Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi

Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi is a citizen of Yemen 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] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 1457.The Department of Defense reports that Sharqawi was born on May 26 1974, in Taiz sic, Saudi Arabia.

Identity

Captive 1457's name was spelled inconsistently on various official Department of Defense documents:
*Captive 1457 was named Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi on the official list released on April 20 2006, and three official lists released in September 2007. [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] 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] 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]
*Captive 1457 was named Abdu Ali Al Haji Sharqawi on the official list released on May 15 2006. on the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 9 November 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000700-000783.pdf#66
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Sharqawi, Abdu Ali Al Hajj
date=9 November 2004
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 66
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-12-02] [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006, ]
*Captive 1457 was named Abdu Ali Sharqawi on the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his second annual Administrative Review Board, on 14 September 2006.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_900-1009.pdf#76
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sharqawi, Abdu Ali
date=14 September 2006
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 76-79
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-12-02]

Diego Garcia

Diego Garcia is an isolated Island in the Indian Ocean. It is a British Protectorate, that was controversially depopulated several decades ago, to make room for a large American military base. Human Rights critics have speculated that the American base at Diego Garcia, or American ships moored at Diego Garcia, was the site of an American secret interrogation center.cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/10/ciarendition.terrorism
title=Fresh questions on torture flights spark demands for inquiry
publisher=The Guardian
author=Richard Norton-Taylor, Duncan Campbell
date=Monday March 10 2008
accessdate=2008-03-17
quote=Flight plan records show that one of the aircraft, registered N379P, flew in September 2002 from Diego Garcia to Morocco. From there it flew to Portugal and then to Kabul. Passenger names have been blacked out. However, Reprieve, which represents prisoners faced with the death penalty and torture, said that in Kabul the aircraft picked up Al-Sharqawi and Hassan bin Attash, two suspects who were tortured in Jordan before being rendered to Afghanistan and flown to Guantánamo Bay. Those rendered through Diego Garcia remain unidentified. In a letter to Miliband, Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's legal director, said: 'It is certainly not going to rebuild public confidence if we say that two people were illegally taken through British territory but then refuse to reveal the fates of these men.' ] Human Rights group Reprieve reports that flight records show that two captives named
Al-Sharqawi and Hassan bin Attash were flown from Diego Garcia in September 2002.The man and the teenage boy were flown aboard N379P, a plane known to be part of the CIA's ghost fleet.Flight records showed that the plane stopped in Morocco, Portugal, then Kabul.

The Guardian reports that one of the two men has been released from US custody.

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 a 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 Abdu Ali Al Hajj Sharqawi'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on 9 November 2004.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000700-000783.pdf#66
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Sharqawi, Abdu Ali Al Hajj
date=9 November 2004
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 66
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-11-23] The memo listed the following allegations against him:9 November 2004

:"'a. The detainee is a member of al Qaida::#The detainee traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Eastern Africa, during the period 1995 through 2001, for the purpose of participating in Jihad.:#The detainee traveled with Usama Bin Laden for a period of two months after the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.:#The detainee operated an al Qaida safe house in Karachi, Pakistan in 2001.:#The detainee served as an intermediary in obtaining false travel documents for Jihad leaders in the Philippines.

:"'b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.:#The detainee was present with top al Qaida leadership in Tora Bora.:#During the Spring and Summer of 2001, the detainee assisted on average 5 to 15 mujahid per week to gain entry in Afghanistan from his location in Karachi Pakistan.

Transcript

There is no record that captive 1457 chose to participate in his Tribunal.

Administrative Review Board hearings

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 Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi's first annualAdministrative Review Board, on 20 October 2005.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000895-000943.pdf#4
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sharqawi, Al Hajj Abdu Ali
date=20 October 2005
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 4-7
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-11-23] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

:"'a. Commitment:#The detainne joined the jihad in Bosnai. He traveled there using money from donations that people made to mosques. This money was donated for people traveling to join any jihad.:#The detainee sustaine a chest wound and spent two months in the hospital recovering. He then returned to the fight in Bosnia at the front line for another four months before a ceasefire was declared. He waited another two months before returning to Yemen. After returning to Yemen, the detainee wanted to join the jihad in Chechnya but knew it was difficult to go there.:#In 1996, the detainee traveled from Yemen to Kenya seeking to join the jihad in Somalia. The detainee returned to Yemen without joining the fight.:#In 1997 the detainee traveled to Khartoum, Sudan in an attempt to support anti-government Islamic rebels in Eritrea. The detainee left Sudan after about a week because he was denied the opportunity to join the fight.:#In 1997 the detainee went to Arakan, Bangladesh because he heard Buddhists were killing Muslims there. He was unable to enter Arakan so he then returned to Yemen. He also traveled to Burma and Bangladesh for Jihad but was denied the opportunity to join the fight.:#The detainee assisted other Yemeni Mujahedin in traveling to Afghanistan.:#The detainee decided to travel to Afghanistan to receive military training prior to traveling onward to Chechnya for jihad.:#The detainee collected money to support the Chechnya jihad and he also traveled to Syria in an attempt to get to Chechnya to join the jihad.:#The detainee flew to Pakistan en route to Afghanistan for training for the Chechnya jihad.:#The detainee facilitated the travel of many Yemeni Mujahedin to Afghanistan in 2001.:#The detainee solicited money to support Mujahedin fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the United States campaign against the Taliban.:#While in Pakistan, the detainee received funds from Saudi Arabia using the Hawala system.

