Abdul Rahman Ma Ath Thafir Al Amri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abdul Rahman Ma Ath Thafir Al Amri is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Al Amri's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 199. The Department of Defense reports that Al Amri was born on April 17, 1973, in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
2 References

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in small trailer, the same width, but shorter, than a mobile home. See below for more information.

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.

Al Amri chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

[edit] Image

The Tribunal's President sat in the big chair. The detainee sat with their hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor in the white, plastic garden chair. A one way mirror behind the Tribunal President allowed observers to observe clandestinely. In theory the open sessions of the Tribunals were open to the press. Three chairs were reserved for them. In practice the Tribunal only intermittently told the press that Tribunals were being held. And when they did they kept the detainee's identities secret. In practice almost all Tribunals went unobserved.

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Al Amri faced during his Tribunal were:^[2]

a. Associations

The detainee stated it was his duty to fight for Jihad.
The detainee has personal knowledge of al Qaida operatives in Afghanistan.
The detainee began his travel to Afghanistan in September 2001.
The detainee's travels took him form [sic] Jordan to Damascus, Syria; then to Tehran, Iran before reaching Kandahar and Kabul, Afghanistan.
The detainee stayed at a guesthouse in Kabul where he relinquished his passport and belongings before leaving for the front lines to fight.
The detainee was identified as having the alias Abu Anas.
The detainee was identified as the person responsible for providing a movie that provided all the details on how the USS Cole was attacked and the explosives that were used.
The detainee was identified as Abu Anas, a person responsible for providing a movie regarding the 11 September 2001 attacks.

b. Hostile activity

The detainee was trained in the [[Saudi Arabian Army on the [sic] anti-tank-weapons, artillery, and light weapons.
The detainee fought in Tora Bora.
The detainee admits carrying an AK-47 while retreating from Baghram, Afghanistan.
The detainee surrendered to the Pakistani Police.