Abdul Matin

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Abdul Matin
Detained at:	Guantanamo
Alias(s):	Abdul Mateen, Shah Zada
ID number:	1002
Conviction(s):	no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Occupation:	Science teacher

Abdul Matin is an Afghani held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Matin's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 1002.^[2]

When the Department of Defense was forced to comply with US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff's court order to release the documents from the Guantanamo detainees's Combatant Status Review Tribunals Matin's name came to light on March 3, 2006.^[3]

Matin is notable because one of the reasons he was detained was that he was captured wearing a Casio F91W digital watch.^[1][4]

[edit] Identity

The US Department of Defense was forced, by court order, to release the names of the captives taken in the "war on terror" who were held in Guantanamo. On April 20, 2006 they released a list of 558 names, nationalities and ID numbers, of all the captives whose status as "enemy combatants" had been reviewed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5] Twenty-five days later they released a list of 759 names, nationalities, ID numbers, dates of birth, and places of birth, of all captives who had been held in military custody in Guantanamo.^[2]

Captive 1002 was identified as Abdul Matin on both official lists.^[5][2] But he testified to his Administrative Review Board that for the first six months he was in US custody his interrogators insisted he was really named Shah Zada.^[6] Abdul Matin said he had his Red Cross visitors to thank for helping with letters that satisfied the Americans that he was not Shah Zada.

Captive 1002 was identified as Abdul Mateen by Lieutenant Colonel David N. Cooper, military lawyer who certified the documents released from captive 1002's dossier in response to his petition for habeas corpus.^[7]

[edit] The release of the other two men the USA called Shahzada

Abdul Matin testified that he learned that Guantanamo contained another captive who the Americans called Shahzada, who had already been released. In fact the USA called two other Guantanamo captives Shahzada, and they had released both of them.^{[8][9][10][11]} According to Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a DoD spokesman, the first Guantanamo captive the USA called Shahzada, whose real name was Mohammed Yusif Yaqub, was really an unrepentant Taliban commander, who returned to the battlefield in 2003, and was killed in combat on May 7, 2004. Gordan claimed Mohammed Yusif Yaqub really had been a Taliban commander all along, who had fooled American intelligence analysts into releasing him.

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.^[12][13] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[14]

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Casio F91W, in daily alarm mode. The watch is currently set to ring an alarm, and flash its light, at 7:30am.

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 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.

Matin chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[15]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Abdul Matin faced, during his Tribunal, were:^[15]

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with al Qaida.

1. The detainee returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in late 2001.
2. The detainee was in possession of the infamous Casio watch of the type used by al Qaida members for bomb detonators.
3. The detainee failed to demonstrate knowledge of current events for locations where he claimed to have resided.
4. The detainee was employed by the Taliban's Chief of Intelligence in Mazar-E-Sharif ^[sic] .
5. The detainee passed messages to high-ranking Taliban and al Qaida officials.
6. This individual is a former Taliban commander.
7. The detainee claims to have spent over 7 years as a science teacher, but failed to demonstrate knowledge of the subject.
8. The detainee is associated with a terrorist attack in Afghanistan in 1995.

[edit] Witness requests

Abdul Matin requested three witnesses. His Tribunal President stated that

"These witnesses are coworkers from the school that the detainee taught at Since all three would attest to the same facts, the Tribunal will allow one witness."

His Tribunal President informed Abdul Matin that requests were sent to the United States Department of State on November 26, 2004 December 10, 2004 and December 17, 2004 for requests to be forwarded, in turn to foreign embassy, who would then, if everything went according to plan, forward the witness request to the foreign civil service. The Tribunal did not receive any replies. This procedure failed to reach witnesses for any of the captives who requested off-island witnesses.

