Unknown Tajiki captive in Guantanamo

On March 3 2006 the United States Department of Defense was forced, by court order, to release the names of all the Guantanamo captives. The court order also oblighted the DoD to release the transcripts from the Captive's Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

However, one Tajiki captive attended his Tribunal, but his name was missing from his transcripts. He testified that he was about 23 years old when he was captured.

Identity

The DoD acknowledges holding twelve Tajikis in Guantanamo.The Tajik captives were all all listed on the list of 759 captives made public on May 15 2006. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Six of the Tajik captives were released prior to the initiation of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals in August 2004,so they were not listed on the list of 558 captives whose status was considered by a Tribunal, made public on April 20 2006. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006]

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.

The transcript from the unknown Tajiki captive is eight page long. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_30_2048-2144.pdf#71 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from the Unknown Tajiki captive in Guantanamo's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 71-78]

References