Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily

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Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily is a citizen of Algeria, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 705. The Department of Defense reports that Hamlily was born on February 20, 1959, in Bashaire, Algeria.^[2]

[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.^[3][4] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[5]

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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 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.

Hamlily chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6]

[edit] allegations

1. The detainee voluntarily traveled from Mauritania, Africa to Islamabad, Pakistan in 1987 to work for the Islamic Relief Organization (IRO).
2. The detainee received weapons training on the Kalashnikov rifle while working for the IRO. The training took place near the boarder town of Peshawar, Pakistan.
3. -missing from the transcript-
4. The detainee worked for the IRO in their Orphan’s Department (which included a school) until 1990, when the school closed.
5. Between 1991 and 2001, the detainee traveled back and forth between Algeria, Pakistan, Yemen, and Pakistan. He worked various jobs during this time.
6. The detainee worked for the Al-Wafa organization in Jalalabad, Pakistan from June through August 2001. In September 2001 the Al-Wafa Organization closed.
7. The detainee was arrested at his home in Peshawar, Pakistan by the Pakistani police on 25 May 2002.

[edit] testimony

Hamlily acknowledged working for the Islamic Relief Organization. But he didn't travel to Pakistan directly. He traveled to Saudi Arabia. The IRO is a Saudi organization, and he was hired there for a job in Pakistan.

Hamlily acknowledged being taught how to fire an AK47. There was no security in the area he was working, and men routinely went around armed.

During the five years he worked for the IRO he met and married a Pakistani woman, which is why Pakistan remained his home.

He acknowledged working for Al Wafa, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He said he thought it was simply another humanitarian organization. He had no idea that anyone thought it had ties to terrorism. He saw no signs of support for terrorism during the time he worked for them.

When asked by a Tribunal member why he thought he was arrested Hamlily said:

“From what I understand, the Pakistani Intelligence was under pressure from the Americans to deliver al Qaida operatives and other terrorists. The Pakistani Intelligence arrested people (some were poor and innocent) so they could show the Americans they were working with them. The Pakistani officer that arrested me said I had nothing ot worry about. I would be released shortly since they were looking specifically for al-Qaida members.”

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
3. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
4. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 16-20