Main article: witnesses requested by Guantanamo captives

[edit] Response to the allegations

• Abdul Matin denied being a member of the Taliban or al Qaida. Abdul Matin denied every helping a member of the Taliban or al Qaeda. Abdul Matin denied ever contacting or being contacted by a member of the Taliban or al Qaeda.
  • Abdul Matin pointed out that he was a Science teacher, in Pakistan, and that the Taliban were opposed to the teaching of Science.
  • Abdul Matin pointed out that the Taliban imprisoned him for six months when he visited Afghanistan, to settle his father's estate, in the late 1990s.
• Abdul Matin denied the allegation that he returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in late 2001. Abdul Matin said he attended a speech Hamid Karzai delivered in Pakistan, where he encouraged educated Afghan refugees to return home. He said Hamid Karzai's speech convinced him, and he returned to Afghanistan in the second month of 2002.
• Abdul Matin acknowledged owning a Casio watch. He pointed out that it was a regular watch, one that was very commonly used by the American staff at the Detention camp.
• Adbul Matin disputed the allegation that he failed to demonstrate knowledge of current events for location where he claimed to have resided.
  • Abdul Matin told his Tribunal that through the Red Cross, he had received a dozen letters from home. He argued that the receipt of these letters showed that he knew his home address.
• Abdul Matin denied that he was employed by the Taliban Chief of Intelligence in Mazari Sharif, [[Syiad. Rather he was arrested by the Taliban's Chief of Intelligence in Mazari Sharif. Who was holding him in an attempt to extort a bribe to win his release.
  • Abdul Matin acknowledged knowing one of the clerks employed by the interrogators, Abdul Satar.
  • Abdul Matin argued that if he had ever been employed by Taliban intelligence there would be a record of his employment in the Taliban's files.
  • Abdul Matin claimed that no one, other than his personal enemy, Akhammed Reim, the person who sold him to the Americans for a bounty would tell them that he was associated with the Taliban.

[edit] Response to Tribunal questions

[edit] Orange uniform

Abdul Matin commented to his Tribunal:

"The interrogator brought me a lot of pictures I found him; this is the one; he's the one that tortured me and put me in jail. I think he's in Camp 4. One other thing, but I'm sorry to say, but I saw a lot of unjust because, they tortured and killed people, there was the minister, there was governor, all in Camp 4. We, the poor people, we do nothing, innocent people but we are in orange clothing."

Main article: Guantanamo captive's uniforms

[edit] Abdul Mateen v. George W. Bush

The Department of Defense released 44 pages of documents from captive 1002's Tribunal.^[7]

[edit] Legal Sufficiency Review

Commander Karen M. Gibbs, a legal advisor to the Tribunals, wrote, in her legal sufficiency review that the Tribunal President's decision to only try to contact only one of three witnesses captive 1002 requested was proper.^[7] She remarked that there was no record the Tribunal tried to contact either of the other two witnesses he requested, when his first witness proved reasonably available. However, she concluded that, since captive 1002 acknowledged he had traveled to Afghanistan during his vacation the testimony of his co-workers would not have made a difference to the Tribunal's conclusions.

[edit] 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".^[16]

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.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Matin's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 1 August 2005.^[17] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Connections/Associations

1. The detainee began working for the Taliban approximately one and a half to two months after the Taliban captured Mazar-e Sharif ^[sic] . He obtained his position from Sharifuddin who was the Chief of the Taliban Intelligence Department in Mazar-e Sharif ^[sic] at that time.
2. The detainee was the deputy Chief of the Estakbarat (Taliban Intelligence Service) in Mazar-e Sharif ^[sic] .

b. Other Relevant Data:

As a prisoner at the Sherbergan prison, the detainee was considered to be a threat based on what Jonbesh-e Milli Intelligence considered hard-line al Qaida and Taliban sentiments and a demonstrated ability to carry out threats, Jonbesh-e Milli Intelligence ran the Shebergan prison and was responsible for intelligence on its detainee.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee stated he didn't hate Americans, he just wished to be released and to be given a specific time he will leave Cuba.
b.	The detainee stated he came back to Afghanistan to look after some property and was not connected with anybody.

[edit] Transcript

Matin chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[6]

[edit] Enemy Combatant Election Form

Abdul Matin's Assisting Military Officer met for 30 minutes on August 26, 2005. His Assisting Military Officer's officers notes record that Abdul Matin was "very polite" during their interview. A copy of his Summary of Evidence memo translated into Farsi. was left with Abdul Matin.

[edit] Response to the factors

• Abdul Matin denied being given a position by Taliban intelligence official Sharifuddin. He denied knowing Sharifuddin. He acknowledged meeting Sharifuddin exactly once, in 1998, when Sharifuddin imprisoned him for several months.
• Abdul Matin denied being a threat while at Sherbergan prison. He said that he spent his entire time there with an untreated broken leg, that did not permit him to walk to the latrine, and he spent much of that time sitting in clothes soiled by his own waste. He explained to his board that the Sherbergan prison was a corrupt, for-profit enterprise. Knowing that he was rich the prison authorities had tried to extort $30,000 from him, or they would turn him over to the Americans.

