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.^[1] 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.^[2][3][4][5]
• 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.^[6][1]
• 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.^[7]

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.

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.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdu Ali Al Hajj Sharqawi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 9 November 2004. ^[6] The memo listed the following allegations against him:9 November 2004

a. The detainee is a member of al Qaida:

1. 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.
2. The detainee traveled with Usama Bin Laden for a period of two months after the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.
3. The detainee operated an al Qaida safe house in Karachi, Pakistan in 2001.
4. 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.

1. The detainee was present with top al Qaida leadership in Tora Bora.
2. 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

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".^[8]

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 annual Administrative Review Board, on 20 October 2005.^[9] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

Transcript

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

Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdu Ali Sharqawi's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 14 September 2006.^[7] 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: ^[10] 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:

• "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

1. ^ ^{a b} list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15 2006
2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20 2006
3. ^ OARDEC (July 17 2007). Index for Combatant Status Review Board unclassified summaries of evidence. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
4. ^ OARDEC (August 9 2007). Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
5. ^ OARDEC (July 17 2007). Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
6. ^ ^{a b} OARDEC (9 November 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Sharqawi, Abdu Ali Al Hajj pages 66. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
7. ^ ^{a b} OARDEC (14 September 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sharqawi, Abdu Ali pages 76-79. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
8. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
9. ^ OARDEC (20 October 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Sharqawi, Al Hajj Abdu Ali pages 4-7. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-23.
10. ^ Craig Whitlock. "Non-Jordanian suspects sent by CIA to Amman spy center", Boston Globe, December 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.