See: http://news.bbc.co.uk…

 
 
From the “Off The Record”_!!pdf report issued by Amnesty International, Cageprisoners, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Human Rights Watch and Reprieve.

List of 39 Detainees held in US secret prisons.

The names:

 
 
Hassan Ghul
 
 
Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi (Abu Bakr al Azdi)
 
 
Ali Abdul-Hamid al-Fakhiri (Ali Abd-al-Hamid al-Fakhiri, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi)
 
 
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri, Umar Abd al-Hakim)
 
 
Two, possibly three, Somalis [Names Unknown] (one of whom is either Shoeab as-Somali or Rethwan as-Somali)
 
 
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan (Abu Talha, Abu Talaha)
 
 
Abdul Basit
 
 
Adnan [Last Name Unknown]
 
 
Hudaifa
 
 
Mohammed [Last Name Unknown] (Mohammed al-Afghani)
 
 
Khalid al-Zawahiri
 
 
Ayoub al-Libi
 
 
Abu Naseem
 
 
Ahmed Hemed Salim, (Issa Tanzania)
 
 
Yassir al-Jazeeri (Yasser al-Jaziri, Abu Yasir al-Jaziri, Abu Yassir Al Jazeeri, Yasser al-Jazeeri)
 
 
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman (Asadallah)
 
 
Majid [Last Name Unknown] (Adnan al-Libi, Abu Yasser)
 
 
Hassan [Last Name Unknown] (Raba’i)
 
 
[First Name Unknown] al-Mahdi-Jawdeh (Abu Ayoub, Ayoub al-Libi)
 
 
Osama bin Yousaf (Usama Bin Yussaf, Usama bin Yusuf, Usamah bin-Yusuf)
 
 
Osama Nazir
 
 
Qari Saifullah Akhtar (Amir Harkat-ul-Ansar Qari Saifullah)
 
 
Mustafa Mohammed Fadhil (Moustafa Ali Elbishy, Hussein, Hassan Ali, Khalid, Abu Jihad)
 
 
Musaab Aruchi (Mosabir Aroochi, Masoob Aroochi, Abu Mosa’ab al-Balochi, Abu Mosa’ab Aroochi, Musaad Aruchi, al-Baluchi)
 
 
Walid bin Azmi
 
 
Amir Hussein Abdullah al-Misri (Fazal Mohammad Abdullah al-Misri)
 
 
Safwan al-Hasham (Haffan al-Hasham)
 
 
Jawad al-Bashar
 
 
Aafia Siddiqui
 
 
Majid Khan and Ali ‘Abd al-’Aziz ‘Ali
 
 
Saif al Islam el Masry
 
 
Sheikh Ahmed Salim (Swedan, Sheikh Ahmad Salem Suweidan, Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, Sheikh Swedan, Sheikh Bahamadi, Ahmed Ally, Bahamad, Sheik Bahamad, Ahmed The Tall)
 
 
Retha al-Tunisi
 
 
Anas al-Libi (Anas al-Sabai, Nazih al-Raghie, Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie)
 
 
[First Name Unknown] al-Rubaia
 
 
Speen Ghul
 
 
In September 2002, Yusuf al-Khalid (then nine years old) and Abed al-Khalid (then seven years old)
 
 
On March 28, 2003, Aafia Siddiqui

List of 39 Detainees held in US secret prisons.

Category 1:

Individuals whose detention by the United States has been officially acknowledged and whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown

 
 
Hassan Ghul On January 23, 2004, Ghul, a national of Pakistan, was apprehended in northern Iraq. Ghul is described as an al-Qaeda facilitator in the 9-11 Commission Report, which also confirms that Ghul was in U.S. custody. On January 26, 2004, President Bush congratulated U.S. intelligence agents for their role in Ghul’s apprehension. After his apprehension, Ghul was reportedly interrogated by U.S. military and intelligence officials. On December 5, 2005, ABC News reported that he had been held in a secret U.S. detention facility in Poland.3 On July 19, 2006 his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List.4 No other information about Ghul’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi (Abu Bakr al Azdi) In May or June 2003, al-Ghamdi, a national of Saudi Arabia, turned himself in to authorities in Medina, Saudi Arabia, reportedly because his wife had been arrested several weeks earlier. The 9-11 Commission Report, referring to al-Ghamdi as a candidate hijacker for the attacks of September 11, 2001, acknowledged that al-Ghamdi was in U.S. custody. On July 19, 2006, his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about al-Ghamdi has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Ali Abdul-Hamid al-Fakhiri (Ali Abd-al-Hamid al-Fakhiri, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi) Around November 11, 2001, al-Fakhiri, a national of Libya, was apprehended in Kohat, Pakistan by Pakistani officials. Al-Fakhiri is allegedly a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and the leader of the Al Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan from 1995 until 2000. Soon after his apprehension, al-Fakhiri was in U.S. custody in Kandahar, Afghanistan and reportedly came under the control of the CIA in January 2002 after a dispute between the CIA and the FBI regarding who would have control over al-Fakhiri. Reports indicate that al-Fakhiri was transferred to the U.S.S. Bataan by January 9, 2002 and then transferred to Egypt in January 2002. Al-Fakhiri may have been held in another country before being sent to a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan in 2003. Al-Fakhiri was reportedly transferred out of Afghanistan in late 2003 to a secret U.S. detention facility and then transferred to Libya in late 2005 or early 2006. On December 5, 2005, ABC News reported that he had been held in a secret U.S. detention facility in Poland.5 Statements allegedly made by al-Fakhiri after his apprehension were reportedly a key part of U.S. pre-war intelligence on Iraq. In January 2004, al-Fakhiri is reported to have withdrawn his statements. Al-Fakhiri is now reportedly held in isolation in Tripoli, and said to be suffering from tuberculosis and to be in very poor health. At least one U.S. official has acknowledged U.S. involvement in elements of al-Fakhiri’s treatment, including questioning al-Fakhiri and transferring al-Fakhiri to a third country for interrogation. On July 19, 2006 his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about al-Fakhiri’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain officially unexplained.

