Ali Abdullah Ahmed

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Ali Abdullah Ahmed

---

image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth date|1970|01|12
place_of_birth = Yemen
date_of_death = Death date|2006|06|10
place_of_death = Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
detained_at = Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
id_number = 693
group = Al Qaida
alias = Salah Addin Ali Ahmed Al-Salami
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = death in custody
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Ali Abdullah Ahmed (Arabic: علي عبدالله احمد) (January 12, 1970 – June 10 2006) "(also transliterated as Salah Addin Ali Ahmed Al-Salami)" was a citizen of Yemen who was held 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] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number was 693.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1977, in Ib, Yemen.

Ali Abdullah Ahmed died in custody on June 10 2006. His death is widely reported to have been a suicide.cite news
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082203083_pf.html
title=Guards' Lapses Cited in Detainee Suicides: Probe Also Faults Lenient Policies At Guantanamo
publisher=Washington Post
author=Josh White
date=2008-08-23
page=A01
accessdate=2008-08-23
quote= ]

Identity

Captive 693 was named inconsistently on official US Government documents
*Captive 693 was named Ali Abdullah Ahmed on various lists of Guantanamo captives. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_CSRT_unclassified_summaries.pdf
title=Index for Combatant Status Review Board unclassified summaries of evidence
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=July 17 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_1_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf
title=Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=August 9 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_2_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf
title=Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=July 17 2007
accessdate=2007-09-29
format=PDF]
*Captive 693 was named Saleh Ali Abdullah Al Salami on a letter from Terry Henry, a senior officcial from the Department of Justice.cite news
url=http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_june_suicides_8_21_06.pdf#23
title=GTMO Suicides
publisher=Department of Justice
page=23
author=Terry Henry
date=June 2006
accessdate=2007-10-17]

Death

On June 10 2006 the DoD reported that three Guantanamo detainees, two Saudis, and one Yemeni committed suicide. [http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-10T185303Z_01_N10232278_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO.xml&archived=False Three Guantanamo detainees die suicides] , "Reuters", June 10 2006] DoD spokesmen refrained from releasing the dead men's identities.

The next day, June 11 2006, Saudi authorities released the names of the two Saudi men. [http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1034817 Riydadh names Guantanamo suicide victims, wants bodies] , "Daily News & Analysis", June 11 2006] Later that day the DoD released the names of all three men. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/11/AR2006061100357.html DOD Identifies 3 Guantanamo Suicides] , "Washington Post", June 11 2006] The dead Yemeni man was identified, for the first time, by the DoD, as Ali Abdullah Ahmed.The dead Saudis were identied as Yasser Talal Al Zahrani and
Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi.

Official account

The Washington Post reported that the DoD allege Ahmed: "was a mid- to high-level al-Qaida operative who had key ties to principal facilitators and senior members of the group." -- and that "Throughout his time in Guantanamo, he had been non-compliant and hostile to the guard force,"

The Washington Post reports that Ahmed was a "long-term hunger striker." -- There were several widespread hunger strikes during 2005. A widespread hunger strike that began in late May 2005 or early June 2005 came to a negotiated end on July 28 2005. Detainees report the camp authorities had agreed to several key concessions, and that they were forced to resume the hunger strike on August 8 2006.

Initially the DoD reported that none of the three dead men had legal representation. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14827868.htm About the dead Guantánamo detainees] , "Miami Herald", June 15 2006] However, on June 14 2006 the DoD had to acknowledge that Ahmed did have legal representation. But they had yet to give his lawyers the clearance required to visit with him.

Mani Al-Utaybi's legal team reported that they had waited over nine months for the DoD to grant them clearance to see Al-Utaybi. [http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/news/20060613p2g00m0in019000c.html Lawyers say defense of Guantanamo suicide victim was thwarted] , "Mainichi Daily News", June 13 2006] They said that the DoD would not allow them to correspond with Al-Utaybi, because they claimed his legal team did not know the DoD's official spelling of Al-Utaybi's name.

Hunger strike and forced feeding

At its height more than 100 detainees participated in this hunger strike. The Department of Defense's position was that detainees did not have the right to refuse medical treatment and began force-feeding detainees. Detainees complained that the force-feeding were administered in a particularly brutal manner.

Approximately three dozen detainees remained participating in this hunger strike in January 2006, when the DoD instituted a new measure -- the use of "restraint chairs". Detainees would be strapped immobile in the restraint chairs, during the force-feeding, and for a period of time afterwards. The DoD explained they took this measure so the detainees could not induce vomiting and void the force-fed formula before they began to really digest it. Detainees claimed that the force-feeding caused them extremely painful cramps, and that they would be held in restraint for hours, even if they soiled themselves. The DoD said their policy authorized restraining the detainees immobile for only 45 minutes following the end of the force-feeding.

All but four of the hunger strikers ended their hunger strike just a few days after the initiation of the use of the restraint chair in January 2006. The Washington Post reports that Ahmed continued his hunger strike from late 2005 to May 2006.

