Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin

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date_of_birth = Birth year and age|1965
place_of_birth = Tripoli, Libya
date_of_arrest =
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arresting_authority=
date_of_release =
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date_of_death =
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citizenship =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 709
group =
alias = Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita
charge = No charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = Had his habeas petition renewed in July 2008.
csrt_summary =
csrt_transcript=
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin is a citizen of Libya, 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] Al Qusin's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 709.American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Qusin was born in 1965, in Tripoli, Libya.

Identity

Captive 709 has been named inconsistently on official US documents:
* He is named Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin on the two official lists. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006] [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006]
* He is named Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita in the documents presented to the United States Supreme Court.cite news
url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/05/supreme-court-refuses-to-bar-guantanamo.php
date=Wednesday, May 2, 2007
publisher=The Jurist
title=Supreme Court refuses to bar Guantanamo detainee transfer to Libya
author=Jeannie Shawl]
* He is named Abu Abdul Raouf Zalita on a status report filed with the US District Court in Washington DC.cite web
url=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2008mc00442/131990/160/0.pdf
title=Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 160 -- Status report
publisher=United States Department of Justice
author=Gitanjali Gutierrez
date=2008-07-18
accessdate=2008-09-28
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.justia.com%2Fcases%2Ffederal%2Fdistrict-courts%2Fdistrict-of-columbia%2Fdcdce%2F1%3A2008mc00442%2F131990%2F160%2F0.pdf&date=2008-09-28 mirror] ]
* He is named Abdul Ra'ouf Ammar Mohammad Abu Al Qassim on a status report filed with the US District Court in Washington DC.

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 a 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 Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Quisin'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal on 8 October 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000500-000599.pdf#76
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Abu Al Quisin, Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=2004-10-08
accessdate=2008-09-16
pages=pages 76-77
quote= ] The memo listed the following allegations::

Transcript

Al Qusin chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_8_20751-21016.pdf#127 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 127]

tatement

Al Qusin chose not to attend his Administrative Review Board hearing. But the statement he prepared was read for him by his Assisting Military Officer. That statement was not recorded in the transcript. But comments his Assisting Military Officer made were recorded.

Assisting Military Officer's comments

* Afraid of returning to Libya.
* Reported that a visiting delegation of Libyan intelligence officials had told him they knew he was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in name, and that his participation in the group was not voluntary.
* Acknowledged being trained on a variety of weapons during the eight years he spent in the Libyan military.
* Acknowledged attending two training camps in Afghanistan. Again, he felt obligated to do so, this time because he was a guest, and this was the place he found he could stay in Afghanistan.
* He did not believe in violence; he joined the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group out of desperation - - he was broke, had no place to go, was hungry, unemployed and had no way to support himself.
* He denied ever having any association with al Qaida or any other terrorist or extremist group - - he thought its leadership were “savages”. He expressed equally negative views of the Taliban, and thought these groups harmed all Muslims.

Board questions

* One board member asked the Assisting Military Officer if Al Qusin seemed “schizo-typical” sic. The Assisting Military Officer replied that “he was definitely anxious” during his interviews. “Nervous, agitated, but certainly not in a violent manner. You could tell he was under he was under a lot of stress.”

Legal Action

The Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal and educational organization devoted to the protection of human rights both in the United States and abroad, is currently working on two cases on behalf of Al Qusin.

eizure of privileged lawyer-client documents

On June 10 2006 the Department of Defense reported that three captives died in custody.The Department of Defense stated the three men committed suicide.Camp authorities called the deaths "an act of assymetric warfare", and suspected plans had been coordinated by the captive's attorneys -- so they seized all the captives' documents, including the captives' copies of their habeas documents.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 [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pegc.us%2Farchive%2FOK_v_Bush%2Fgovt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf&date=2008-08-18 mirror] ] Since the habeas documents were privileged lawyer-client communication the Department of Justice was compelled to file documents about the document seizures.Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita was one of the captives whose privileged documents were seized.

Zalita v. Bush

On May 1 2007 the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts stated. regarding Zalita v. Bush: quotation|"The application for an injunction presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied."

The Center for Constitutional Rights and pro bono counsel filed a habeas corpus petition June 22 2005 on behalf of Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita (aka Al Qusin) to assure him relief from unlawful imprisonment. President George Bush, the Secretary of Defense, and military commanders of the Joint Task Force – Guantanamo were listed as respondents.

