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User:Geo Swan/Abdul Hafiz (Guantanamo captive 1030)

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Abdul Hafiz
Charge(s)extrajudicial detention

Abdul Hafiz is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held for six and a half years in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1][2] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1030. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1961. Abdul Hafiz was repatriated to Afghanistan in December 2009.[3][4] By March 2010 Abdul Hafiz was reported to have resumed a senior role in the Taliban.[5][6]

Background

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According to the Associated Press the allegations against Hafiz, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, said he worked for a Taliban militia.[7] They state that when he was captured he had in his possession a satellite phone that was "linked to a slaying".

The detainee claimed that he wasn't Abdul Hafiz at all, that his name was really Abdul Qawi.[7] He said he was given the satellite phone by the real Abdul Hafiz, and didn't even know how to use it.

According to the Associated Press he complained about not being able to view the evidence against him, and told his Tribunal: "In our culture, if someone is accused of something, they are shown the evidence."

Hafiz's repatriation in December 2009 stirred controversy.[4]

In March 2010 Newsweek magazine reported that Liz Cheney described Hafiz "Obama's first recidivist".[5][8][9] National Review reported that Hafiz had been promoted to extort ransoms from charities and other non-governmental organizations that planned aid operations in Afghanistan.

Official status reviews

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Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[10] In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

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Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[11][12]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[10][13]

Scholars at the Brookings Institute, lead by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations[14]: Abdul Hafiz was listed as one of the captives who was a "Taliban fighter and operative."[14]

The US Department of Defense rleased two different version of the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[15][16] A key element of the allegations was that Abdul Hafiz was carrying a satellite phone, when he was captured, that US officials asserted had called an individual who was suspected of leading an attack that killed two civilian employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was also alleged to have been a member of a specially trained Taliban assassination squad US officials called the Taliban's "40 man unit".

Abdul Hafiz chose to participate in his 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal, and in his first annual status review, in 2005.[17][18]

Repatriation

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Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald reported that Abdul Hafiz was one of twelve men transferred from Guantanamo on December 19, 2009.[3]

The other eleven men were: Ayman Batarfi, Jamal Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami, Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim, Mohammed Hashim, Ismael Arale and Mohamed Suleiman Barre.[3] Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim and Mohammed Hashim were also Afghans. Mohamed Suleiman Barre and Asmael Arale were Somalis. The other six men were Yemenis.

References

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  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ The Guantanamo Docket - Abdul Hafiz
  3. ^ a b c Carol Rosenberg (2009-12-19). "Guantánamo detention census drops to 198". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2009-12-20.
  4. ^ a b Thomas Joscelyn (2009-12-23). "Gitmo detainee implicated in Red Cross murder transferred to Afghanistan". Long War Journal. Prior to his release, Hafiz conceded that he was injured during the first jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. However, he claimed during his hearings at Gitmo that he had forsworn any involvement in fighting. But given the evidence amassed against him, that is hard to believe. Indeed, it seems that US officials at Gitmo discovered that Hafiz was thoroughly dedicated to the jihadist cause.
  5. ^ a b "Gitmo Prisoner Freed by Obama Administration Reported to Have Rejoined Taliban". Newsweek. 2010-03-26.
  6. ^ Thomas Joscelyn, Bill Roggio (2010-03-24). "Former Gitmo detainee targeting Afghan charities". Long War Journal. Despite the fact that Hafiz was implicated in the murder of an ICRC worker, and alleged to have substantial ties to senior Taliban officials, he was transferred to Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, Hafiz rejoined the Taliban.
  7. ^ a b Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part I, WTOP, March 15, 2006
  8. ^ Jim Bliss (2010-03-27). "Freed Guantanamo Inmate Likely With Taliban, U.S. Official Says". Business Week. Abdul Hafiz, a terror suspect released from the Guantanamo Bay prison last December, likely has joined the Taliban in Afghanistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official said.
  9. ^ Andrew C. McCarthy (2010-03-24). "Former Gitmo Detainee, Released by Obama Though Suspected in Red Cross Murder, Rejoins Afghan Taliban . . . to Handle NGOs". National Review. Released by the Obama administration in December 2009, Hafiz rejoined the Taliban and has now been promoted, as Newsweek puts it, 'to head a committee in charge of handling the insurgents' hefty ransom demands for their kidnap victims and for dealing with nongovernment-aid organizations who are considering — or may already be running — projects in areas under Taliban influence.'
  10. ^ a b "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
  11. ^ Neil A. Lewis (2004-11-11). "Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court". Guantanamo Bay detention camp: New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-04-23. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  12. ^ Mark Huband (2004-12-11). "Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals"". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  13. ^ "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24. mirror
  14. ^ a b Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institute. Retrieved 2010-02-16. mirror
  15. ^ OARDEC (4 October 2005). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- redacted'" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. page 157. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  16. ^ OARDEC (4 October 2005). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Hafiz, Abdul". United States Department of Defense. pp. page 29. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  17. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hafiz's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 51-61
  18. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Hafiz's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 136
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Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1961 births Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released