Yusef Abbas

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Yusef Abbas is a citizen of China, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Abbas's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 275. American intelligence analysts estimate that Abbas was born in 1980, in Aksu, China.

Abbas is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.^[2]

Main article: Uighur detainees in Guantanamo

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

[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 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.

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Abbas were:^[3]

a. The detainee is a part of a force associated with al Qaida or the Taliban:

1. The detainee traveled from China to Afghanistan via Kyrgystan [sic] and Pakistan in the summer of 2001.
2. From approximately 01 August through 01 October 2001, the detainee attended the Uigher [sic] in the Tora Bora mountains where he received instruction in the Kalashnikov rifle.
3. The detainee retreated from Tora Bora to Pakistan in late 2001, where he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and it coalition partners.

1. The detainee participated in the battle of Tora Bora.
2. The detainee was wounded as a result of coalition bombing, and received medical treatment from the Taliban.
3. The detainee from Tora Bora to Pakistan in late 2001, where he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

[edit] testimony

Abbas chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[4]

• Yusuf Abbas denied association with or membership in the Taliban.
• Yusuf Abbas pointed out that it was not illegal to travel from China to Afghanistan.
• Yusuf Abbas responded to the allegations about Tora Bora by denying knowing where Tora Bora was.
• Yusuf Abbas confirmed he received injuries during the US bombing, but denied receiving medical treatment from the Taliban. He said he received his medical treatment in an Afghan hospital.

Abbas gave a long explanation why he traveled to Afghanistan.

• Muslims suffer religious oppression in China.
• The Voice of America convinced him to leave.
• He thought his best destination would be to immigrate to the USA.
• It was difficult to get his travel documents, but they were legal.
• Abbas described arriving in Pakistan, without any realistic idea of how close to America he could get with his $600 savings.
• An Uighur he met in Pakistan, who had let him stay with him for a few days, recommended he go stay at a Uighur camp in Afghanistan, where he could live for free.
• Almost all the work he and his fellow Uighurs did at the camp was construction work.
• One of his fellow Uighurs, Abdul Maxam, provided him with a limited introduction as to how to fire the camp's only AK-47.

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo, Asia Times, November 4, 2004
3. ^ Summary of Evidence (.pdf) prepared for the Combatant Status Review Tribunal of Yusef Abbas, November 3, 2004, page 41
4. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Yusef Abbas'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 18-25