:"'b. Training:#The detainee trained with the Bosnian Army for forty days. Training consisted of physical training and weapons, such as the Kalashnikov and hand grenades.:#The detainee attended a training camp where he was taught electronics.

:"'c. Connections/Associations:#On the day of the USS Cole bombing, the detainee evacuated Kandaahr and fled to Kabul with Usama Bin Laden and his guards.:#The detainee traveled with Usama Bin Laden's entourage for a few months in early 2001.:#Thdetainee was responsible for the physical storage and distribution of al Qaida cash in Karachi.:#The detainee served as a conduit for funds suspected to have been used to finance al Qaida attacks against Israeli interests in Kenya.:#The detainee met the chief medical advisor for al Wafa at a guesthouse and invited him to visit him in Karachi.:#The detainee provided details on Usama Bin Laden's security staff and his personal bodyguards and he described the selection process for security staff members.:#The detainee was an acquaintance of Ibrahim al-Thawr, one of the suicide bombers who attacked the USS Cole on 12 October 2000.:#The detainee was a friend of Jamal Mohammad Ahmad (Al Badawi), who was convicted in the USS Cole bombing.:#When the detainee was shown photographs of the known 11 September 2001 hijackers he recognized and identified each one of them.:#Usama Bin Laden designated the detainee as a falcon. Usama Bin Laden was the only one with the authority to designate falcons and this falcon designation was based on how important someone was to bin Laden's organization.

:"'d. Detainee Actions and Statements:#The detainee provided money, visas, passports and airline tickets to Yemenis wanting to travel to Afghanistan to receive training for jihad.:#The detainee stated that he feels that joining jihad and dying in the process of helping Muslims is a better way to die.:#By his own estimate, the detainee assisted approximately 100 members of the Mujahadeen depart Pakistan before his capture.:#The detainee bribed officials and forged documents to obtain visas and passports for people.:#The detainee coordinated the distribution of video cameras to combat zones in Afghanistan. The video footage was intended for jihad recruitment in Saudi Arabia.:#The detainee fought in Bosnia as a guard on the front line.:#The detainee operated a guesthouse in Karachi, Pakistan to house Muslims going from Yemen to Afghanistan for military training.:#The detainee placed travelers in local hotels, assisted in acquiring airline tickets for subsequent travel in Pakistan and instructing travelers on transit into Afghanistan.:#The detainee house escaping jihadists in his Karachi guesthouse after the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan began in September 2001. The detainee also secured Pakistani passport stamps for jihadists to allow them to return to their home countries.:#The detainee stated he was brought up to believe that America is an imperial power only interested in protecting its own interests.:#The detainee believes that the U.S. is an enemy of Islam.:#The detainee stated he wants to personally kill every American upon his release from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

::The detainee stated he is confused as to what he will do upon leaving Guantanamo Bay. He does not know if he will rejoin the fight against America with Usama Bin Laden and Zarqawi, or if he will resign and just go away into retirement.

Transcript

There is no record that captive 1457 chose to participate in his first annual Board hearing.

econd annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdu Ali Sharqawi'ssecond annualAdministrative Review Board, on 14 September 2006.cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_900-1009.pdf#76
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sharqawi, Abdu Ali
date=14 September 2006
author=OARDEC
pages=pages 76-79
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2007-11-23] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

Transcript

There is no record that captive 1457 chose to participate in his second annual Board hearing.

Extraordinary rendition

Al Haji Abdu Ali Sharqawi has written that after his capture, in February 2002, in Pakistan he spent two years in CIA custody in foreign interrogation centres] , prior to his transfer to Guantanamo, in February 2004:cite news
url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/12/02/non_jordanian_suspects_sent_by_cia_to_amman_spy_center/
title=Non-Jordanian suspects sent by CIA to Amman spy center
publisher=Boston Globe
author=Craig Whitlock
date=December 2, 2007
accessdate=2007-12-02] He writes that he spent 19 months in Amman, Jordan, and then five months in a secret interrogation centre. While in Jordan he had been handed over to the custody of Jordan's General Intelligence Department. He wrote:quotation
*"I was kidnapped, not knowing anything of my fate, with continuous torture and interrogation for the whole of two years. When I told them the truth, I was tortured and beaten.

*"I was told that if I wanted to leave with permanent disability both mental and physical, that that could be arranged. They said they had all the facilities of Jordan to achieve that. I was told that I had to talk, I had to tell them everything."

References