in various Iranian prisons for possession of hashish, which he had been trafficking.:#"The detainee is extremely evasive and uses multiple resistance techniques. He was likely recruited by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) or the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), trained and returned to Afghanistan as a collector and for operational use.:#"Contacts with al Qaida were said to have been established through the Iranian Ministry Intelligence and Security (MOIS). All Iranian Intelligence Chiefs had contact with al Qaida as of the mid 1990's "sic".

"The following primary factors favor release or transfer:"

:

Response to the factors

Response to Board questions

References