Mohammad Nasim (Guantanamo captive 958)

:"For other individuals named Mohammed Nasim see Mohammed Nasim (disambiguation).

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Mohammed Nasim

---

image_size =
image_caption = | date_of_birth = Birth year and age|1962
place_of_birth = Pai Warzai, Afghanistan
date_of_arrest =
place_of_arrest= | arresting_authority=
date_of_release = | place_of_release=
date_of_death = | place_of_death =
citizenship = | detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 958
group =
alias =
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = Determined not to have been an enemy combatant after all
csrt_summary =
csrt_transcript=
occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children =

Mohammed Nasim is a citizen of Afghanistan, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf
title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=May 15 2006
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/03/15/international/i133614S80.DTL&type=printable|title=Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part I|publisher="San Francisco Chronicle"|date= March 15, 2006| accessdate=January 15|accessyear=2007]

Identity

The official list of Guantanamo captives named three individuals named Mohammed Nasim:
*Another Mohammad Nasim, reportedly born in Shahidan, Afghanistan in 1973, was issued ID number 453. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006]
*Another Mohammed Nasim, reportedly born in Megan, Afghanistan in 1980, was issued ID number 849. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006]
*A Mohammad Nasim, reportedly born in Pai Warzai, Afghanistan in 1962, was issued ID number 958. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006]
*The "San Francisco Chronicle" reports that a Guantanamo captive named Mohammed Nasim told his Tribunal he was 55 years old, that he was born in Warzai, Afghanistan. The press report states he denied commanding a unit of 25 Taliban fighters. The press report states he was captured on February 11 2003.ŋ

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

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.

ummary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Mohammed Nasim'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on 20 December 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000600-000699.pdf#89
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Nasim, Mohammed
date=2004-12-20
pages=page 89
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-29] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

:

Transcript

Nasim chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_51_3490-3642_Revised.pdf#100
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=pages 100-109
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 ten 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=]

Witnesses

Nasim had requested two "off-island" witnesses. They were deemed relevant, and the State Department was requested to ask the Afghan government to contact the witnesses, on December 29 2004, and on January 10 2005. The Afghan embassy in Washington had not replied by January 12 2005, so they were deemed "not reasonably available", and Nasim's Tribunal was held, without the testimony of his witnesses on January 13 2005.

The two witnesses Nasim requested were his uncle and brother. Nasim said he thought they could have testified that the allegations against him were untrue.

Testimony

Nasim said he was a poor farmer, and that he had never left his village during his entire life.

He denied owning any weapons or having any military training, or even knowing what the weapons in the list in the allegations against him were.

He said he was captured on Eid, a Muslim holiday where people visited their eldest male relative for a dinner and a blessing. He was not engaging in hostilities.

Before he was hooded he saw that one of his older brothers was captured when he was, and a younger male relative. Nasim estimated that he was at least 55 years old, and described his older brother as elderly. He did not see his relatives in the prisons in Afghanistan, and they were not transferred to Guantanamo.

He said he couldn't have used a radio to report on Northern Alliance troop movements because he never engaged in hostilities, he didn't live anywhere near the area where the Northern Alliance operated, and he had never seen a radio before in his life and had no idea how to operate one.

In answer to questioning Nasim said:
*No, he didn't own binoculars, and he didn't know what they were.
*No, neither he nor his relatives had resisted their captors.
*The scraps of paper found in his pockets merely contained blessings. Traditionally it was considered good luck to carry blessing in one's pockets.
*When asked why he thought he was captured and detained, Nasim said he was amazed when he learned of the allegations against him.
*Nasim was asked, several times, if he knew of anyone else named Mohammed Nasim, with whom he might have been confused. He said he did not. But the DoD held two other individuals named Mohammed Nasim in Guantanamo.

Letters from home

Nasim entered as exhibits two letters he had received from his family, through the Red Cross. In one of those letters his brother spoke about the last day they were together, Eid, which Nasim said was the day he was captured.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Nasim was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classified as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"] , "Washington Post"]

They report that Nasim has been released.

References