Adel Abdulhehim

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Adel Abdulhehim


image_size = 220px
image_caption = Left to Right: Ahmed Adil, Adil Abdul Hakim, Abu Bakr Qassim
date_of_birth = Birth date|1974|10|10
place_of_birth = Ghulja, China
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 293
group =
alias = A'Del Abdu al-Hakim
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = Refugee in Albania
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Adel Abdulhehim, (also known as A'Del Abdu al-Hakim or Adil Abdul Hakim)is a citizen of the People's Republic of China from the Uighur ethnic group who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States-controlled 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] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 293.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report he was born on October 10 1974, in Ghulja, Xinjiang.

Abdulhehim was captured in late 2001, and detained as a suspected terrorist in Camp Delta where he was assigned detainee ID number 293. He is one of the 38 detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal concluded he had not been an "illegal combatant" after all.

Abdulhehim is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.

According to an article distributed by the Associated Press, Abdulhehim, his compatriot Abu Baker Qassim, and eight others were moved from imprisonment at the main compound of Camp Delta to a less harsh imprisonment at Camp Iguana. [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/washington/17cnd-knowlton.html?ex=1146542400&en=394e0d61fde6a23a&ei=5070
title=Supreme Court Rejects Bid by Guantanamo Detainees
publisher=New York Times
author=Knowlton, Brian
date=17 April 2006
accessdate=2006-04-30
quote=]

A February 18 2006 article in the Washington Times claimed that Abu Bakker Qassim and "A'Del Abdu al-Hakim" had received military training in Afghanistan. [ [http://washingtontimes.com/world/20060217-105337-6696r.htm U.S. hit on human rights] . Washington Times. 18 February 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2006.] It reported they were not classified as "illegal combatants" because they intended to go home and employ their training against the Chinese government, and were released. [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"] , "Washington Post"] Some earlier reports had described them as economic refugees who were slowly working their way to Turkey.

Bounty

Hakim and Abu Bakker Qassim report they were sold to US forces by bounty hunters.cite web
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/Parhat_v_Gates/pet_mot_po_20061218.pdf
title=Parhat v. Gates Case No: 06-1397
publisher=Department of Justice
date=December 18, 2006
accessdate=2007-09-14] cite news
date=February 13, 2006
title=Innocent, but in limbo at Guantánamo: Five Chinese Muslims, captured in Pakistan by mistake, try to get the US Supreme Court to take their case.
author=Warren Richey
publisher=Christian Science Monitor
accessdate=2007-09-14]

:

The information paper also identified him as "Muhammad Qadir".

CSRT-Yescite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000300-000399.pdf#37
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Abdulhehim, Adel
date=10 November 2004
pages=page 37
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-12-19] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:"'a. The detainee is associated with an sic al Qaida and the Taliban::#In June 2001, the detainee traveled from Kyrgyzstan to Jalalabad, Afghanistan via Pakistan, then on to the Eastern Turkistan Uighur Party (ETUP) training camp at Tora Bora, Afghanistan.:#The detainee received training on the AK-47 assault rifle at a Uighur training camp.:#The training camp was provided to the Uighurs by the Taliban.:#The ETIM operated facilities in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in which Uighur expatriates underwent small arms training. These camps were funded by Bin Laden and the Taliban.

:"'b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.:#The detainee, along with others, fled their camp when the United States bombing campaign began.:#The detainee was captured in Pakistan along with other Uighur fighters.

Transcript

Abdulhehim chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_15_1318-1362.pdf#36
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=pages 36-45
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-04-23] On March 3 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a ten page 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=]

Testimony

Al-Hakim acknowledged traveling from Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan, via Pakistan. He said that he left China in 1999, looking for work and that he was planning to work his way to Turkey. In Pakistan he had applied for a visa to Iran. He heard about a small community of Uyghurs in Afghanistan, where he could receive military training, to use against the Chinese occupiers of East Turkestan.

Al-Hakim said that the camp was in poor shape, and that the Uyghurs spent most of their time reconstructing the buildings. He acknowledged getting a couple of days training on the AK-47. (Some other Uyghurs said they received only a few hours.)

Al-Hakim said he was told the property was made available by "some big tribe". He said he had no idea if the property had anything to do with the Taliban. He said when he arrived no one spoke about the ETIM or any other organization. He said he was not invited to join any organizations.

Al-Hakim acknowledged fleeing the US bombs. But he said he had no ties whatsoever with anyone who had attacked the USA.

