Rahmatullah Sangaryar

Rahmatullah Sangaryar is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 890.American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1968, in Oruzgan, 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 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 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

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Sangaryar prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March 2005. [http://www.dod.mil/pub/foi/detainees/csrt_Mar05.pdf#60 Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf)] prepared for Rahmatullah Sangaryar's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - October 19 2004 - page 60] The allegations Sangaryar faced were:

:""'a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban::#"The detainee was a Taliban military commander.:#"The detainee knew of many former Taliban Commanders.:#"The detainee was the ########## ############ ########### ######## ####### ########## in Kandahar Afghanistan. [While most of this allegation was redacted from his Summary of Evidence memo, it was recorded in his Tribunal transcript as"The detainee was the director of the Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) cell operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan."] :#"Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is a terrorist group.:#"The detainee paid others to warn him when Americans forces were in his area.

:""'b. The detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners::#"The detainee admitted fighting against the United States or its coalition partners.:#"The detainee reportedly was ########################## in the Tagab and Nejrab district. [The phrase that was redacted in the Summary of Evidence memo, it was recorded in the clear in the transcript. The redacted phrase was that Rahmatullah "...the commander of the front lines..."] :#"The detainee was a member of a 40-man unit primarily operating against U.S. personnel, intending to bomb or strike soft targets.

Transcript

Sangaryar chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_36_2493-2577.pdf#42 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Rahmatullah Sangaryar's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 42-48]

Witnesses requests

Rahmatullah Sangaryar requested three witnesses. He said they were officials of the Hamid Karzai government.

The President of his Tribunal told him he had ruled his witness were relevant. His Tribunal's President then told him that they had requested the [US State Department to forward requests for help to the embassy of the countries where his witnesses were believed to live. But the State Department hadn't replied, so his witnesses were ruled "not reasonably available".

Response to the allegations

*Rahmatullah denied being a member of the Taliban. He denied being a commander.
*Rahmatullah acknowledged being a "simple fighter", a mujahidin. But he hadn't served with the Taliban. He had fought against Afghanistan's Soviet invaders, and, later, against the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin.
*Rahmatullah denied knowing any Taliban commanders.
*Rahmatullah denied being a member of the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin. He said he had fought against the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin in the Sarubi area.
*In response to the allegation that he "... paid others to warn him when American forces were in his area", Rahmatullah responded: quotation|"I did not pay anybody any money. I was sitting and rebuilding my house. Anybody who is against the Americans, they would not stay in their hometown and rebuild their house. I did disarm people with weapons and captured bad people and thieves to bring peace to my area.
*Rahmatullah denied ever fighting against US forces.
*Rahmatullah denied ever saying he fought against US forces.
*Rahmatullah denied serving as a Taliban commander on the front lines near Tagab and Nejrab. He denied travelling to Tabab and Nejrab.
*In response to the allegation that he was a member of a 40-man group, who attacked Americans Rahmatullah acknowledged leading a small militia group He disbanded it after the Americans ousted the Taliban. He said anyone in his area could testify his group had not attacked Americans.

Opening statement

Rahmatullah said he was injured four days before Massoud was killed, [Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated on September 9 2001.] and was in Hospital. When he was released from Hospital he told his fighters to return home. He would make arrangements to arrange for the surrender of their weapons to the new government.

Rahmatullah described waiting until American forces arrived, because he didn't expect order to be fully restored before then. But wheh they arrived, with an official commission from the new central government, he did surrender his group's weapons. Rahmatullah said he received a receipt for those weapons.

Rahmatullah concluded his opening statement with: quotation|"The reason why I was against the Taliban is because the Taliban took one of our elders of the tribe body from his grave and threw it on the streets. That is why we became the Taliban enemy and we were fighting against the Taliban. My tribal elders went to the leader of the Taliban and told him to rebury the body that you took from the grave. We told him, if you don't rebury his body, we would fight against you. That is why my whole tribe is against the Taliban and the entire world knows about it. My tribe was very happy when the Americans came and we are not against the Americans. I am not telling you this because I am a detainee. As I am here or if I was free I would say the same thing. All I want to say is that I was not treated as a detainee; instead I was treated as a freedom fighter. They took care of all my wounds and I am very happy for all the Americans and the guards here. Now I don't have anything else to say, but if you have a question, I will answer them."

Response to Tribunal questions

*Rahmatullah said he didn't know why he was captured. He said he was captured about a year after he returned to his home after the collapse of the Taliban.
*When Rahmatullah was asked to confirm that he had not been a Taliban commander. He responded: quotation|"I was not a member of the Taliban, nor a military commander of the Taliban. I did help the Taliban disarm the thieves and that is all I did with the Taliban."
*Rahmatullah confirmed that he had not the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin's director. He repeated that he had fought against the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin.
*Rahmatullah repeated that he had not fought against the USA, or its coalition partners.
*Rahmatullah confirmed he was an Afghan citizen.
*Rahmatullah confirmed that he had never traveled outside of Afghanistan.
*Rahmatullah testified that during the Taliban era he was a soldier, in an informal militia, that he said policed his area, and tracked down thieves.
*Rahmatullah said he supported his family through farming.
*Rahmatullah's Tribunal's President asked him if he could explain why the allegations linked him the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin. Rahmatullah couldn't offer an explanation.
*Rahmatullah said that even during the Taliban regime the Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin had set up roadblocks to levy fees against travellers.

Concluding statement

Rahmatullah told his Tribunal that his interrogators had never asked him any questions related to the allegations against him in his Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Rahmatullah Sangaryar'sfirst annual Administrative Review Board on 21 November 2005.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000694-000793.pdf#21
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sangaryar, Rahmatullah
pages=pages 21-23
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=2005-11-21
accessdate=2008-07-31
quote= ]

The following primary factors favor continued detention

:

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

:

Transcript

Sangaryar chose to participate in his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing. cite news
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Transcript_2599-2697.pdf#20
pages=pages 20-36
title=Summarized Administrative Review Board Proceedings for ISN 890
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=2005-12-22
accessdate=2008-07-31
quote= ]

Eight pages of letters were withheld from publication.

References