[edit] Abdul Matin's account of himself

• Abdul Matin said he had left Afghanistan in 1981, shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and had live most of the next 20 years as a refugee in Pakistan.
• Abdul Matin had made annual trips to Afghanistan, to collect rent. He was his father's heir, and owned 3500 acres, and several dozen storefronts. By Afghan standards he was a rich man. Unfortunately that wealth had triggered animosity, both during the Taliban regime, and during Hamid Karzai's administration.
• Abdul Matin's 1998 capture by Sharifuddin, the Taliban intelligence official the allegations named as his boss, had been triggered by jealousy over his wealth.
• Abdul Matin said he had been working as a Science teacher in Pakistan.
• Abdul Matin said the Hamid Karzai had advertized requesting Afghan emigres with professional skills, doctors, nurses, teachers, to return home, because their skills were desperately needed. So he returned. However, he had only been back in home town for one day when he his leg was broken by a terrorist explosion in the bazaar. The same explosion that injured him killed or wounded 160 other people.
• Abdul Matin appealed to an acquaintance for help. He didn't know anyone well after his long absence

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Matin's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 4 April 2006.^[18] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. In the fall of 1998, the detainee traveled from Mansehra, Pakistan to Sherberghan, Afghanistan to look after his family's property holdings.
2. While on a trip to Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] , Afghanistan the detainee stayed at Sharifuddin's house. The detainee claims he knew Sharifuddin through his father.
3. The detainee's stay in Afghanistan coincided with the three to four month break between school sessions at Mansehra.
4. While the detainee was staying as a guest, either Sharifuddin or his nephew would ask the detainee to write items such as letters and receipts in an unofficial capacity for Taliban government matters.
5. Sharifuddin had the detainee arrested. The detainee was accused of taking bribes.
6. The detainee was eventually released from jail.
7. Once the detainee was released from Afghanistan, he went back to Pakistan and did not return to Afghanistan until several years later.
8. During the spring of 2002, the detainee was on a trip from Pakistan via Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] , Afghanistan to verify his family's land holdings. The detainee was injured when something exploded at a bazaar he was at in Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] .
9. The detainee was injured from the explosion at Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] so a friend drove him to his home. His friend saw that the detainee's foot was broken. His friend took the detainee to a hospital to try to get it X-rayed but could not and instead his friend sent the detainee to Kabul. The friend drove the detainee to a Taliban Intelligence Office ^[sic] and the detainee was turned over to the police.
10. The detainee was transferred from a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan to a prison in Sheberghan, Afghanistan.
11. The detainee's second jail term lasted over one year.

b. Connections/Associations

1. Sharifuddin was the head of the Estakbarat for the Northern part of Afghanistan, and his office was located in Mazar-e-Sharif.
2. The detainee's name was part ^[sic] of a list of names of Sherberghan prisoners affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaida and was deemed a continuing threat to Coalition Forces.
3. A source has identified the detainee as the Deputy Chief of the Estakbarat in Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] .

c. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee claims that his family owned warehouses, several stores, and hotels in Sheberghan, Afghanistan.
2. The detainee's family's land and property was taken when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan ^[sic] . Once the Taliban regime was removed ^[sic] , his family's land and property was redistributed back to the people ^[sic] .
3. The detainee has stated that he graduated from high school in 1992 and then became a teacher and taught school in the Mansehra area.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

[edit] Transcript

Abdul Matin chose to participate in his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing.^[19] The summarized transcript from his hearing was 26 pages long.

[edit] Discussion of classified evidence

Abdul Matin and his Board's Presiding Officer had a discussion over the classified evidence against him. His Presiding Officer clarified that he would not be allowed to learn of, or try to refute, any of the classified evidence against him.

[edit] Enemy Combatant election form

Abdul Matin and his Assisting Military Officer met on April 12, 2006. His Assisting Military Officer described him as "...very cooperative and cordial throughout the interview." Abdul Matin was given Farsi copy of the Summary of Evidence memos.

His Assisting Military Officer told his Board that Abdul Matin was originally reluctant to attend his second Board hearing because he was disappointed in the outcome from his attendance at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal and his first Board hearing.

[edit] References