Category 2:

Individuals about whom there is strong evidence, including witness testimony, of secret detention by the United States and whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown

 
 
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri, Umar Abd al-Hakim) On or about November 1, 2005, Nasar, a dual Syrian-Spanish citizen, was apprehended in Quetta, Pakistan, by Pakistani officials. In November 2004, Nasar was identified on the FBI “Most Wanted Terrorists” List and on November 18, 2004, the U.S. Department of State offered a reward of $U.S. 5 million for information concerning his location through its “Rewards for Justice” program and described Nasar as an al-Qaeda member and former trainer at camps in Afghanistan. Other reports describe Nasar as an ideologue and strategist, best known for his writings. Nasar is also wanted in Spain in connection with al-Qaeda activities. In April and May 2006, Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed that Nasar was wanted by both the U.S. and Syria, had been handed over to U.S. custody at least two months earlier, and was not in Pakistan. At around the same time, in March 2006, Nasar’s name was removed from at least one U.S. government list of terrorism suspects. On July 19, 2006, his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about Nasar’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain officially unexplained.

 
 
Two, possibly three, Somalis [Names Unknown] (one of whom is either Shoeab as-Somali or Rethwan as-Somali) Sometime prior to December 2004, two Somali nationals were apprehended and detained in a secret U.S. detention facility. Between December 2004 and late 2005, Marwan Jabour6 reports that two Somalis were held in the cells next to his and that he sometimes would hear the Somalis talking with each other in Somali. While in that facility, Jabour was also shown a photograph of a Somali man whom he had known previously and recognized as either Shoeab as-Somali or Rethwan as-Somali. Jabour recognized that the photograph had been taken in his previous cell in the same facility. The Somali man in the photograph may or may not have been one of the Somalis held in the cells next to Jabour between December 2004 and late 2005. No information about these detainees’ fates has been released by the U.S. government, and their whereabouts remain unknown. * Individuals publicly identified as missing for the first time by human rights groups are indicated by an asterisk. Note that while the detention of two Somali nationals has been previously reported, the possibility that a third Somali national was held in a secret U.S. detention facility has not been explicitly stated.

 
 
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan (Abu Talha, Abu Talaha) On July 13, 2004, Khan, a national of Pakistan, was reportedly apprehended by Pakistani authorities with the assistance of the CIA and other U.S. agencies. Media reports since his disappearance have alleged that Khan is suspected of working as a computer and communications expert with al-Qaeda. In his 2006 memoir, In the Line of Fire, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf provides details of the apprehension and subsequent treatment of an “unnamed Pakistani national” that strongly correlate with information available regarding Khan.7 President Musharraf records that the individual was apprehended by Pakistani officials based on “vital leads” provided by the U.S. who had also been “tracking him” and that British authorities were given “direct access” to the individual. At least one detainee held in a secret U.S. detention facility was shown photos of Khan that suggested he was in custody. On July 19, 2006, the name “Abu Tallah” was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No information about Khan’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Abdul Basit Before or during June 2004, Basit, a national of probably either Saudi Arabia or Yemen, was apprehended and transferred to a secret U.S. detention facility where according to Marwan Jabour he spoke with other prisoners held in the facility and gave his name as “Abdul Basit.” No information about Basit’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Adnan [Last Name Unknown] Before or during June 2004, Adnan was apprehended and transferred to a secret U.S. detention facility where according to Marwan Jabour he spoke with other prisoners held in the facility and gave his name as “Adnan.” No information about Adnan’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Hudaifa Before or during June 2004, Hudaifa was apprehended and transferred to a secret U.S. detention facility where according to Marwan Jabour he spoke with other prisoners held in the facility and gave his name as “Hudaifa.” No information about Hudaifa’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Mohammed [Last Name Unknown] (Mohammed al-Afghani) Mohammed, an Afghan born in Saudi Arabia, was apprehended in May 2004 in Peshawar, Pakistan. According to Marwan Jabour, Mohammed was transferred with him and two other prisoners out of a facility in Islamabad, Pakistan on June 16, 2004 and imprisoned with Jabour in a secret U.S. detention facility. No information about Mohammed’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Khalid al-Zawahiri On February 25, 2004, al-Zawahiri, a national of Egypt, was apprehended in Azam Warak in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan by Pakistani officials. He was reportedly questioned by both Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials shortly after his apprehension, and there are indications that he was transferred to U.S. custody, possibly in Afghanistan. Reports indicate that al-Zawahiri is the son of Ayman al-Zawahiri, an alleged high-level al-Qaeda suspect. No information about Khalid al-Zawahiri’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Ayoub al-Libi In January 2004, al-Libi, a national of Libya, was reportedly apprehended in Peshawar, Pakistan. According to Marwan Jabour, al-Libi was transferred with him and two other prisoners out of a facility in Islamabad, Pakistan on June 16, 2004 and imprisoned with Jabour in a secret U.S. detention facility. Jabour heard Ayoub al-Libi call out to him once during the first month of captivity in the secret U.S. detention facility. A prisoner with the surname al-Mahdi-Jawdeh (aka Ayoub al-Libi) (see page 13), was reportedly transferred from secret U.S. detention to Libyan custody in 2006, and may well be the same person. No information about al-Libi’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Abu Naseem Naseem, a national of Tunisia, was apprehended in Peshawar, Pakistan, on June 17, 2003 by Pakistani authorities. He was reportedly suspected of providing forged documents to al-Qaeda, and of facilitating other al-Qaeda operations. Reports at the time of his arrest suggested that he may have been transferred to U.S. custody. Another suspect arrested on the same day was reportedly transferred to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. A witness reported hearing his voice in a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan in late 2003. No information about Naseem’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Suleiman Abdalla Salim (Suleiman Abdalla, Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, Suleiman

 
 
