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Administrative Review Board
From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium
The Administrative Review Board conducts an annual review of the suspects the United States holds in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in its naval base, in Guantanamo, Cuba.[1][2]
The purpose of the Board is to review whether the suspects still represent a threat. American authorities classify the suspects as "enemy combatants", a term that has no meaning in International law. From July, 2004 through March, 2005 military authorities conducted a one-time Combatant Status Review Tribunal for each suspect.
The Combatant Status Reviews were criticized by human rights workers because the suspects were not allowed legal counsel, and did not know what allegations they had to defend themselves against, and the suspects had no presumption of innocence.
The Combatant Status Reviews determined that 38 suspects were not illegal combatants after all. They determined that the rest of the suspects had been correctly classified as "enemy combatants" during their original, secret, classifications.
As of September 2005 there were approximately 500 suspects in Camp Delta.
The first set of Administrative Reviews took place between December 14 2004 and December 23 2005. The Boards met to consider the cases of al 463 eligible captives.[3] They recommended the release of 14 captives, and the repatriation of 121 captives to the custody of the authorities in their home countries.
The Department of Defense was under a court order from US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff to release the names of all the captives by 6pm March 3 2006. The Department of Defense did not meet this deadline. They delivered a CDROM with approximately 5,000 pages of documents at 6:20 pm. They then had to take that CDROM back, and issue a second copy, that had removed some further files that the DoD decided not to release.
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Summary of Evidence memos
As part of this release of documents the DoD released three portable document files containing Summary of Evidence memos of the factors for and against the release of some of the captives. These documents summarized the factors for and against the continued detention of 121 captives. These documents contain the captive's names. The DoD has not explained why they did not comply with Rakoff's court order and release the factors for and against the other 343 captives.
In early September 2007 the DoD released 14 pdf files containing 464 Summary of Evidence memos prepared for Boards that convened in 2005 and 330 memos prepared for Boards that convened in 2006.[4][5]
Summarized Transcripts of Administrative Review Board hearings
On March 3rd 2006 the DoD also released four pdf files that contained an incomplete set of portable document files containing summarized transcripts from administrative review board hearings. Over the next three months the DoD released fifteen more pdf files containing transcripts and other documents prepared for 247 Guantanamo captives. Most of these transcripts did not contain the captives names. They were identified by the captives Guantanamo ID number.
On April 20th, 2006, and on May 15th, 2006, the Department of Defense released its first official lists of the names of Guantanamo captives. The first list also specified the captives' ID numbers, and nationalities. The second list specified the captives' ID number, nationalities, and estimated dates of birth and birthplaces.
In early September the DoD re-released those nineteen files, and ten further files containing transcripts and other documents prepared for sixty-six annual Board hearings convened in 2006.[6][7] The September 2007 release were accompanied by indexes, simplifying the finding of particular captive's documents.
Releases
According to an article from the International Herald Tribune from April 22 2006 the ARB had determined three captives could be released and 107 captives could be repatriated to the custody of their home countrie, yet they still remained in Guantanamo.[8] US officials said their continued detention was due to concerns the captives might be tortured or killed if they were returned or repatriated.
An article published in the November 19th, 2007, issue of the Boston Globe how captives who were cleared for release years ago yet remain in Guantanamo, see captives who were not cleared for release, get released anyhow, has eroded the remaining confidence the captives placed in the Boards.[9] Over half of the captives participated in their Boards in 2005. Less then twenty percent participated in 2006.
References
- ↑ Paul Wolfowitz. "Administrative Review Procedures for Enemy Combatants in the Control of the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba", Department of Defense, 2004 May 11. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ↑ George W. Bush. "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism", White House, 2001 November 13. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ↑ "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed", US Department of Defense, February 9 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ OARDEC (August 9 2007). Index of Transcripts and Certain Documents from ARB Round One. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ↑ OARDEC (July 17 2007). Transcripts and Certain Documents from Administrative Review Boards Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ↑ "Stuck in Guantánamo", International Herald Tribune, April 22 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- ↑ Farah Stockman. "Some cleared Guantanamo inmates stay in custody: Lawyers call US system of hearings a sham", Boston Globe, 2007 November 19. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