Ali Abdullah Ahmed and Yasser Talal Al Zahrani had previously been listed on the DoD's two official lists.The other Saudi, previously named as either"Maniy bin Shaman al-Otaibi" or "Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al Habradi", had not been previously listed on either official list. [http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1034817 Riydadh names Guantanamo suicide victims, wants bodies] , "Daily News & Analysis", June 11 2006] [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Guantanamo_Saudis.html Saudis allege torture in Guantanamo deaths] , "Seattle Post-Intelligencer", June 11 2006] [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006] [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006]

Murder suggestions

On June 14, 2006, Ali Abdullah Ahmed's father claimed that his son couldn't have committed suicide, and alleges that he was instead "assassinated by American soldiers". [cite news|publisher=BBC|title=Father queries Guantanamo suicide|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5079744.stm|date=14 June 2006]

Post-mortems

All three of the families of the dead men have challenged the American post-mortems. [http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=958&p=front&a=3 Gitmo detainee buried after body cross-examined] , "Yemen Times", June 25 2005] The families all took steps to have second post-mortems after the bodies were returned to them.

Patrice Mangin, who headed the team that volunteered to examine Al Salami's body, said that it was routine to remove some organs that decay rapidly. [http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=958&p=front&a=3 Gitmo detainee buried after body cross-examined] , "Yemen Times", June 25 2005] Some family members had expressed concerns when the bodies were missing the brain, liver, kidney heart and other organs.

Mangin however said that the US authorities had kept Al-Salami's throat, and that his team couldn't state an opinion as to whether he hung himself until it was returned. [http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=958&p=front&a=3 Gitmo detainee buried after body cross-examined] , "Yemen Times", June 25 2005]

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Initially the Bush Presidency 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 Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

ummary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ali Abdullah Ahmed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal on 1 November 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000500-000599.pdf#59
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Ahmed, Ali Abdullah
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=1 November 2004
pages=59-60
accessdate=2007-12-30] The allegations it listed were::""'The detainee is associated with al Qaida::#"The detainee traveled from Sanaa, Yemen to Faisalabad, Pakistan via Karachi Pakistan.:#"'The detainee worked directly for Usama Bin Ladin's family.:#"The detainee has been identified as an al Qaida courier directly associated with Khalid Shaykh Muhammad "sic".:#"The detainee resided at the Issa safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan.:#"Abu Zubayda was the director at the safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan as well as one located in Peshawar, Pakistan.:#"Residents of a safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan, routinely received endorsement letters from a known al-Qaida operative to attend terrorist training camp.:#"The purpose of the Khaldan camp "sic" was to train fighters for jihad.:#"A Khaldan "sic" camp weapons trainer was captured at an Abu Zubaydaa "sic" safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan.:#"The al Qaida weapons trainer from Tora Bora identified the detainee from his time in Kabul, Afghanistan as well as his time in al Qaida's camp Khalden "sic".:#"The detainee was identified by a senior al Qaida lieutenant as being associated with Khalid Shaykh Muhammad "sic".:#"Senior Al Qaida facilitator Abu Yasir Al Jaza'iri identified the detainee.

Transcript

Ahmed chose not to attend his Tribunal.
Mark P. Denbeaux et al, [http://law.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_report_june_suicides_8_21_06.pdf June 10th Suicides at Guantánamo] , "Seton Hall University School of Law", August 21 2006 - pages 16-17]

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.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ali Abdullah Ahmed's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 26 May 2005.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000595-000693.pdf#10
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Ahmed, Ali Abdullah
date=26 May 2005
pages=pages 10-11
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-12-19] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:"'a. Commitment:#The detainee traveled from Sanaa, Yemen to Faisalabad, Pakistan, via Karachi, Pakistan.:#The detainee resided at the Issa safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan.:#Abu Zubayda was the director at the safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan, as well as one located in Peshawar, Pakistan.:#Residents of a safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan, routinely received endorsement letters from a known al Qaida operative to attend terrorist training camp sic.

:"'b. Connections/Associations:#A senior al Qaida lieutenant identified the detainee as one of the individuals captured in the Crescent Mill residence in Faisalabad, Pakistan, during a 28 March 2002 raid. The lieutenant further stated that he and a senior al Qaida official met the detainee in Kandahar, Afghanistan.:#A senior al Qaida operational planner identified the detainee.:#A senior al Qaida facilitator Abu Yasir Al Jaza'iri identified the detainee.

:"'c. Other Relevant Data:#Among the items recovered during the 22 March 2002 raid of the safehouse, which the detainee was captured in, was a notebook containing information regarding nuclear bomb making, passports, and identification cards.:#The detainee has been cited for numerous incidents of failure to comply, guard harassment and assault during his detention.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

:

The "Washington Post" was able to quote from what it described as a "previously secret" document which stated::

The "Washington Post" quoted the initial reaction of his lawyer David Englehart to the documents' release::

References