Ahmed Hemed Salim, (Issa Tanzania) On March 18, 2003, Salim, a national of either Yemen or Tanzania, was reportedly apprehended in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali warlords reportedly abducted him from a hospital and delivered him to an airport in Mogadishu, where U.S. officials took custody of him. Salim was reportedly sought by the U.S. for alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Witness testimony indicates that Salim was held in at least two secret U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan during 2004. The former detainee who saw Salim said that Salim had been badly tortured while in U.S. custody: his arms had been broken, and he had been hit in the head with the butt of a gun. No information about Salim’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Yassir al-Jazeeri (Yasser al-Jaziri, Abu Yasir al-Jaziri, Abu Yassir Al Jazeeri, Yasser al-Jazeeri) On March 15, 2003, al-Jazeeri, a national of Morocco, was apprehended in Lahore, Pakistan by Pakistani security forces, who were reportedly assisted by agents of the FBI. Reports indicate that al-Jazeeri was jointly interrogated by Pakistani and U.S. agents. Although al-Jazeeri was not included on the FBI “Most Wanted Terrorists” List at the time of his apprehension, he was characterized as among the top seven leaders of the al-Qaeda network by Pakistan’s Federal Information Minister. Witness testimonies indicate that al-Jazeeri was held in a CIA-operated portion of Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in late 2003 through early 2004. Al-Jazeeri was transferred to a secret U.S. detention facility in April 2004, where Marwan Jabour reports that he was allowed to meet with him several times as late as June 2006. According to Jabour, al-Jazeeri told him that he had been in a place with U.S. interrogators where he had been tortured, and that he had permanent damage to his arm as a result of being badly beaten. Jabour reported, “I saw very clearly the marks of torture on his body.”8 Al-Jazeeri also indicated that he had been subjected to loud music for four months straight. In 2003, the U.S. government acknowledged that Yassir al-Jazeeri had been captured or killed. On July 19, 2006 his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about al-Jazeeri’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman (Asadallah) In mid-February 2003, Abdel-Rahman, a national of Egypt, was apprehended in Quetta, Pakistan. Abdel-Rahman is the son of Omar Abdel-Rahman (the “blind Sheikh”) and according to the U.S. ran a training camp in Afghanistan prior to September 11, 2001 and had a role in planning the attacks of September 11, 2001. Information from Abdel-Rahman reportedly led to the joint U.S.-Pakistan arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay. Reports indicate that Abdel-Rahman was in U.S. custody after his apprehension and that Abdel-Rahman was being questioned by U.S. authorities in early March 2003. On December 5, 2005, ABC News reported that he had been held in a secret U.S. detention facility in Poland.9 On July 19, 2006 his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about Abdel-Rahman’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Majid [Last Name Unknown] (Adnan al-Libi, Abu Yasser) In 2003, Majid, a national of Libya, was apprehended, apparently in Afghanistan. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has described Adnan al-Libi as a “senior LIFG facilitator.”10 He was reportedly held in a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan in late 2003 and was apparently transferred to another secret U.S. detention facility, in which he was present in April 2004. No information about Majid’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Hassan [Last Name Unknown] (Raba’i) Hassan, a national of Libya, was apprehended in Pakistan, apparently in 2002. His pregnant wife, name and nationality unknown, was with him in Pakistan at the time of his arrest. Hassan is allegedly a member of the LIFG. He was apparently transferred with al-Fakhiri (aka Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi) from a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan in November 2003 to a secret U.S. detention facility, in which he was present in April 2004. He was reportedly transferred to Libyan custody in late 2005 or 2006, and is reportedly being held in Tripoli. No information about Hassan’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain officially unexplained.

 
 
[First Name Unknown] al-Mahdi-Jawdeh (Abu Ayoub, Ayoub al-Libi) Al-Mahdi-Jawdeh, a national of Libya, is allegedly a member of the LIFG. He was reportedly held in secret U.S. detention before being sent to Libya in 2006. A prisoner with the name Ayoub al-Libi was reportedly held in a U.S. secret detention facility with Marwan Jabour (see page 11) and may well be the same person. No information about al-Mahdi-Jawdeh’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain officially unexplained. Khaled al-Sharif (Abu Hazem)* Al-Sharif, a national of Libya, is allegedly a member of the LIFG. Al-Sharif had reportedly been held in a secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan in late 2003, with al-Fakhiri (aka Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi) and Hassan (aka Raba’i). He may have been transferred to Libya in late 2005 or 2006, and is reportedly being held in Tripoli. No information about al-Sharif’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain officially unexplained. Al Qaida-Affiliated LIFG, Feb. 8, 2006, available at http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js4016.htm.

Category 3:

Individuals about whom there is some evidence of secret detention by the United States and whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown

 
 
