Abdullah Tabarak Ahmad

Infoxbox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdullah Tabarak Ahmad


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth date and age|1955|12|12
place_of_birth = Casablanca, Morocco
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
id_number = 56
group =
alias = Abdallah Tabarak
charge = Alleged to have been one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards.
penalty =
status = Released and living in Morocco
occupation = former Moroccan transit worker [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012901044_pf.html Al Qaeda Detainee's Mysterious Release: Moroccan Spoke Of Aiding Bin Laden During 2001 Escape'] , "Washington Post", January 29 2006]
spouse =
parents =
children =Daughter Asia, married a top al Qaeda operations commander, Abu Feraj Libi

Son, Omar, fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001 and was captured by Afghan allies of the Americans.

Abdullah Tabarak Ahmad (Guantanamo detainee ID is 56) is a citizen of Morocco, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment 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] The Department of Defense reports that Ahmad was born on December 12 1955, in Casablanca, Morocco.

Allegations

Tabarak is alleged to have been one of Osama bin Laden's guards.cite news
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE4DF173CF930A3575BC0A9629C8B63
title=Morocco: U.S. Hands Over 5 Guantánamo Suspects
publisher=New York Times
date=August 3, 2004
accessdate=2008-01-22] He is alleged to have volunteered to have taken bin Laden's satellite phone, in order to sacrifice himself, by diverting the attention of US authorities, allowing bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora. [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/21/1042911381796.html Captive helped trick US while bin Laden escaped] , "Sydney Morning Herald", January 22 2003]

Access denied

The Red Cross reported that Tabarak was one of the detainees that they were not allowed access to. [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/13/1087065033844.html Camp X-ray memos tell of life in the cages] , "Sydney Morning Herald", June 14 2004] A memo from a meeting held on October 9 2003 summarizing a meeting between General Geoffrey Miller and his staff and Vincent Cassard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (IRCR), acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Ahmad, due to "military necessity". [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/GitmoMemo10-09-03.pdf ICRC Meeting with MG Miller on 09 Oct 2003 (.pdf)] , "Department of Defense", October 9 2003]

Release to Morocco

In August 2004 Abdullah Tabarak Ahmad was released from Guantanamo to Morocco police custody where he was then released four months later on bail. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4113665.stm Judge releases 'Bin Laden guard'] , "BBC", December 21 2004] [http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=4117 A trial without a case: Moroccan Ex-Guantanamo detainees' hearing postponed to March 7] , "Morocco Times", February 23 2005dead link|url=http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=4117|date=August 2007] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3528324.stm Guantanamo sends Moroccans home] , "BBC", August 4 2004] Security analysts puzzled over the release as camp commander General Geoffrey Miller on February 2 2004 told the Red Cross that Tabarak was the sole remaining detainee they would not be allowed access to and the Moroccan authorities described him as the emir of Guantanamo.

December 15, 2001 capture

Tabarak was captured on December 15 2001 or December 16 2001, together with approximately thirty other Arabs trying to cross the Afghan-Pakistan border.cite book
isbn=0745326658
title=The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison
publisher=Pluto Press
author=Andy Worthington
month=October | year=2007
accessdate=2008-02-20
page=
pages=pages 40-41
quote=Four of them -- Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, Ibrahim al-Qosi, Abdullah Tabarak and Mohammed al-Qahtani -- were regarded as major prizes, although it was apparent none of them had held leadership positions in al-Qaeda.] Tabarak was described as one of four "major prizes" among these Arab captives -- a follower of Osama bin Laden, who had worked on his farm in Sudan, and followed him to Afghanistan. The other three men, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, Ibrahim al-Qosi and Mohammed al-Qahtani were all to face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. Tabarak, on the other hand, was among the first captives to be repatriated. Historian Andy Worthington, author of "The Guantanamo Files", speculated as to whether Tabarak's early release was a tacit admission that Tabarak had played a more peripheral role than first imagined.

Role described during Salim Hamdan's Tribunal

On July 24 2008 Michael St. Ours, a
Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent,testified during his interrogation of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged Osama bin Laden bodyguard and driver, had told him that Abdellah Tabarak had been in charge of Osama bin Laden's security detail.cite news
url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iS6CxsVETGqgSWUvA-G-K2QyVvnAD924K4SG0
title=Detainee on trial said boss left Guantanamo
publisher=Associated Press
date=2008-07-24
accessdate=2008-07-25
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fap.google.com%2Farticle%2FALeqM5iS6CxsVETGqgSWUvA-G-K2QyVvnAD924K4SG0&date=2008-07-25 mirror] ] The "Associated Press" reported that:

According to Carol Rosenberg of the "Miami Herald" St Ours "looked stunned" when Hamdan's Defense Counsel asked him if he knew that Tabarak had been released without charge.cite news
url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008071963_gitmo25.html
title=U.S. had top al-Qaida guard, let him go free
publisher=Seattle Times
author=Carol Rosenberg
date=2008-07-25
accessdate=2008-07-25
quote=Chief among them was Casablanca-born Abdallah Tabarak, then 47, described by St. Ours as 'a hard individual,' and, thanks to Hamdan, 'the head bodyguard of all the bodyguards.' [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fseattletimes.nwsource.com%2Fhtml%2Fnationworld%2F2008071963_gitmo25.html&date=2008-07-25 mirror] ]

Andrew Cohen, a legal affairs commentator for "CBS News", called the testimony that Tabarak had been released a "colossal embarrassment".cite news
url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/opinion/courtwatch/main4292911.shtml
title=Ho Hum Hamdan
publisher=CBS News
author=Andrew Cohen
date=2008-07-25
accessdate=2008-07-25
quote=...the only true news to have emerged so far from the trial is a colossal embarrassment to the government and has nothing to do with Hamdan. Evidently, Hamdan told his interrogators years ago that they had released from Gitmo (back to Morocco) a "hard guy" terror suspect named Abdellah Tabarak. Oops. Bet the Administration would rather have Tabarak on trial than Hamdan. [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fstories%2F2008%2F07%2F25%2Fopinion%2Fcourtwatch%2Fmain4292911.shtml&date=2008-07-25 mirror] ] He commented:

References