Khalid al Zahrani
Encyclopedia
A Saudi candidate to become one of the September 11 hijackers, Khalid Saeed Ahmad al-Zahrani (often misspelled as Zaharni) was an al-Qaeda
member, held in extrajudicial detention
in the United States
's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
.
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 234.
His arrival in Guantanamo is recorded as February 11, 2002.
His repatriation is recorded as July 17, 2007.
His first interrogation is recorded on April 20, 2002 when his first interrogation is recorded.
According to the 9/11 Commission
, he attended "terrorist training camps", including Al Farouq
in Afghanistan for eleven years. The 9/11 Commission reports:
He was sent, but failed, to convince Mushabib al-Hamlan
not to abandon his training, after Hamlan left the training camp to remain with his ill mother.
He was later selected for an unknown mission in the United States, believed to have been the 9/11 hijackings, and re-entered Saudi Arabia to apply for a legitimate travel visa
, but was denied an application because his name was on a Saudi watchlist of persons to be refused to travel outside the country.
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 tribunal
s 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 Tribunal
s. 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
.
was prepared for Combatant Status Review Tribunal on September 24, 2004.
The memo listed seven allegations:
was prepared for
Khalid al-Zahrani's first annual
Administrative Review Board
.
The three page memo listed
16 "primary factors [which] favor continued detention" and
1 "primary factor [which] favors release or transfer".
Among the factors al-Zahrani faced were:
was prepared for
Khalid Mohammed Al Zahrani's second annual
Administrative Review Board
.
The three page memo listed
20 "primary factors [which] favor continued detention" and
1 "primary factor [which] favors release or transfer".
Among the additional factors al-Zahrani faced were:
published a list of the dates captives were transferred from Guantanamo.
According to that list Al Zahrani was repatriated on July 15, 2007.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
member, held in extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 234.
His arrival in Guantanamo is recorded as February 11, 2002.
His repatriation is recorded as July 17, 2007.
His first interrogation is recorded on April 20, 2002 when his first interrogation is recorded.
According to the 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
, he attended "terrorist training camps", including Al Farouq
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
in Afghanistan for eleven years. The 9/11 Commission reports:
- "Khalid Saeed Ahmad al-Zahrani. He traveled to Afghanistan illegally after being prohibited by Saudi authorities from leaving Saudi Arabia. After being assigned to a mission in the U.S., he secretly reentered the Kingdom but failed in an attempt to have his name removed from the list of prohibited travelers so that he could obtain a U.S. visa. See Intelligence reports, interrogations of detainee, April 20, 2002; October 4, 2002; April 3, 2003.
He was sent, but failed, to convince Mushabib al-Hamlan
Mushabib al-Hamlan
An original candidate in the September 11 attacks, Mushabib al-Hamlan became involved with militancy at secondary-school in December 1999, where he attended gatherings to watch videos about the glory of Jihad and detailing the atrocities of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Yugoslav wars...
not to abandon his training, after Hamlan left the training camp to remain with his ill mother.
He was later selected for an unknown mission in the United States, believed to have been the 9/11 hijackings, and re-entered Saudi Arabia to apply for a legitimate travel visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
, but was denied an application because his name was on a Saudi watchlist of persons to be refused to travel outside the country.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
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 tribunal
Competent tribunal
Competent Tribunal is a term used Article 5 paragraph 2 of the Third Geneva Convention, which states:-ICRC commentary on competent tribunals:...
s to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
status.
Subsequently the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
s. 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
Enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
.
Summary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memoSummary of Evidence (CSRT)
Counter-terrorism analysts prepared a Summary of Evidence memo for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of the 558 captives who remained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba in the fall of 2004.-The 2005 release:...
was prepared for Combatant Status Review Tribunal on September 24, 2004.
The memo listed seven allegations:
|
Hunger strike
In 2005, he partook in a hunger strike to protest the Qur'an desecration controversyQur'an desecration controversy of 2005
The 2005 Qur'an desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30 issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of Islam's holiest book, the Qur'an....
2005 Administrative Review Board hearing
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
Khalid al-Zahrani's first annual
Administrative Review Board
Administrative Review Board
The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....
.
The three page memo listed
16 "primary factors [which] favor continued detention" and
1 "primary factor [which] favors release or transfer".
Among the factors al-Zahrani faced were:
- The allegation that he visited an audio store owned by "Abu HassanAbu HassanAbu Hassan is a comic opera in one act by Carl Maria von Weber to a German libretto by Franz Hiemer, based on a story in One Thousand and One Nights...
", where he listened to jihad speeches. - The allegation that Sheik Bin Gebreen and Sheik Bin Augla gave him advice on travel routes for traveling to Afghanistan for jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. - The allegation that he served on the front line in Kut Kalif in KabulKabulKabul , 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...
. - The allegation that "was in a fighting position in the Tora Bora mountain region from 23 November 2001 until 18 December 2001."
- The allegation that he trained on AK-47AK-47The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
s and rocket-propelled grenades at the Kut Bakrarn training camp in Kabul. - The allegation that his name was found on a list of 324 Arabic names, and several other suspicious lists.
- The allegation that his name was found on a file "titled 'al jawazat.doc' which translates to 'passports .doc'. This document contains tables labeled: name , nationality, safety-deposit box number, contents and comments."
- The allegation that "a chat session from 2 September 2002 which contained the following entry: 'Khalid bin Muhammad bin'Ali al-Zahrani Abu al-Jarah from al Kharg-al Jazirah which is his parents.'"
- The allegation that he was in possession of a Casio F91WCasio F91W-External links:* , Casio website...
.
2006 Administrative Review Board hearing
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
Khalid Mohammed Al Zahrani's second annual
Administrative Review Board
Administrative Review Board
The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....
.
The three page memo listed
20 "primary factors [which] favor continued detention" and
1 "primary factor [which] favors release or transfer".
Among the additional factors al-Zahrani faced were:
- The allegation that his name was found in a chat session recovered from the computer of one of the individuals involved in an attack on US Marines at Faylaka Island, Kuwait in October 2002.
- The allegation that he traveled to Afghanistan in May 2001.
- The allegation that his name was found on a list of mujahiden that arrived in Afghanistan in December 2001.
Repatriation
On November 26, 2008 the Department of DefenseUnited States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
published a list of the dates captives were transferred from Guantanamo.
According to that list Al Zahrani was repatriated on July 15, 2007.