Osama bin Yousaf (Usama Bin Yussaf, Usama bin Yusuf, Usamah bin-Yusuf) On August 7, 2005, bin Yousaf, believed to be a national of either Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, was apprehended in Faisalabad, Pakistan, reportedly by tracking his cell phone, which was recorded in the phone directory of Abu Faraj al-Libi. Al-Libi was arrested on May 2, 2005 in Mardan, Pakistan by Pakistani authorities aided by U.S. intelligence officials and is one of the detainees who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay. Bin Yousaf is allegedly an al-Qaeda operative closely linked to al-Libi. It was reported that maps of cities in Germany and Italy were seized from bin Yousaf upon arrest. He was reportedly transferred to Lahore on August 9, 2005 and on the following day to Islamabad, where he was interrogated by U.S. officials. No information about bin Yousaf’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Osama Nazir In November 2004, Nazir, a national of Pakistan, was apprehended by Pakistani authorities in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Nazir was reportedly a high-ranking operative of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda. He was suspected of involvement in a March 2002 attack on a church in Islamabad’s high-security diplomatic zone, and was later linked to Shehzad Tanweer, one of the suicide bombers responsible for the London attacks of July 7, 2005. The media reported that the U.S. government sought custody of Nazir after his arrest. On July 19, 2006, his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about Nazir’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Sharif al-Masri (Abd-al-Sattar Sharif al-Masri) On August, 29, 2004, al-Masri, a national of Egypt, was apprehended in Quetta, Pakistan, reportedly by Pakistani authorities. His apprehension was confirmed on September 1, 2004 by Pakistan’s Federal Information Minister. The Information Minister also confirmed that a second man was apprehended with al-Masri but stated that his identity was unknown. Reports alternatively indicate that this man was a national of Saudi Arabia, Yemen or Pakistan. In November 2005, U.S. sources indicated that al-Masri had told his interrogators about an al-Qaeda plan to bring nuclear materials to the United States via Mexico for use against U.S. targets. No information about al-Masri’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Qari Saifullah Akhtar (Amir Harkat-ul-Ansar Qari Saifullah) On August 6, 2004, Akhtar, a national of Pakistan, was apprehended in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), reportedly with the assistance of UAE authorities after he had been traced by Pakistani intelligence officials. A number of media reports from August and October 2004 refer to Pakistan’s Federal Information Minister’s comments that Akhtar was transferred after his apprehension from the UAE to Pakistan and was being interrogated by Pakistani officials. An unnamed intelligence official indicated that he was possibly being interrogated in Lahore. The allegations against Akhtar include that he led Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami, was connected to a plot to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and ran a terrorist training camp in Rishkor, Afghanistan. In connection with a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf, the Pakistani Supreme Court has requested details from the government of Pakistan concerning his detention. The U.S. was reportedly interested in questioning Akhtar and on July 19, 2006, his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about Akhtar’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Mustafa Mohammed Fadhil (Moustafa Ali Elbishy, Hussein, Hassan Ali, Khalid, Abu Jihad) In July or August 2004, Fadhil, a national of Egypt and possibly also Kenya, was reportedly apprehended in Pakistan by Pakistani authorities. Fadhil was named in a U.S. federal indictment concerning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. On October 10, 2001, he was placed on the FBI “Most Wanted Terrorists” List. His name was removed from the list without explanation. No information about Fadhil’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Musaab Aruchi (Mosabir Aroochi, Masoob Aroochi, Abu Mosa’ab al-Balochi, Abu Mosa’ab Aroochi, Musaad Aruchi, al-Baluchi) On June 12, 2004, Aruchi, a national of Pakistan, was apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan by Pakistani paramilitary forces reportedly supervised by the CIA, on the basis of U.S. intelligence telephone and internet intercepts. Aruchi is allegedly a senior al-Qaeda operative and is the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials were quoted as saying that Aruchi was held by Pakistani authorities for three days before being flown in an unmarked CIA plane from a Pakistani air force base to an unknown location. On July 19, 2006, the name “Mosabir Aroochi” was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about Aruchi’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown. Ibad al Yaquti al Sheikh al Sufiyan On January 22, 2004, al Sufiyan, a resident of Saudi Arabia, was reportedly apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan, by Pakistani intelligence authorities. He was reportedly suspected of being an al-Qaeda operative. Al Sufiyan was apprehended the day after Walid bin Azmi (see page 16), and reports indicate that information provided by bin Azmi led authorities to al Sufiyan. No information about al Sufiyan’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Walid bin Azmi In January 2004, bin Azmi, described as “an Arab,” was reportedly apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan in a raid by intelligence agencies. Bin Azmi was apprehended as part of a raid in which about a dozen individuals escaped, while those apprehended were reportedly transferred to U.S. custody, reportedly the FBI. Bin Azmi is allegedly an al-Qaeda operative who was based in Pakistan and is said to be a suspect in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000. No information about bin Azmi’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Amir Hussein Abdullah al-Misri (Fazal Mohammad Abdullah al-Misri) On January 18, 2004, al-Misri, a national of Egypt, was reportedly apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan by Pakistani authorities. Al-Misri is reportedly linked to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and al-Qaeda. A press report shortly after the apprehension quotes an unnamed Pakistani official indicating that investigators were trying to verify whether al-Misri was wanted by the U.S. government and that the FBI was likely to join local investigators shortly. The official is also reported as stating that those apprehended in the raid in which al-Misri was detained were being transfered to Islamabad, after which they were likely to be sent to U.S. custody. No information about al-Misri’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Safwan al-Hasham (Haffan al-Hasham) On May 15, 2003, al-Hasham, a national of Saudi Arabia, was apprehended while driving from Hyderabad to Karachi, Pakistan by Pakistani authorities, possibly in the presence of U.S. officials. Media accounts indicate that al-Hasham was suspected of being al-Qaeda’s communications chief. On July 19, 2006, his name was included in the “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” List. No other information about al-Hasham’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Jawad al-Bashar In early May 2003, al-Bashar, a national of Egypt, was reportedly apprehended in Vindher (Windar), Balochistan, along with an Afghan national, Farzand Shah, by law enforcement agencies. Al-Bashar is allegedly a member of al-Qaeda operating in Pakistan and is suspected to be linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay. No information about al-Bashar’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Aafia Siddiqui On around March 28, 2003, Siddiqui, along with her three children (then aged 7 years, 5 years and 6 months), a national of Pakistan, was reportedly apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan. On March 18, 2003, the FBI had issued an alert requesting information on Siddiqui so the FBI could locate and question her. The U.S. government has alleged that Siddiqui is linked to detainees that the government has acknowledged were in the U.S. Secret Detention Program, including

 
 
Majid Khan and Ali ‘Abd al-’Aziz ‘Ali There are a number of reports alleging that Siddiqui had been handed over to U.S. custody following her apprehension, but in May 26, 2004, then-Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III identified Siddiqui as someone presenting a threat to the United States, indicating their belief that she was not in custody. No other information about Siddiqui’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and her whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Saif al Islam el Masry In September 2002, el Masry, a national of Egypt, was apprehended in the Pankisi Gorge, Georgia, by Georgian authorities. El Masry was suspected of being a member of al-Qaeda’s high council. Media reports indicate that Georgian officials acknowledged that they transferred el Masry and others detained in the same raid to U.S. custody. No information about el Masry’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Sheikh Ahmed Salim (Swedan, Sheikh Ahmad Salem Suweidan, Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, Sheikh Swedan, Sheikh Bahamadi, Ahmed Ally, Bahamad, Sheik Bahamad, Ahmed The Tall) On July 11, 2002, Salim, a national of Kenya, was apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan by Pakistani
authorities, possibly with the assistance of U.S. law enforcement agents. Media reports indicate that he was transferred to U.S. custody at some point in 2002. Salim was named in a U.S. federal indictment concerning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Salim is still listed on the FBI “Most Wanted Terrorists” List. No information about Salim’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Retha al-Tunisi In early to mid-2002, al-Tunisi, a national of Tunisia, was apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan. Al-Tunisi is alleged to hold a high-level position in al-Qaeda. Marwan Jabour reports that while he was held in a secret U.S. detention facility, he was shown a photograph of al-Tunisi, who was apparently in U.S. custody. This may or may not be Ridah bin Saleh al Yazidi, a Tunisian national, who is presently held at Guantánamo Bay and does not have counsel. No information about al-Tunisi’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Anas al-Libi (Anas al-Sabai, Nazih al-Raghie, Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie) In February 2002, al-Libi, a national of Libya, was reportedly apprehended in Khartoum, Sudan, after which there were reportedly negotiations between U.S. and Sudanese officials to complete al-Libi’s handover to U.S. custody. He was named in a U.S. federal indictment concerning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and on October 10, 2001, his name appeared on the initial version of the FBI “Most Wanted Terrorists” List, where his name still remains. He was probably sent to Egypt at some point after his apprehension and may now be in another country. No information about al-Libi’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
[First Name Unknown] al-Rubaia In 2002, al-Rubaia, a national of Iraq, was apparently apprehended in Iran and later held in a secret U.S. detention facility. Another detainee held in the same secret U.S. detention facility in Afghanistan read the name “al-Rubaia” and information about his arrest on a cell wall. No information about al-Rubaia’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
Speen GhulMarwan Jabour reports that while in a secret U.S. detention facility, he was shown a photograph of Speen Ghul, a national of an African country, who was apparently in U.S. custody. No information about Ghul’s fate has been released by the U.S. government, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Detention of family members of detainees, including children.