Al-Hakim acknowledged that 18 Uyghurs had fled the camp together, were captured together, and brought to Guantanamo together. However he said they weren't fighters.

In answer to questions from the tribunal's officers:
*Al-Hakim repeated that he had no resentment or animosity against the United States. He hadn't attacked the United States, and he had no intention of doing so in the future.
*Al-Hakim said he had never been a member of a political party or organization.
*Al-Hakim found out about the camp from an Uyghur he met in Pakistan named Abdulla Salim. Salim said he could go to the camp, and he would let him know when his visa for Iran was ready.
*Al-Hakim said he wanted to go to Turkey because the Chinese occupiers didn't treat their native Turkic people well. He said he had heard of a leather-work factory in Turkey that paid good wages to people from Turkestan who were skilled in leatherwork.
*Al-Hakim said he had traveled to Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan on legitimate travel documents. He didn't need a visa to cross into Afghanistan.

Witness

Abdulhehim's witness was Abu Bakr Qasim. He testified he met Al-Hakim in a bazaar in Kyrgyzstan. He said they did the same kind of work, but that it was difficult for them to do business in Kyrgyzstan because the local police kept trying to squeeze them for bribes. He said that the police had killed some men who wouldn't pay a bribe. This was why they wanted to try to get to Turkey.

Qasim said they had left their passports in Pakistan because they didn't need them to cross the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, and the man helping them get their visas needed access to them to get the visas.

Qasim said that they were at the camp for about three months. That in addition to the construction work they had learned to read the Quran.

Qasim said that camp was run by a person named Abdul Hag.

eeking asylum

In December 2005 Judge James Robertson reviewed the detention of Abu Bakker Qassim and A'Del Abdu al-Hakim. [http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/12/13/ap2389374.html Judge Weighs Order to Release Two at Gitmo] , "Forbes", December 13 2005] Robertson declared that their "indefinite imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay is unlawful," but also ruled on separation of powers grounds that he did not have the power to order their release into the United States. [http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/G/GUANTANAMO_DETAINEES?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=SPORTS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Two Guantanamo Detainees to Stay in Custody] , "New York Post", December 22 2005] Qassim and Hakim immediately appealed.

A February 18 2006 article in the Washington Times reported that Abu Bakker Qassim and A'Del Abdu al-Hakim had received military training in Afghanistan. [http://washingtontimes.com/world/20060217-105337-6696r.htm U.S. hit on human rights] , "Washington Times", February 18 2006] It said they were not classified as "illegal combatants" because they intended to go home and employ their training against the Chinese government. Some earlier reports had described them as economic refugees, who were slowly working their way to Turkey.

Press reports

To the BBC Abdul Hakim said in January 2007 that "Albanian people are very welcoming and there are many Muslim brothers here". [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6242891.stm Guantanamo Uighurs' strange odyssey] , "BBC", January 11 2007]

However, in Albania Hakim was separated from his wife and their three children, as Albania did not permit family-reunification. In November 2007 he was granted a 4-day visa to Sweden, to lecture about human rights in Stockholm. Since his sister lived in Sweden, he applied for asylum there. However, in June 2008 the immigration authorities in Sweden announced that Hakim had been denied political asylum. [ [http://www.sr.se/ekot/arkiv.asp?DagensDatum=2008-06-19&Artikel=2145594 Frisläppt Guantánamofånge utvisas] , 19 juni 2008, Swedish State Broadcaster.]

On June 15 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Adel Abdulhehim. cite news
url=http://services.mcclatchyinteractive.com/detainees?page=2
title=Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 2
publisher=McClatchy News Service
author=Tom Lasseter
date=June 15 2008
accessdate=2008-06-16
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fservices.mcclatchyinteractive.com%2Fdetainees%3Fpage%3D2&date=2008-06-18 mirror] ] cite news
url=http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/25
title=Guantanamo Inmate Database: Adel Abdulhehim
publisher=McClatchy News Service
author=Tom Lasseter
date=June 15 2008
accessdate=2008-06-16
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdetainees.mcclatchydc.com%2Fdetainees%2F25&date=2008-08-01 mirror] ] The McClatchy interview records his account of his "military training" in the Uyghur construction camp:

References

* [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GUANTANAMO_DETAINEES?SITE=GAVAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Judge Asks Status of Gitmo Detainees] , "South Georgia Online", August 25 2005
* [http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/12/13/ap2389374.html Judge Weighs Order to Release Two at Gitmo] , "Forbes", December 13 2005