Abdullah Mujahid
Encyclopedia
Witnesses
Mujahid requested eight witnesses:- Said Mohammed Ali Shah - a Guantanamo detainee.
- Haji Mohammed Aktiar - the Tribunal's President doesn't identify Aktiar any further, but assumes he is back in Afghanistan. In fact three individuals named Akhtiar Mohammed were detained in Guantanamo, and two were still in detention at the time of the Tribunals.
- Mohammed Aman - also a Guantanamo detainee.
- Mohammed MusaMohammed MusaMohamed Moosa Abbas Ali is a Qatari footballer who currently plays for Lekhwiya Sports Club.-International career:The defender earned on 5 November 2010 an call-up for the Qatar national under-23 football team for the Asia Games....
- apparently also a Guantanamo detainee. But his name does not match that of any on the official list. - Shahzdeh Masoud - one of Hamid KarzaiHamid KarzaiHamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
's advisors, who lead a delegation to Gardez to convince Mujahid to step down. - Gulltay Deh - the Afghan Defense MinistryAfghan Defense MinistryThe Afghan Ministry of Defense is an organ of the Central Government of Afghanistan, overseeing the entire military of Afghanistan. , it is headed by Abdul Rahim Wardak, a former mujahid who also received some military training in the United States...
's representatitive on Masoud's delegation. - Haji Saifullah - the Boston Globe reported Saifullah was dead.
- Minister of Interior - Ahmed Ali Jalali - the Interior MinistryInterior ministerAn interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
's representative on Masoud's delegation, currently teaching at the National Defense UniversityNational Defense UniversityThe National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...
in Washington DC.
The Tribunal's President decided to allow three of the other Guantanamo detainees as witnesses. However, he informed Mujahid that they would not be allowed to testify, in person, for "Force Protection reasons". He then informed Mujahid that American officials had not been able to secure the cooperation of the Afghan government in locating the witnesses back in Afghanistan.
The Boston Globe reported that they found that many witnesses that detainees had requested, who US officials claimed were not reasonably available, were easily located.
The article particularly the ease with which they located Mujahid's witnesses. It quoted the President of Mujahid's Tribunal:
- "The Afghan government was contacted on or about 26 November 2004, As of this date, the Afghanistan government has not responded to our request. . . . Without the cooperation of that government, we are unable to contact those witnesses and to obtain the testimony you requested."
The article then stated: "But in Afghanistan earlier this month, a reporter for the Globe located three of the four witnesses in a matter of days."
Transcript
Mujahid chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order
Court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...
from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
published a twelve page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, and nine pages of statements from witnesses who were not allowed to testify in person at his Tribunal.
Testimony
Mujahid denied that he was removed due to suspicions of collusion with anti-government forces. He testified that he left the position of Provincial Security Chief to assume a new position in Kabul. He claimed the witnesses of the visiting commission would testify that he left his position to take a promotion. Mujahid denied being associated with any anti-government forces. He also denied any responsibility for any attacks on US or coalition forces.The three witnesses he called all confirmed that he had been an effective Police commander for the Karzai government, and confirmed that he was not fired, he was promoted.
They attributed their captures to false denunciations from rival factions within Karzai's coalition.
Hafizullah Shabaz Khail's accusation
Guantanamo detainee Hafizullah Shabaz KhailHafizullah Shabaz Khail
Dr. Hafizullah Shabaz Khail is a citizen of Afghanistan, who was held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1946, in Paktia, Afghanistan....
said that Mujahid had arrested him, when his mentor, the Governor, of his Province was in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
.
Khail was the District Chief of Zormat, and the chair of security committee in Paktia Province. Khail said his arrest, and the false allegations against him, were due to his arrest of a protege of Mujahid, named Taj Mohammed. According to Khail, Taj Mohammed was a security officer who worked under Mujahid, who had abused his uniform and his authority to rob a businessman of 200,000 Khaldars. Khail said he forced Taj Mohammed to pay the businessman back.
Abdullah Musahed v. George W. Bush
A writ of habeas corpus, Abdullah Musahed v. George W. Bush, was submitted on Abdullah Musahed's behalf.In response, on 10 August 2005,
the Department of Defense published 37
pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
On December 17, 2004 Tribunal panel 26 convened an confirmed his "enemy combatant" status.
The documents published from Abdullah's CSR Tribunal state that his original Tribunal President was replaced.
The documents contain multiple incompatible explanations as to why Mohammed Musa's testimony was not made available.
The documents state that the original Tribunal President had ruled his testimony "redundant". His Personal Representative's notes, however, stated that he couldn't find Mohammed Musa.
The CSRT's Legal Advisor recorded in his Legal Sufficiency Review:
Summary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memoSummary of Evidence (ARB)
Counter-terrorism analysts prepared a Summary of Evidence memo for the Administrative Review Board hearings of approximately 460 captives in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba from December 2004 to December 2005.-Release of the memos:...
was prepared for
Abdullah Mujahid's
Administrative Review Board,
on 23 June 2005.
The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.
The following primary factors favor continued detention
|
The following primary factors favor release or transfer
| a. | The detainee stated he was never associated or affiliated with any Taliban or al Qaida members, nor was he ever part of any military council associated with anti-U.S. and anti-coalition activities. |
| b. | The detainee stated he approves of the American involvement in Afghanistan because they are improving the country for everyone. When asked his feelings on jihad, the detainee stated he simply fought against the Russians when he was handed a weapon. |
| c. | The detainee claimed that neither he nor Zia Udeen did anything to create internal strife between competing villages and groups in Gardez and Paktia. |
| d. | The detainee stated he never heard of Mullah Abdul Fatah. |
Response to the factors
- Mujahid confirmed he fought against the Soviets—for about eight months, when he was sixteen or seventeen. After the Soviets withdrew he fought against the Communist government that had been left behind.
- Mujahid confirmed that he had worked for the RabbaniBurhanuddin RabbaniProfessor Burhanuddin Rabbani was President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as a temporary President from November to December 20, 2001, when Hamid Karzai was...
government prior to the Taliban regime, and had served as a police officer after its fall. But, during the Taliban's regime he laid low, and worked as a simple farmer. - Mujahid denied participating in an anti-US attack in Gardez. He disputed that this incident took place.
- In response to the allegation that he was a "former Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander" he asked the time frame when he was supposed to have filled this role. He said he had given his interrogators a full account of his life, and there were no gaps in it when he could have been a Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. He added:
- After the factor where Lashkar-e-Tayyiba's roots in Pakistan were outlined he pointed out:
Mujahid and the claim that captives were "captured on the battlefield"
On August 12, 2007 Farah StockmanFarah Stockman
Farah Stockman is an award-winning American journalist, currently employed by the Boston Globe.-Education:Stockman attended Harvard University, graduating in 1996....
, writing in the Boston Globe used Mjuahid'd story to comment on the Bush administration's claim that Guantanamo captives had been apprehended "on the battlefield".
Stockman described Mujahid as an early supporter during the overthrow of the Taliban, whose usefulness waned after their ouster, because he was illiterate, and was rumored to be corrupt.
Stockman wrote:
Transfer to an Afghan prison
On November 25, 2008 the Department of Defense published a list of when Guantanamo captives were repatriated.According to that list he was repatriated on December 12, 2007.
The Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison
Pul-e-Charkhi prison
Pul-e-Charkhi , also known as Afghan National Detention Facility, is the largest prison in Afghanistan east of Kabul. Construction of the jail began in the 1970s by order of former president Mohammed Daoud Khan and was completed during the 1980s...
near Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
.