In some cases family members—including children—of detainees who have been held in the U.S. Secret Detention Program, have been apprehended, detained and/or subjected to coercive treatment. Family members may be apprehended separately or at the same time as the individual sought. One apparent object of such treatment has been to obtain information about the detainee. Some of these family members have been subsequently released, but in other cases their fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

 
 
In September 2002, Yusuf al-Khalid (then nine years old) and Abed al-Khalid (then seven years old) were reportedly apprehended by Pakistani security forces during an attempted capture of their father, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was successfully apprehended several months later, and the U.S. government has acknowledged that he was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program. He is presently held at Guantánamo Bay. In an April 16, 2007 statement, Ali Khan (father of Majid Khan, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay) indicated that Yusef and Abed al-Khalid had been held in the same location in which Majid Khan and Majid’s brother Mohammed were detained in March/April 2003. Mohammed was detained by Pakistani officials for approximately one month after his apprehension on March 5, 2003 (see below). Ali Khan’s statement indicates that: Also according to Mohammed, he and Majid were detained in the same place where two of Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s young children, ages about 6 and 8, were held. The Pakistani guards told my son that the boys were kept in a separate area upstairs, and were denied food and water by other guards. They were also mentally tortured by having ants or other creatures put on their legs to scare them and get them to say where their father was hiding. After Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s arrest in March 2003, Yusuf and Abed Al Khalid were reportedly transferred out of Pakistan in U.S. custody. The children were allegedly being sent for questioning about their father’s activities and to be used by the United States as leverage to force their father to co-operate with the United States. A press report on March 10, 2003 confirmed that CIA interrogators had detained the children and that one official explained that: “We are handling them with kid gloves. After all, they are only little children…but we need to know as much about their father’s recent activities as possible. We have child psychologists on hand at all times and they are given the best of care.” In the transcript of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal, he indicates knowledge that his children were apprehended and abused: “They arrested my kids intentionally. They are kids. They been arrested for four months they had been abused.”13 On March 5, 2003, Majid Khan, was apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan, along with his brother Mohammed, his brother’s wife and their one month-old daughter. They were all taken to an unknown location. Majid Khan’s sister-in-law and her daughter were detained for one week, and as mentioned above, Mohammed Khan was detained by Pakistani officials for approximately one month.

 
 
On March 28, 2003, Aafia Siddiqui was reportedly apprehended in Karachi, Pakistan along with her three children (then aged seven years, five years and six months). On August 11, 2003, Hambali, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay, was reportedly apprehended in Thailand along with his wife Noralwizah Lee Abdullah, a national of Malaysia, in a joint operation of which the U.S. was a part. On July 24, 2004, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a detainee who the U.S. government has acknowledged was in the U.S. Secret Detention Program and is presently held at Guantánamo Bay, was reportedly apprehended in Gujarat, Pakistan, along with two women (his wife, an Uzbek national and the Pakistani wife of South African national Zubair Ismail) and five children. His apprehension was reportedly a joint Pakistani-U.S. operation, coordinated with CIA and FBI officials.

Snooping around the internet for news relating to Rumsfeld’s disastrous tenure at the top job in the Pentagon two pieces were quite eye catching.

First, writing in the Guardian on Wednesday, Richard Norton-Taylor ends with this:

In Britain, Rumsfeld was vilified by military commanders and senior officials. His decision to abandon the Iraq army directly contradicted a directive from Admiral, now Lord, Boyce, then chief of the defence staff who had instructed his commanders in the field to deal with Iraqi officers to help maintain law and order.

It is difficult to exaggerate the scorn directed at Rumsfeld this side of the Atlantic, among the military and security and intelligence agencies concerned – pragmatically – about the effect of Guantanamo Bay. He should be indicted, they say. But they say so privately because they are servants of the Blair government. And not one British minister dared to criticise Rumsfeld. That is one appalling feature of Rumsfeld’s destructive tenure of office.

And then this report from Time magazine I actually thought very eye catching.

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006
Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse
A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo
By ADAM ZAGORIN

Just days after his resignation, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany’s top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called “20th hijacker” and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a “special interrogation plan,” personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.

All this stuff that has been previously reported — but here is the extra interesting new bit:

Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.

Germany was chosen for the court filing because German law provides “universal jurisdiction” allowing for the prosecution of war crimes and related offenses that take place anywhere in the world

Familiar names, huh? There is a good selection to be starting off with. In my opinion All implicated in one way or another of turning the United States rule of law, that has served the country so well in the past, into a free wheeling charter for sadistic personalities. Reading the names, these are exactly the people responsible for Abu Ghraib, not the low level “few bad apples” that have so far been prosecuted.

Then Michael Ratner has his say:

“The utter and complete failure of U.S. authorities to take any action to investigate high-level involvement in the torture program could not be clearer,” says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a U.S.-based non-profit helping to bring the legal action in Germany. He also notes that the Military Commissions Act, a law passed by Congress earlier this year, effectively blocks prosecution in the U.S. of those involved in detention and interrogation abuses of foreigners held abroad in American custody going to back to Sept. 11, 2001.

And that’s it, the article goes on to say some other stuff, but none of it very important.

What is important to me is that someone is doing something about Mr. Bush’s enablers. Realistically, I would not expect that indictments handed down in a German Court will have much impact on the lives of those individuals indicted. But that does not matter so much. What matters is that there is an unambiguous signal sent to Mr. Bush that Germany at least considers that actions taken by his government in the name of the war on terror are criminal.

The message is:

     Mr. Bush – Your Government – Criminal – Criminal – Criminal.
     Signed: Germany.

http://www.iht.com/ . . .

After Pres. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act into law, the Justice Department lost no time in informing the Guantanamo detainees who had cases pending questioning the legality of their detention that these cases were now moot.

