Sufyian Barhoumi
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| Sufyian Barhoumi | |
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| Born: | July 28, 1973 Algiers, Algiers |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo |
| ID number: | 694 |
| Conviction(s): | Faced charges in November 2005, before the Presidentially authoritized military commisssions. Faced charges in May 2008, before the Congressionally authorized military commissions. |
Sufyian Barhoumi is a citizen of Algeria, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 694. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 28, 1973, in Algiers, Algiers.
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[edit] Charges before a military commission
On July 6, 2004, United States President Bush ordered that Sufyian Barhoumi be charged before a military commission.[2] The appointing authority approved the charges against Sufyian on November 4, 2005.[3] Barhoumi faced the charge of "Conspiracy".[4] His five page charge sheet listed thirteen general allegations, that were essentially identical to those of Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi. Sufyian Barhoumi, Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, and two other captives, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Omar Khadr had their charges confirmed on the same day as Barhoumi. Sufyian Barhoumi, Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, and Binyam Ahmed Muhammad all faced conspiracy charges. Omar Khadr faced both murder and conspiracy to murder charges.
Four other men, David Hicks, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi, had their charge authorized by President Bush approved in 2004. One other man, Abdul Zahir, had his charges confirmed in January 2006.
In July 2006, after considering Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the President lacked the Constitutional Authority to order Military Commissions. The Supreme Court ruled that only the United States Congress had the authority to order Military Commissions. So the charges against all ten men were dropped.
In the fall of 2006 the United States Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, authorizing commissions similar to those previously authorized by President Bush. Several of the other men who had been charged before the Presidentially authorized commissions had new charges filed against them before Congressionally authorized commissions.
On May 29, 2008 Barhoumi, Jabran al-Qathani and Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi were charged before the Congressionally authorized military commissions.[5][6]
[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal
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.
[edit] Summary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Sufyian Barhoumi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 16 September 2004.[9] The memo listed the following allegations against him:
- a. Detainee is a member or an associate of Al Qaida.
- In 1989, detainee traveled to Afghanistan to train with an AK 47 and other weapons. At the camp, he lost four fingers practicing land mine defusion.
- Detainee later trained at the Khalden Camp, where he was trained in the use of the AK-47; AKS-74; RPK; PK with tripod; DSHK-38 with tripod B-10; RPG-7; mine and grenade training; and radio communications.
- Detainee attended a third camp, where he received training in weapons, mountain navigation and mines.
- Detainee is a trained remote control device specialist who also had training in car bombs and explosives.
- Detainee trained others in the use of remotely controlled devices.
- Detainee was captured at a safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan with a top Al Qaida member.
- b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States
- Detainee participated in a plan to bomb the United States using bombs remotely activeted by cellular phone or pager.
[edit] Transcript
Barhoumi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[10] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[11]
[edit] Testimony
Barhoumi and the Tribunal President exchanged opinions on whether Barhoumi should be allowed to see all the evidence against him. Barhoumi said his father was a lawyer, and he knew the laws of evidence. He knew he was entitled to see the evidence against him.
Barhoumi pointed out he traveled to Afghanistan before the attack of September 11, 2001, before the American invasion, when Afghanistan and America were at peace. He acknowledge traveling there for military training - but in order to go fight in Chechnya, not Afghanistan.
Barhoumi acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan, from Britain, in 1999
Barhoumi lost the fingers from his left hand during land mine training, and some minor wounds on his legs. A member of the Tribunal asked if the bandages on his legs were due to those wounds. Barhoumi replied:
- “Maybe you won’t believe me, but that’s an investigation. They [guards at Guantanamo Bay] did that to me, for a year and a half. From walking for an hour and a half with chains on. There was an investigation, about a 2 month investigation. It was cut from the top and the bottom at the base of my leg. It happened here, not before.”
Barhoumi acknowledged attending two training camps. Under pressure from his interrogators he confessed to attending a third camp, but he told his Tribunal he lied due to the pressure interrogators were putting him under.
While fleeing Afghanistan Barhoumi said he became part of the group that contained Abu Zubaydah. He was captured with Abu Zubaydah. But he didn’t really know him.
When asked about an allegation that he had been part of a plan to attack the United States Barhoumi replied:
- “I never! That is strange, very strange. I want to laugh. Honestly, I want to laugh at those allegations. If I were so dangerous, I would not be here. This is very strange.
[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.
In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 or 2006.[13][14] There is no record that an Administrative Review Board convened in 2005 or 2006 to review his detention.
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ George W. Bush. "To the Secretary of Defense", United States Department of Defense, July 6, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-03. "Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that, effective this date, Sufyian Barhoumi shall be subject to the Military Order of November 13, 2001."
- ^ John D. Alternburg Jr.. "Military Commission Case No. 05-0006", United States Department of Defense, November 4, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-05-03. "The charges against Sufyian Barhoumi (a/k/a Abu Obaida, a/k/a Obaydah A1 Jaza'iri, a/k/a Shafiq) are approved."
- ^ [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/d20051104Barhoumi.pdf http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2005/d20051220barhoumichargesapproved.pdf USA v. Barhoumi]. US Department of Defense (November 7, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
- ^ Andrew Gilmore. "Pentagon files new charges against 3 Guantanamo detainees", The Jurist, Friday, May 30, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ "Charge sheet (2008)", United States Department of Defense, May 29, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
- ^ 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.
- ^ OARDEC (16 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Detainee Sufyian Barhoumi page 61. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 24-38. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.
- ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
- ^ OARDEC (August 9, 2007). Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
[edit] External links
- Commissions Transcripts Exhibits, and Allied Papers
- US military charges Omar Khadr with murder, CTV, November 7, 2005
- US charges five Guantanamo detainees with war crimes, China Daily, November 7, 2005
- Canadian held at Guantanamo charged with murder, CBC, November 7, 2005
- Five More Guantanamo Detainees Charged, The Guardian, November 7, 2005
- Supreme Court to hear challenge to military commissions, San Francisco Mercury, November 7, 2005
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