This petition was dismissed by the D.C. District Court for lack of jurisdiction, and the government tried to end attorney access to Al Qusin. CCR responded by filing a motion for reconsideration of the district court’s dismissal, arguing that the Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush cases being heard by the Supreme Court reopen the jurisdiction issue (as they both address the detainees’ right to fair trial), thus attorney access should continue until the Supreme Court has passed judgment on these cases. On October 5 2007 the motion for reconsideration was granted, dismissal was vacated, the case stayed pending the results of Al Odah and Boumediene, and counsel access restored.cite web
title = Zalita v. Bush
publisher = Center for Constitutional Rights
url = http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/zalita-v.-bush
accessdate = 2008-03-04 http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fccrjustice.org%2Fourcases%2Fcurrent-cases%2Fzalita-v.-bush&date=2008-10-04 mirror] ]

Zalita v. Gates

On September 26 2007 the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a petition to appeal Al Qusin’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The petition was filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the respondent is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.cite web
title = Zalita v. Bush
publisher = Center for Constitutional Rights
url = http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/zalita-v.-bush
accessdate = 2008-03-04]

Preventing Transfer

"The Jurist" reports that Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita faces torture, and possibly, summary execution, if he were returned to Libya.

Al Qusin is the first Guantánamo detainee to legally challenge intentions of the US government to transfer him to his native country. If transferred, he has reason to believe he will face human rights abuses.

A district court required the government to provide notice 30 days before any intended transfer of Al Qusin to the custody of a foreign government on July 25 2005. Such intentions were declared by the government in December 2006 and then in February 2007. Al Qusin has expressed well-founded fears that if transferred to Libya he will face torture and persecution.

The D.C. District Court granted a motion filed by CCR on February 15 2007 ordering the government to provide 60 days notice before Al Qusin is rendered to Libya. On February 20 2007 the government reaffirmed its intention to transfer Al Qusin to Libya. CCR filed a motion in the D.C. District Court in April for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop his transfer, arguing that it would violate constitutional and treaty-based rights. Included in the motion Al Qusin’s sworn declaration of his fear of abuse and expert declarations confirming the risk and the ineffectiveness of diplomatic assurances that the Libyan government would not mistreat him. This motion was denied citing the court of appeal’s decision in Boumediene. The appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals was also denied for lack of jurisdiction. An emergency application for injunction was filed in the Supreme Court, but denied on May 1 2007.

Al Qusin has a petition for writ of certiorari that was filed on September 21 2007 and is pending in the Supreme Court to prevent his transfer to Libya prior to the Supreme Court’s judgment on Boumediene and Al Odah, two cases that will resolve some of the questions of rights for the detainees. The petition requests review to determine if he has rights under international human rights treaties and the Fifth Amendment.cite web
title = Zalita v. Bush
publisher = Center for Constitutional Rights
url = http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/zalita-v.-bush
accessdate = 2008-03-04]

Military Commissions Act

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.cite news
url=http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/Hamdan.28j.letter.pdf
title=NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006
publisher=United States Department of Justice
author=Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter
date=2006-10-16
accessdate=2008-09-30
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnatseclaw.typepad.com%2Fnatseclaw%2Ffiles%2FHamdan.28j.letter.pdf&date=2008-09-30 mirror] ]

Boumediene v. Bush

On June 12 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated.

On July 18, 2008 Gitanjali Gutierrez filed a "Petitioner's status report" on behalf of Abu Abdul Raouf Zalita in Abu Abdul Raouf Zalita v. George W. Bush, Civil Action No. 05-CV-1220.cite web
url=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2008mc00442/131990/160/0.pdf
title=Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 160 -- Status report
publisher=United States Department of Justice
author=Gitanjali Gutierrez
date=2008-07-18
accessdate=2008-09-28
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.justia.com%2Fcases%2Ffederal%2Fdistrict-courts%2Fdistrict-of-columbia%2Fdcdce%2F1%3A2008mc00442%2F131990%2F160%2F0.pdf&date=2008-09-28 mirror] ] On January 15, 2008, Petitioner filed a Motion for Hearing for Inquiry Concerning Destruction of Evidence Related to CIA Detainee Interrogations.

References