Likewise, defense lawyers for the Guantanamo detainees have lost no time in lodging an appeal.

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay ask appeals court to overturn military tribunals law

The Associated Press
November 1st, 2006
WASHINGTON: Lawyers for dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees asked a U.S. appeals court Wednesday to declare a key part of President George W. Bush’s new military tribunal law unconstitutional.

In written arguments filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the detainees’ lawyers challenge the military’s authority to arrest people overseas and detain them indefinitely without allowing them to use the U.S. courts to contest their detention.

Attorneys for more than 100 detainees who will be locked out of the court system under the new law asked the appeals court to let them to keep their legal challenge going in civilian courts. They said the framers of the U.S. Constitution never would have permitted the government to hold people indefinitely without charging them.

Shortly after the new military commissions law was signed, the Justice Department told hundreds of detainees that their cases in the U.S. courts had been rendered moot.

If the judges should decide not to declare the law unconstitutional, attorneys offered a creative way for the court to keep their case alive. They suggested the judges rule that the law does not mean what the Justice Department thinks it means, because if it did, it would be unconstitutional.

The Justice Department has until Nov. 13 to respond to the detainees claims.

The Military Commissions Act is a remarkable for the way it was rushed into law hours before congress stood down and just weeks before contentious mid term elections. In the typical undemocratic fashion that this congress has become famous for, it was the result of last minute back room horse trading in some secret room. And the bill itself covers a lot of different subject matter, it was like giving the Pres. everything he wanted for Christmas and Birthday all in one go.

On the one hand, it removes the right of the accused, Mr. E. Combatant, to Habeas petitions; and on the other it makes lawful all the torment that the tormentors of Mr. E. Combatant can inflict upon him. It allows the Pres. to have Mr. E. tried in one of his pretend courts, even sentenced to death if that is Pres.’s desire. And it equally allows the Pres. not to have Mr. E. tried in any court, but rather, just lock him up for ever with no reason given. Sleep deprive him, freeze him to death (literally, it would be a consequence of an approved method of interrogation after all, that went slightly too far — just be more careful next time!), make him live in total darkness or never turn the lights off, put him in a container where the temperature is 138 degrees for twelve hours. Your choice, here is the menu.

Really, it is a most troublesome piece of legislation and and in a way, an appropriate testament, coming at the end of the congressional term, to the assertion that this 109th congress has completely lost its mind and its ability to reason. A sensible solution might be to cart them all off to the nut house.

Three cheers for defense attorneys lodging their appeals.

http://www.cageprisoners.com/ . . .

Major Mori, David Hicks military defense lawyer, is in Australia to brief MPs and to meet with Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.

David Hicks, the last Australian detainee held at Guantanamo Bay (originally there were two Australians) has been detained by the US since his capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan in December 2001. He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy, and was to appear before a US military commission.

But following the Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld Supreme Court ruling in June those charges were dropped. Subsequent to the passage of the new Military commissions Act into law, it is expected that Hicks will once again face similar charges under the new revamped military commissions system, which in most every respect is identical to the old discredited system. Major Mori has indicated that his client will once again plead not guilty.

Hicks in solitary seven months – Mori

By Peter Veness
November 1st, 2006
US military lawyer Major Michael Mori (pictured right) said today that Hicks had been confined to one concrete room for about 22 hours of every day for the last seven months.

“Since March of this year, he was placed in solitary confinement, in a cement room with a steel door where he spends 22 and a half to 23 hours a day,” Major Mori said.

He suggested Hicks had been subject to sleep deprivation, an action defined as coercion rather than torture by Mr Ruddock.

“The lights are on 24 hours a day. That affects, obviously, his sleep and his sense of time.

“There was no valid reason given why he was placed in solitary.”

Asked if Hicks was close to breaking, Maj Mori said he hoped the former Adelaide man was not.

“We’re doing everything we can. We try to get down there as quickly as possible and try to get books through for him, but it does take some time.”

But the reality was that Hicks was in a terrible mental state.

“I went down and spent my birthday with him at the beginning of October,” Maj Mori said.

“He’s not doing well. You can see the effects.

SOURCE: The Australian

****

It is interesting to note:

• David Hicks is one of only ten detainees that have ever been charged with anything by the Bush administration — and that is out of a total of 760 detainees that have been processed to GTMO. In theory at least, there may be some actual evidence that the Bush administration has gathered, that is why he is up for trial.
• But Major Mori has taken Hicks case to heart, he is a one man campaign working to have his client released.
• So why is Major Mori so willing to stick his neck out, way way out, on David Hicks behalf? We are after all talking about a defendant that is accused of being “the worst of the worst”.
• I think it is because Major Mori has determined to his own satisfaction that Mr. Bush has no evidence that would stand up in court — regular court, not kangaroo court.

Most of the evidence that has been made public against the detainees seems to be of the nature,
ACCUSER: You were in country “A[redacted]” (actually Afghanistan but we are not allowed to say, national security!!) with Osama bin Laden in February of 2001!
DETAINEE: No I wasn’t! For most of 2000 and 2001 I was working at [redacted]. I have given you a list of names for you to contact. These people will corroborate my story. Have you talked to any of the people on my list?
ACCUSER: The Court is unaware of any such list. We have a statement from Mr. X who claims that you were present at a talk given by Mr. bin Laden. What do you say to that?
DETAINEE: Who is this Mr. X. How can I know him if you will not tell me his name? If I could just confront Mr. X, I am sure this question could be cleared up. Mr. X is not telling the truth.
ACCUSER: We have told you before, for security reasons you are not allowed to know the identity of Mr. X.
DETAINEE: Well in that case I have nothing further to say.

I think privately Major Mori is probably flabbergasted and dismayed that Mr. Bush’s evidence gathering could be so slap dash and dishonest. But what is upsetting him even more is the complete lack of due process that has been afforded his client.

“the worst of the worst” ~~ Rumsfeld.
“We totally suck at the GWOT!” ~~ Miss Devore.

In honor of Halloween, who could resist such a quote?

“It’s the Salem witchcraft trials,” said Marc Falkoff of Covington and Burling’s New York City office, who represents 17 Yemenis, several of them fingered — falsely, according to Falkoff — by different accusers. “You get one guy to start making accusations, and whether it’s believable or not doesn’t matter.”

