Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail

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Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail
Born:	1979 (age 28–29) Ibb, Yemen
Detained at:	Guantanamo
ID number:	522
Conviction(s):	no charge, held in extrajudicial detention

Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail (Arabic: يسين قاسم محمد إسماعيلي‎) is a Yemeni held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 522. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1979, in Ibb, Yemen.

[edit] Identity

The Yemen Times reported, on March 11, 2007, that a Yemeni named Sadeq Mohammed Ismail, who was also born in Ibb, was on the list of Yemenis who had been cleared for release.^[2] The official list does not include a captive named Sadeq Mohammed Ismail.^[1] It does include two detainees whose names are near matches:

• Sadeq Muhammad Sa'id Ismail's name might be a closer match, but he is from Jabal Haimain, not Ibb.
• Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail is from Ibb, but his name is not as close a match.

[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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Ismail were:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida:

1. The detainee stated that he observed Usama Bin Laden on three separate occasions.
2. The detainee stated that he lived in the “Azam Afwan” guest house in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul during 11 September 2001 and that the cooks were all al Qaida.
3. Detainee lived at “Najm (Ejm) al Jihad” guest house in Jalalabad, AF when Usama Bin Laden visited the guest house during the 1st week of the U.S. bombing campaign in AF.
4. The detainee attended the Camp Farouq and the Malek training camp were ^[sic] he received training on the Kalashnikov rifle, rocket propelled grenades, PK machine gun, mountain fighting and tactics, anti-aircraft weapons, heavy artillery, surface-to-air missiles, topography, and explosives during late spring 2000.
5. The detainee was captured in Tora Bora.

[edit] testimony

Ismail’s first statement to his Tribunal was “I will talk with you as long as you guarantee me there will be no torture.” Ismail said his prior confessions were lies - just to get the torture to stop.

He denied all the allegations against him.

He said he traveled to Afghanistan because it was the only place he could travel where he didn’t need a visa first, and staying there would be cheap. He said he had wanted to get married, but his marriage was not approved, and he wanted to get away to get over the emotional impact of his disappointment – hence Afghanistan.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

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".^[7]

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.

The factors for and against continuing to detain Ismail were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[8]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a Training

1. Detainee stated he traveled to Afghanistan for the purpose of receiving training.
2. The detainee recalled that on more than one occasion he attended the al Farouq training camp.
3. The detainee stated he attended the Malek training camp north of Kabul.
4. The detainee stated he went back to the Malek camp for additional training.

b. Connection

1. The detainee stayed at a guest house staffed by al Qaida while in Afghanistan.
2. The detainee saw Usama Bin Laden (UBL) at a guest house the first week of the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan, approximately 1 November 2001.

c Intent

1. The detainee stated he went to Afghanistan to train so he could fight in Chechnya.

d Other relevant data

1. The detainee stated he traveled to Afghanistan, via Yemen Airlines from Sana, Yemen, by taking a plane to Dubai, then staying on the plane for connection to Karachi, Pakistan. In Karachi he sat in a hotel for four of five days, waiting for someone to pick him up and take him to Afghanistan.
2. The detainee was captured in Tora Bora.

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

• The detainee stated that even though he observed UBL he did not talk with him and did not agree with his religion or politics.
• The detainee stated that he was not al Qaida because his thoughts were free.
• The detainee stated he did not know about the plans to attack the World Trade Center prior to 11 September 2001.

[edit] Transcript

Instead of the transcript of his Administrative Review Board hearing there is a two page letter submitted on his behalf by Marc D. Falkoff, the lawyer who volunteered to handle his writ of habeas corpus, and a four page letter from his older brother.^[9]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} 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.
2. ^ Amel Al-Ariqi. "Yemeni detainees are the largest group at Guantánamo", Yemen Times, March 11, 2007. Retrieved on March 15. 
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 Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 84-89
7. ^ (Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", The Wire (JTF-GTMO), Friday March 10, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. 
8. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail Administrative Review Board - page 16
9. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail's Administrative Review Board hearing - pages 108-114