Abdul Rahman Uthman Ahmed

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Abdul Rahman Uthman Ahmed is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Ahmed's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 095. The Department of Defense reports that Ahmed was born on December 31, 1973, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 testimony
2 References

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

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

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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Ahmed were:^[2]

a The detainee is associated with al Qaida and is a Taliban fighter.

The detainee accepted a fatwa from the Saad Bin Moad Mosque in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance.
The detainee traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Pakistan during Summer 2001.
The detainee received weapons training on the Kalashnikov rifle at a Kandahar guesthouse.
The detainee’s name is on a computer list of al Qaida mujahidin seized during raids of al Qaida safe houses in Pakistan.

b The detainee participated in hostilities against coalition forces:

The detainee carried a Kalahnikov while on the front lines in the Konduz area.
The detainee fought on the Konduz front lines with an Arab unit led by Abu Moazh.
The detainee was on the battlefield on 11 Sep 01.
The detainee surrendered to General Dostum, along with 450-600 other Taliban fighters.
The detainee was sent to the Al-Janki prison [sic] in Mazar-e-Sharif [sic], where he was present during the uprisings.

[edit] testimony

He denied being associated with al Qaida or the Taliban.
The Saad Bin Moad Mosque is just a small mosque next to my house.
He disputed that his name could be found on an al Qaida computer, because he never used his real name.
He was in Konduz, but there was no fighting. He was on the battlefield on 11 Sep 01, but there was no fighting.

His final statement to the Tribunal was:

"I had never seen an American until I was jailed. Is there something about Saudis and Yemenis that’s special? I believe that they are kept longer in interrogations than any other group and are not being released like other groups. I was fighting with some of the Pakistanis and Afghans that were here and they have been released and sent home. I don’t understand what the difference is between them and me."