I am reading from an an article in National Journal that was published February 3rd. In that week’s edition, their reporter, Corine Hegland wrote three stories on Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and it was while doing her research that she interviewed a number of the attorneys that represented detainees.

This is an old article, eight months old in fact, and some things have changed at GTMO and some things haven’t. The overall predicament of the detainees has, if anything, gotten worse since these lawyers were interviewed. More quotes in the next segment.

Here is Thomas Wilner calling a spade a spade:

Thomas Wilner, a partner at the Washington law firm Shearman and Stearling who is representing six Kuwaitis at Guantanamo, summarized the evidence against them: “Bullshit hearsay…. The information in some cases is, at best, hearsay allegations long after capture.”

And the there is Anant Raut.

“The people you’ve been going up against in court have been saying he’s the worst of the worst, Osama’s right-hand man,” said Anant Raut, an attorney with the Washington firm of Weil, Gotshal, & Manges. “Then you go in there, and it’s a guy who is as confused as you are as to why he is there.” Raut has one client, a Saudi, who is classified as an enemy combatant largely because he spent a couple of weeks on a Taliban bean farm. The man says the Taliban imprisoned him there because they thought he was a Saudi government spy.

The lawyers have much to worry and concern them.
For one thing, they are only ever allowed to visit their clients once every 6 months or so. And that is, if they are allowed at all. Often times a lawyer’s request to meet with his or her client is turned down by the claim that “Your client does not wish to meet with you”; a claim that usually is shown to be totally made up in the months that follow.

And then there is the difficult and worrying task of winning the trust of many of the detainees. Some lawyers have even complained that interrogators at Guantanamo encourage the detainees to think of all lawyers as stool pigeons. Maybe as a consequence, there are over 100 detainees (I think) without representation.

“There is no smoking gun,” said John Chandler, a partner in the Atlanta office of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. One of his Guantanamo clients, picked up in Pakistan, is designated an enemy combatant in part because he once traveled on a bus with wounded Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan. The prisoner denies it, saying it was only a public bus. But then there’s the prisoner’s Casio watch. According to the Defense Department files, his watch is similar to another Casio model that has a circuit board that Al Qaeda has used for making bombs. The United States is using the Qaeda-favored Casio wristwatch as evidence against at least nine other detainees. But the offending model is sold in sidewalk stands around the world and is worn by one National Journal reporter. The primary difference between Chandler’s client’s watch and the Casio in question is that the detainee’s model hasn’t been manufactured for years, according to the U.S. military officer who was his personal representative at the tribunal.

There is a continual outcry of protest and dissatisfaction coming from the lawyers that represent detainees at Guantanamo – they think that many of their clients are being steamrollered towards the black hole of oblivion.

Julia Tarver Mason, a partner with Paul, Weiss, a firm based in New York City, represents a number of detainees, including a Saudi — an amputee — whom Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance turned over to the Americans. The alliance had taken him from a hospital. She says that the classified evidence against the men she represents has “details, but no meat.” The evidence might say, for example, that somebody said someone was a member of an aid group, and that aid group has been known to have some links to Al Qaeda, Mason says. “It’s all 12 steps removed.”

George Brent Mickum, a partner with Washington law firm Keller and Heckman, represents two British residents held at Guantanamo. “I can tell you what’s not there,” Mickum said of the classified evidence against his clients. “What’s not there is any evidence that any of my clients was associated with Al Qaeda in any way.”

Finally, there is the case of Turk with German citizenship, Murat Kurnaz, who was framed by the Pakistan security services (I.S.I.) and then handed over to US authorities for processing to Guantanamo. Lucky for Murat, the Pakistan accusations were proven to be concocted from overly fervent Pakistani imaginations.

Baher Azmy of Seton Hall Law School represents Murat Kurnaz, a Turk who is at Guantanamo. “The government has no case against him,” Azmy says. Kurnaz was plucked off a bus in Pakistan and subsequently accused of being friends with a suicide bomber. The government did not tell Kurnaz’s tribunal that his friend is alive and therefore could not be the referenced suicide bomber. In March, Kurnaz’s file was accidentally, and briefly, declassified: According to the Washington Post, it consisted of memos from domestic and foreign intelligence sources stating that Kurnaz posed no threat. The file, however, contained one anonymous memo contradicting the rest and claiming he was connected to Al Qaeda. In January 2005, a federal judge singled out Kurnaz’s case as evidence of the lack of due process in the Guantanamo tribunals. The judge said that his tribunal had ignored exculpatory evidence and relied instead on the single anonymous memo that was not credible.

Murat Kurnaz has since been released and is attempting to sue the US government.

The National Journal articles:
http://nationaljournal.com/…/0203nj1.htm
http://nationaljournal.com/…/0203nj2.htm
http://nationaljournal.com/…/0203nj4.htm

http://today.reuters.com/ . . .

It appears that there was a press junket down to Guantanamo Bay last week that has given rise to a number of short stories in the press. My previous post is a case in point. How do I know this? Simple, the same phrase “… along the cactus and palm tree-lined shore …” crops up in all of the reports.

It’s got to remind you of that time last year when newspapers in Iraq published direct quotes from interviews of several different Iraqi individuals done at different times of day and in different locations … and yet these Iraqis all managed to come up with identical phrasing, even though none of them were related. That, the Pentagon was later forced to admit, was all their doing. It was supposed to get the Pentagon’s point of view across through the voices of the Iraq “man in the street”.

Anyway, here is another little message the Pentagon wants out there, delivered this time courtesy of Reuters:

Guantanamo may be final home for many detainees
Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:41 AM ET
By Kristin Roberts

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (Reuters) – Many of the 435 suspected terrorists held in concrete and metal prisons on a U.S. military base in Cuba might never go home.

- snip -

The U.S. military has freed hundreds of men, mostly captured in Afghanistan. Of those still here, the Pentagon decided some 120, and perhaps more, could be sent home, although that process has been slowed by reluctance from receiving nations.

But more than 300 others, including 14 transferred in September to Guantanamo from secret overseas prisons, could remain in U.S. military detention until they die.

“Yes, they could be held for the duration of their lives,” said Cully Stimson, the Defense Department’s assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, on one of his regular trips to the base last week.

Cully Stimson is right on the money with that little observation of his.

