Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi

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Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi is is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 906. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that Al Rawi was born on December 23, 1960, in Bagdad, Iraq.

Al-Rawi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal

(PD) Photo: Christopher Mobley
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held small trailers. The captives hands were cuffed, and their feet were shackled to a bolt in the floor.^[2][3] 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed by members of the press.^[4]

Initially the Bush Presidency 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 Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

• The detainee is associated with al Qaida:
• The detainee provided harbor in London, United Kingdom to a known al Qaida fugitive named Abu Qatada.
• The detainee assisted Abu Qatada by locating an apartment where Abu Qatada hid from British authorities.
• Abu Qatada has strong links to senior al Qaida operatives and facilitated the travel of individuals to an al Qaida guesthouse located in Pakistan.
• Abu Qatada is a known al Qaida operative who was arrested in the United Kingdom as a danger to national security.
• In addition to helping Abu Qatada evade British authorities, the detainee transferred funds between branches of the Arab Bank at Abu Qatada’s direction in 1999 or 2000.
• In November 2002, the detainee was arrested in Gambia after arriving from the United Kingdom and was later transferred to U.S. custody in Bagram, Afghanistan.

Transcript

Al-Rawi is one of the detainees who chose to appear before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] Most of the questions concerned his friendship with a muslim cleric named Abu Qatada. Al-Rawi says that Qatada asked him for small favours, translating for him when he looked for an apartment, small home repairs, and on a few occasion over three or four years he agreed to transfer money to Abu Qatada's father in Jordan.

The Tribunal described his attempts to help Qatada find an apartment as helping him hide from British authorities. Al-Rawi replied that it had appeared to him that Qatada was living openly, and he had no way of knowing that Qatada was a wanted man.

When asked if he knew Qatada was associated with al Qaeda he says he became aware that Qatada's name was linked to al Qaeda, only after September 11, 2002.

The Tribunal concluded that Al-Rawi had been properly classified as an "illegal combatant".

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".^[7]

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.^[8] 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 Bisher Amin Khalil Al Rawi's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 1 December 2005.^[9] The three page memo listed 19 "primary factors favoring continued detention" and five "primary factors favoring release or transfer".

Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Bisher Al Rawi's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 22 August 2006.^[10] The three page memo listed 19 "primary factors favoring continued detention" and four "primary factors favoring release or transfer".

MI5 Informant

Following the partial compliance of the Department of Defense with Justice Jed Rakoff's court order to release documents from detainees' Combatant Status Review Tribunals many newspapers repeated that Al-Rawi was an informant for Britain's counter-intelligence agency, MI5.^[11][12]

Comfort items

One of Al Rawi's lawyer's Brent Mickum, described how comfort items were withheld from Al Rawi.^[13] Al Rawi toilet paper ration was fifteen sheets a day. However, when he tried using sheets of toilet paper to block out the 24 hours of light in his cell, his toilet paper ration was withheld. When Al Rawi was subject to extremes of temperature, and was kept in a very cold cell, his prayer rug was confiscated when he tried to use it as a blanket. Media:Example.ogg

Repatriation request

The UK newspaper The Independent reported on March 23 2006 the UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw acknowledged that the UK government had made representations to the United States for Al Rawi's release.^[14] They quoted Al Rawi's lawyer, who asserted that Straw had opened negotiations withe USA in order to avoid making public MI-5 files during hearings over the UK's involvement in his capture by the Americans.

The Guardian reported, on April 20 2006, that the British Foreign Office formally requested that Al Rawi be freed to return to Britain.^[15] On October 3 2006 The Times reported that the United States had agreed, in confidential talks in June 2006, to return all nine of the British residents held in Guantanamo -- but only under stringent conditions.^[16] The conditions the U.S. stipulated included round the clock surveillance, and the U.K. government considered the condition too expensive.^[17] According to The Times:

Although the men are accused of terrorist involvement, British officials say that there is not enough evidence to justify the level of surveillance demanded by the US and that the strict conditions stipulated are unworkable and unnecessary.

The Times reports that the U.K. government was only interested in the return of Al Rawi, because of his cooperation with MI-5.^[16]

Release negotiation

On Thursday March 29 2007 UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett announced that the UK Government had negotiated al-Rawi's return from Guantanamo.^[18][19] According to the Associated Press Beckett issued a statement to Parliament which said:

""We have now agreed with the U.S. authorities that Mr. al-Rawi will be returned to the U.K. shortly, as soon as the practical arrangements have been made, This decision follows extensive discussions to address the security implications of Mr. Al-Rawi's return."

Beckett's announcement didn't say anything about al-Rawi's traveling companion Jamil al-Banna, or the other remaining former UK residents who remain held in Guantanamo.^[19] Nor did she announce an exact return date. Al-Rawi's home, in Britain, is in Beckett's constituency.

Al-Rawi had been released by April 3 2007.^[20] According to the New Zealand Herald he said:

"I am delighted to be back in England, with my family. After four years in Guantanamo Bay, my nightmare is finally at an end. As happy as I am to be home though, leaving my best friend, Jamil el-Banna, behind in Guantanamo Bay makes my freedom bitter-sweet. Jamil was arrested with me in the Gambia on exactly the same unfounded allegations, yet he is still a prisoner..."

Civil suit

On August 1 2007 Bisher al Rawi joined a civil suit filed under the United States' Alien Tort Statute, with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union.^[21]

References

1. ↑ OARDEC (May 15 2006). List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
2. ↑ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11 2004 - mirror
3. ↑ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11 2004
4. ↑ Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials. United States Department of Defense (March 6 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
5. ↑ OARDEC. Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal - Al Rawi, Bisher Amin Khalil. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
6. ↑ OARDEC. Summarized Statement pages. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
7. ↑ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
8. ↑ Army Sgt. Sarah Stannard. "OARDEC provides recommendations to Deputy Secretary of Defense", JTF Guantanamo Public Affairs, October 29 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.
9. ↑ OARDEC (1 December 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Rawi, Bisher Amin Khalil pages 38-40. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
10. ↑ OARDEC (22 August 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Rawi, Bisher pages 79-81. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
11. ↑ Britain will ask U.S. to hand over Guantanamo detainee, Duluth News Tribune, March 27 2006
12. ↑ Courted as Spies, Held as Combatants: British Residents Enlisted by MI5 After Sept. 11 Languish at Guantanamo, Washington Post, April 2 2006
13. ↑ Brent Mickum. "Guantánamo's lost souls", The Guardian, January 8 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
14. ↑ Robert Verkaik. "Straw to demand release of 'MI5 man' in Guantanamo after U-turn", The Independent, March 23 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
15. ↑ Vikram Dodd. "Straw demands release of man with MI5 links from Guantánamo", The Guardian, April 20 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
16. ↑ ^16.0 16.1 Devika Bhat. "Britain refused US offer to return Guantanamo detainees", The Times, October 3 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
17. ↑ Template error: argument title is required. UK, U.S. at odds on threat from Guantanamo inmates, Washington Post, October 3 2006
18. ↑ Robert DeVries. "UK resident to be released from Guantanamo", The Jurist, Thursday March 29 2007.
19. ↑ ^19.0 19.1 Tariq Panja. "Briton to Be Freed From Guantanamo", Associated Press, Thursday March 29 2007.
20. ↑ Kim Sengupta. "Freedom bitter-sweet, best friend still at Guantanamo", New Zealand Herald, Tuesday April 3, 2007.
21. ↑ Two More Victims of CIA’s Rendition Program, Including Former Guantánamo Detainee, Join ACLU Lawsuit Against Boeing Subsidiary. American Civil Liberties Union (August 1 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.