Abdul Hakim Bukhary

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Abdul Hakim Bukhary (Arabic: عبدالحكيم بخاري‎) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 493. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1955, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer. The defendant sat on the plastic chair, with his hands and feet shackled to the bolt in the floor.^[2][3] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[4]

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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 United States 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 administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

According to the BBC Bukhary had been jailed by the Taliban for expressing approval of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a Northern Alliance leader assassinated on September 9, 2001.^[5]

Bukhary had originally traveled to Afghanistan to help the Taliban.((cn}} Bukhary had previously fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. ^[6] He told his tribunal he: "... was once ready to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But the former holy warrior has told his American captors he now loves democracy – and that hardline Taliban fighters prompted his conversion."

[edit] Allegations

To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 169 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released official lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Abdul Hakim Bukhary was one of those 169 detainees.^[7]

a. The detainee is a member of al Qaida:

1. The detainee traveled from ###### ###### ###### ###### ###### to Afghanistan after 11 September 2001, to participate in armed jihad against the United States.
2. The detainee met Usama Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
3. The detainee attended the al Qaida training camp at al Farouq for one day.
4. The detainee stayed at a guest house in Afghanistan.
5. The detainee admits long time affiliations with Jama'at Tablighi ^[sic] .
6. Detainee stayed with Jama'at Tablighi ^[sic] prior to 11 September 2001.
7. Jama'at Tablighi, a Pakistan based Islamic missionary organization is being used as a cover to mask travel and activities of terrorists including members of al Qaida.

b. The detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners:

1. The detainee was part of a group of mujahideen ^[sic] that defended the Kandahar airport.

[edit] Transcript

Bukhary chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[8]

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

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.

Bukhary chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[9]

[edit] Abdul Bukhary and other former Taliban prisoners

Abdul Bukhary was one of nine former Taliban prisoners the Associated Press pointed out had gone from Taliban custody to American custody.^[10]

Further information: Kandahar Five

Further information: American prisoners who were also Taliban prisoners

[edit] Repatriation

Sixteen Saudi were repatriated on September 16, 2007.^[11] One of the released men was named Abdel-Hakee Abdel-Karim Ameen Bukhari.

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
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. ^ Guantanamo Bay: The testimony, BBC, March 4, 2006
6. ^ Guantanamo Bay prisoner: From anti-American holy warrior to lover of free speech, Union Tribune, March 4, 2006
7. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Abdul Hakim Bukhary's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - October 4, 2004 - page 193
8. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 56-65
9. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 219
10. ^ Paul Haven. "From Taliban jail to Gitmo – hard-luck prisoners tell of unending ordeal", San Diego Union Tribune, June 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-01. 
11. ^ "Sixteen Saudis return from Guantanamo Bay prison", asharq alawsat, September 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.