Mohammed Rafiq (Guantanamo detainee 495)

Mohammed Rafiq is a citizen of Pakistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Rafiq's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 495.American intelligence analysts estimate Rafiq was born in 1980, in Kabal, Pakistan.

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.

Allegations

To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 169 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released official lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef was one of those 169 detainees. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_mar05.pdf#252 Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf)] prepared for Mohammed Rafiq's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - page 252]

The allegations Rafiq faced, during his Tribunal, were::""'a. Detainee is a member of the Taliban.:#"Detainee joined the Taliban to fight against the Northern Alliance and United States.:#"Detainee stated that he attended an anti-western rally and then joined the jihad against the Americans.:#"Detainee claims to be connected with the Tarik Nafaz SharIati Muhammed Molakand Organization (TNSIMM) or Tarik Nafaz Shariati Muhammedi Molakan Danija (TNSMMD) which brought over five thousand people to Mazer-E-Sharif sic from Pakistan for Jihad in November of 2001.:#"The Tarik Nafaz Shariati Muhammedi Molakan Danija is a Pakistan based Islamic militant group that is based in the Northeast portion of Pakistan that was sent to Mazer-E-Sharif sic to fight with the Taliban forces.

Transcript

Rafiq chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_44_2922-3064.pdf#115 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Mohammed Rafiq's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 115-120]

Testimony

References