Abdul Ahmad

Abdul Ahmad is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Ahmad's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 956.American intelligence analysts estimate that Ahmad was born in 1954, in
Roy E Sang 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 tribunal 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 Abdul Ahmed'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on 6 October 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000600-000699.pdf#88
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Ahmed, Abdul
date=2004-10-06
page=page 88
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:

Transcript

Ahmad chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_23_1742-1789.pdf#27
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=pages 27-32
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29] On March 3 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a six 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

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.

Ahmad chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_10_21352-21661.pdf#30 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Abdul Ahmad's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 30-41]

Board recommendations

In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Decision_memos_000678-000765.pdf#1
title=Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 956
date=27 December 2005
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29
page=page 1] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Decision_memos_000583-000677.pdf#95
title=Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 956
date=27 December 2005
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29
page=page 95-96] [The Department of Defense published two separate versions of this memo.] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Decision_memos_000678-000765.pdf#2
title=Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 956
date=17 October 2005
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29
pages=pages 2-8] The Board's recommendation was unanimousThe Board's recommendation was redacted.England authorized his transfer on 27 December 2005.

Reports of release

Alan Pfeuffer, a lawyer who volunteered to aid Ahmad with his writ of habeas corpus, was told on February 22 2007, that Ahmad had been released.cite news
url=http://www.columbusdispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/30/secured.ART_ART_05-30-07_A1_CK6S2EM.html
title=Lawyer's defense of terror suspects an endurance test
date=Wednesday, May 30 2007
author=Kevin Mayhood
publisher=The Columbus Dispatch
accessdate=2007-05-30]

Pfeuffer was appointed to aid Ahmad in October 2005, shortly before the passage of the Detainee Treatment Act. In 2006 Pfeuffer was told that the passage of the Detainee Treatment Act restricted Guantanamo captives from launching new habeas corpus appeals. So Pfeuffer was prohibited from visiting, phoning or writing Ahmad. Pfeuffer did, however, make a visit to Afghanistan to interview witnesses who could corroborate his story and that of his other Afghan client Ahsanallah Pirzai.

Pfeuffer did find Afghans who knew Ahmad who confirmed that Ahmad was a schoolteacher, and that he had no ties to the Taliban. He told "The Columbus Dispatch" that he had no idea whether his clients really had been released, or whether they were in an Afghan prison. He told the Dispatch he had no idea whether his clients had ever learned of the efforts he had made on their behalf.

As of March 18 2008 the "Washington Post" list Ahmad as still in detention in Guantanamo.cite news
url=http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/#afghanistan
title=Names of the Detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
publisher=Washington Post
accessdate=2008-03-18
quote=]

References