Ghanim Abdul Rahman Al Harbi

Ghanim Abdul Rahman Al Harbi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba until July 16 2007. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Al Harbi's Guantanamo detainee ID number was 516.The Department of Defense reports that Al Harbi was born in March 13 1974, in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

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.

Al Harbi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_44_2922-3064.pdf#100 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Ghanim Abdul Rahman Al Harbi's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 100-105]

allegations

During all of the Tribunals the unclassified allegations the detainee faced was read aloud. During most of the Tribunals the allegations were read aloud a second time, while the detainee responded to each in turn. And most of transcripts of those Tribunals contained the allegations, as they were read aloud.

Al Harbi's transcript contains an extended statement. The allegations against him are not included.

Al Harbi's statement

Al Harbi acknowledged receiving military training at the al Farouq training camp.

Al Harbi acknowledged working for the International Islamic Relief Organization in Saudi Arabia prior to traveling to Afghanistan. "(The IIRO is one of the charities American intelligence analysts allege is tied to terrorism.)

Al Harbi acknowledged meeting Abu Zubair Al Haylee. He acknowledged Abu Zubair talked to himabout fighting for the Taliban, but::"I made it clear to him, the fighting was between Muslims and it was against my religion to participate in such a fight. We spoke for about thirty minutes and I never saw him again."

Al Harbi denied engaging in any hostilities in Afghanistan. He denied any contact with al Qaeda.Al Harbi insisted that al Qaeda "defies and goes against every value or principle I was raised with."

Al Harbi said that after attending al Farouq he did humanitarian work with a Kuwaiti charity.But when the Northern Alliance advanced on the Taliban occupied portion of Afghanistan, after allying with the USA, following the attacks on 9-11, he heard Afghanistan was not safe for Arabs.He heard the Northern Alliance was arbitrarily executing Arabs who fell into their hands.So he fled with a group of Arabs. According to Al Harbi he and all his traveling companionswere unarmed civilians refugees.

Al Harbi said the group of about 40 he was fleeing with entered an Afghan village, which wasthen targeted by an US aerial bombardment. Al Harbi was wounded. He said about seventyof the villagers were killed.

Al Harbi said he was then captured by Northern Alliance forces, who didn't abuse him.Rather he said that during the month and a half he spent in hospital he was visited bya solicitous senior Northern Alliance commander.

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.

Al Harbi chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_7_20497-20750.pdf#44 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Ghanim Abdul Rahman Al Harbi's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 44-56]

Factors for and against Al Harbi's continued detention

A "Summary of Evidence" memo was prepared for all captives whose continued detention was considered by an Administrative Review Board. All those memos had the factors separated into those that favored detention, and those that favored release or transfer to the custody of the authorities of their home country. The factors favoring detention were further broken down into subcategories, like "Training", "Intent", "Commitment", "Connections", "Associations", and "Hostile Activity". The factors in each subcategory were always numbered.

The factors in those memos were always read aloud, at least once, during the open session of the Board hearings. Most captives who attended their hearings chose to have the factors read aloud, one at a time, so they could respond to each, in turn. Most transcripts recorded the headings, the subheadings, and the numbering scheme. But Al Harbi's didn't.

* "The detainee responded to a fatwa that requires all Muslims to train and be prepared to defend Islam at any time.
* "A senior al Qaida facilitator identified the detainee as training at the al Farouq camp in Afghanistan in 2000. The facilitator said he often saw the detainee prior to 11 September 2001 but that he had not heard anything about him since September 2001.
* "The detainee was at al Farouq from July-September 4 2001.
* "The detainee was questioned in 1997 by a foreign government service because they wanted to know why the detainee's phone number was found in the pocket of a man who protested against that foreign government.
* "In the summer of 2000, three months prior to leaving for Afghanistan, the detainee began working as a volunteer for the Islamic Relief Organization, based out of Jeddah. He volunteered twice weekly in the finance department.
* "The detainee stayed at an Arab house in the Haji Habash neighborhood of Kandahar.
* "The Haji Habash house is an al Qaida maintained safehouse. The house was typically used for Arabs going to military training.
* "A person that went to Afghanistan to join the drug trade identified the detainee as issuing a fatwa against the United States and talking about jihad against the United States once the detainee is released.
* "The detainee was arrested in 1998 for involvement in protests against a foreign government service, and place on a travel restriction list issued in November 1999.
* "In August 2001, the detainee traveled by bus from his hometown of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to Manama, Bahrain, where he continued his trip by air to Karachi, Pakistan.
* "The detainee chose this route because he was not allowed to travel outside of Saudi Arabia and it was common knowledge that Saudi immigration and border officials rarely scrutinized the passports of individuals traveling by bus through this particular checkpoint.
* "Usama Bin Laden came to speak at al Farouq camp three weeks after the detainee arrived. Attendance to the speech was encouraged, but the detainee did not attend due to fear of being investigated upon return to Saudi Arabia.
* "A guide that that the detainee hired to help him leave the country via Jalalabad said it was not safe so he took the detainee to the Tora Bora Mountains and turned him over to a group of approximately 65 Arabs traveling toward the border on November 14th.
* "The group stayed in the Tora Bora Mountains for the entire period of Ramadan.
* "On the 29th of Ramadan, two guides were going to take the group to the Pakistani border, when intense bombing started. The detainee was wounded. He stayed three days in a valley with the other wounded before a group of Afghanis picked them up.
* "The detainee turned himself in to the Northern Alliance and was taken to a hospital in Jalalabad where he stayed for one and a half months.
*"After his hospital stay, the detainee was turned over to the United States and transported to Cuba two weeks later.
*"The detainee had two cousins who took up arms against the Iraqis during the 1990 Gulf War. They were taken prisoner by the Iraqis and have not been seen since.
*"The detainee's two missing cousins and watching innocent Kuwaitis being killed caused the detainee to think about getting military training to protect his land in case of a similar invasion. The detainee said that based on the teachings of Islam, it was his duty to prepare for the possibility of war.
*"While at Farouq, the detainee did not attend Usama Bin Laden's speech because he does not agree with Usama Bin Laden's teachings nor does he respect him as a religious leader.
*"The detainee understand that America is trying to protect herself and has faith that it will be discovered that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
*"The detainee denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or United States interests.
*"The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11, 2001.

Response to the factors

Response to Board questions

Repatriation

Repatriated to Saudi custody, with fifteen other men, on July 16 2007.cite news
url=http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=98598&d=17&m=7&y=2007&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
title=More Gitmo Detainees Come Home
author=Raid Qusti
publisher=Arab News
date=July 17 2007
accessdate=2007-07-17]

References