Said Muhammad Husayn Qahtani

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Said Muhammad Husayn Qahtani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 200. American counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1978, in Khamees Mushail, Saudi Arabia.

[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.^[2] 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.^[1]

Captive 200's name was transliterated inconsistently on the two official lists:

• His name was spelled Said Muhammad Husyan Qahtani on the list released on April 20, 2006.^[2]
• His name was spelled Said Muhammad Husayn Qahtani on the list released on May 15, 2006.^[1]

Guantanamo held three other individuals named some variation of Muhammad Al Qahtani.

[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 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.

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

[edit] Al Qahtani's initial questions

Al Qahtani asked two questions:

1. How trustworthy was the Tribunal?
2. Why were some detainees being released without going through a Tribunal? Al Qahtani said that many of those who had been released were more dangerous than those who had been released.

[edit] Allegations

Many of the detainee's transcripts repeat the allegations against the detainee. Al Qahtani's transcript does not repeat the allegations. But it contains his answers.

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --

1. Al Qahtani acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan. But he did so prior to September 11, 2001, when his country recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government, and travel to Afghanistan was legal.
2. Al Qahtani acknowledged returning to Afghanistan in April 2001, after hearing a fatwa advising assisting the Taliban.
3. "Yes, I said I was with one of the persons in Rawalpindi, but at that time I didn't know he was from al Qaida."
   • Al Qahtani pointed out that someone could visit someone who was not the best person in the world, without being a bad man themselves.

b. -- The general summary of the allegations of hostile activity were missing from the transcript. --

1. Al Qahtani acknowledged receiving military training and small arms training, but he said that was not at a Taliban camp. He acknowledged receiving armor training ^[sic] at a Taliban camp. His Personal Representative clarified for the Tribunal that the Kubah training camp was in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
2. Al Qahtani acknowledged serving with the Taliban on the front lines.
3. The allegation said that Al Qahtani fled through Tora Bora, and that he was captured by Pakistani forces on December 18, 2001. Al Qahtani clarified that he sought out a Pakistani police station, looking for their assistance contacting his embassy, because he had lost his travel documents.

[edit] Testimony

Prompted by questions from his Personal Representative Al Qahtani described his relationship with the man he knew as Tariq who American intelligence analysts identified as a member of al Qaeda.

"I didn't know anything about him. When they (interrogators) showed me his picture, I told them I knew who he was and that I had met him at his home, and I told them what had happened. They told me his name was Abu Zubaydah and he was one of the famous people of al Qaida."

Al Qahtani clarified he was on the front line, for a short time. But there wasn't any fighting while he was there.

Al Qahtani said he didn't think he had done anything wrong with going to Afghanistan, receiving military training, of serving on the Taliban's front lines. The transcript does not record whether his front line service was prior to, or following, the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al Qahtani said that the first time he had traveled to the area he didn't know anything about the Taliban. He didn't agree about the fighting between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. When he returned to Saudi Arabia, and told his Imam about everything he had seen. His Imam's interpretation was that the Taliban had brought peace to "95%" of Afghanistan. And as soon as they vanquished the Northern Alliance the entire country would be at peace. Therefore assisting them in vanquishing the Northern Alliance was his recommendation.

Al Qahtani acknowledged carrying a weapon in Afghanistan -- one he bought for himself -- not one he was issued by the Taliban.

Al Qahtani said several of the people he traveled with also ended up at Guantanamo. Two of them were in Camp 4 (the camp for the most privileged detainees) with him. His Tribunal asked him if he traveled with fifteen other men. He couldn't remember. Maybe less. He couldn't remember how long they spent traveling to Pakistan. He estimated thirty to forty days.

Al Qahtani was congratulated on his ability to speak English, and was asked where he learned it so well. He said that 75% of his English was acquired in Guantanamo.

In response to a question about why he wasn't carrying his passport when he crossed the Afghan=Pakistan border Al Qahtani explained that the Pakistani border guards were capturing all foreigners, and turning them over to the United States for a $5000 bounty.

In response to a followup question, as to whether he wouldn't have a better chance if he was carrying his passport Al Qahtani explained that he thought if he wasn't carrying a passport, or any money, the guards might think he was an Afghani.

Al Qahtani confirmed that he was not alone when he crossed the border. His Tribunal asked him whether he crossed with fifteen other foreigners. He said he couldn't remember how many, it might have been fewer, but some of them also ended up in Guantanamo, and were in Camp Four.

When asked if he and his companions planned to separate, after their successful border crossing, Al Husayn explained that they decided to proceed, as a group, to the nearest Police station, to turn themselves in, and ask for the help of their respective embassies for help in getting sent home.

Al Qahtani's Personal Representative asked him to explain to the Tribunal why he hadn't requested the testimony of any of the other foreigners he traveled with, and crossed the border with.

• • Al Qahtani explained that he hadn't known them prior to trying to flee Afghanistan, so they couldn't testify as to the non-belligerent nature of his stay in Afghanistan.
  • He had told his interrogators all about his travels with them, and he felt sure that they had told their interrogators all about their travels with him. So he didn't see that their testimony would have been of any help before his Tribunal.

Al Qahtani said he had been a student of Islamic law prior to traveling to Afghanistan.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 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 Said Muhammad Husayn Qahtani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 100-111