The detainees are locked up for being terrorists, but they are also being locked up for being enemy combatants, because they were picked up on the battlefield of the so-called Global War on Terror. (The battlefield is quite a bit bigger than normal, it extends round the earth a couple of times and then whizzes off into outer space. So naturally it extends into the hallways and corridors of various guest houses in Pakistan, where it is said, many detainees where to be found partaking of combative board and lodge).

The so-called War on Terror is going badly for America. It took a decidedly downward turn right from the time that Pres. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” — as though the Pres. put a hex on his very own war then and there. So to say that the war will not be won in the lifetime of any of the detainees seems not to be that far-fetched. And you can’t let an enemy combatant go until the war that he was combating is over.

Theoretically Pres. Bush could declare a second “Mission Accomplished” in the interests of another photo op. Or Pres. Bush might decide to win the war on terror early, just before he hands over to the next Pres. so that the new man has a nice clean slate when starting out his new job. These are two possibilities that I see for enemy combatant detainees to be released. Early release, you might say, before they actually die.

****

Hey, this is the good bit in the story that the Pentagon wants you to know about:

Some, including Stimson, say that as far as detention goes, life inside Guantanamo isn’t so bad.

“If U.S. prisoners saw the detention regime these people are in, they’d be knocking down the door to get into Gitmo,” he said, using the nickname for the U.S. naval base on land leased from Communist Cuba.

After criticism for early detention practices, Guantanamo has been praised this year by some European officials as a facility comparable to the best European prisons. Many also still say the prison should close, and Britain’s foreign secretary recently called it ineffective and damaging.

Nice, eh? It’s a summer camp with all-year-round summers that sits on a nice piece of Democratic soil that’s actually attached to Communist Cuba! With a few simple Barbara Bush like remarks, the Pentagon has put the whole GTMO thing into rosy-glow perspective.

Damn that busy body British foreign secretary, why can’t she be more like that fine, sycophantic Mr. Blair!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ . . .

Construction Engineers for the military have been visiting Guantanamo earlier in the week to survey the prison camp in preparation for building courtrooms for military commissions and accommodations for trial lawyers. The Bush plan of action calls for military commissions for the 14 previously disappeared so-called al Qaeda terror suspects that have recently been discovered and fetched to GTMO – plus a further 60 or so longterm GTMO detainees that are actually considered to be guilty of something, though of what nobody is sure.

The trials may start sometime in the new year. But first there will have to be a considerble building effort to build as many as ten new courtrooms, plus housing for extra personel, plus services, power, water and sewage, roads and air-conditioning. The engineers are to submit their proposals to the Pentagon next week.

Brig. Gen. Edward Leacock, deputy commander of the joint task force that runs the facility holding more than 400 suspected terrorists, said the price tag could run into the “hundreds of millions.”

“The logistics end of it will be pretty significant,” Leacock said, referring to the cost and time needed to build the support infrastructure at the base, referred to as Gitmo.

“Gitmo does not have a Home Depot. The process of getting supplies and materials is a major operation. It takes a while to build things down here,” he told reporters on a small boat shuttling across the waters that separate a U.S. naval base from the military detention centre.

Presently there is only one courtroom at GTMO and not a very big one at that. There is only room for one detainee to be tried at a time, and the Bush plan of action requires that there be room for several detainees to be tried together.

Congressonal staff are going to be transported down to GTMO in the coming weeks so that they may see for themselves the actual plots of land where the new courts will be built.

   —News from Guantanamo     August, 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 345, dob: 2/15/1969, Sudan
Sami Muhyideen

Al-Jazeera journalist

Sami Muhyideen is a cameraman for Al-Jazeera who has spent over three years in Guantanamo Bay. He was sent on assignment by the station to cover the war in Afghanistan in October 2001. The following month, after the fall of Kabul, Sami left Afghanistan for Pakistan with the rest of his crew.

Still on assignment for Al-Jazeera, in early December the crew were given visas to return to Afghanistan. When he tried to re-enter Afghanistan with the crew Sami was arrested by the Pakistani authorities – at the request of the US. Sami’s crew never saw him again – he was imprisoned, handed over to the Americans in January 2002, taken to Bagram, then Kandahar, and finally to Guantanamo in June 2002.

For months, the US did not even suggest charges against Sami, instead demanding that he should become a witness against Al-Jazeera and accuse the television station of links to terror. They wanted him to say that Al-Jazeera has a ‘business relationship’ with Al-Qaida, that Al-Qaida has infiltrated Al-Jazeera, and that some of his colleagues at the station were working for Al-Qaida. They offered him release and lifetime protection if he turned informant on his employers.

Sami has refused to do so, insisting consistently that there are no such connections between Al-Jazeera and Al-Qaida.

The US government has not filed any charges against Sami.

We hope to bring news of Sami whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.
Sami is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

–
WE CALL on the United States government to give Sami a fair hearing.

Note
“We absolutely will bring legal action against the United States. We will bring the litigation against the Bush administration on Sami’s behalf because there is an important principle here. One day, I very much hope to have President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld on the witness stand explaining precisely why they thought they could treat prisoners in this way. At the very least, we must make sure that this does not happen again.” — Clive Stafford Smith, Sami’s attorney.

   —News from Guantanamo     August, 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 701, dob: 4/22/1979, British Resident
Jamal ‘Tony’ Kiyemba

Sold to the United States

Jamal Kiyemba is originally from Uganda. His parents separated and his mother moved to London where she raised his siblings. When his father died in an accident in Uganda, Jamal joined his mother, completed school and went to the University of Leicester, where he studied to become a pharmacist.

His family in Uganda was divided between strong Catholicism and a moderate strain of Islam. Jamal himself was brought up Catholic, but converted to Islam in University.

He was travelling in Pakistan when he was seized and turned over to his American captors for a bounty of $5,000 (which was the amount the US Military were offering for foreign Muslim ‘terrorists’). Jamal had never been to Afghanistan until the Americans took him there and there’s no evidence that he ever committed a hostile act against the US or anyone else.

He’s been held in Guantanamo Bay for more than three years.

The British Government has declined to intervene on Jamal’s behalf on the grounds that he is not a British national.

The US government has not filed any charges against Jamal.

We hope to bring news of Jamal whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.
Jamal is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

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WE CALL on the United States government to give Jamal a fair hearing.

Note
See below for an update on Jamal’s circumstances as reported by The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

I confessed to escape Guantanamo torture
By JASON LEWIS,
February 19th, 2006

The Mail on Sunday — A British student secretly released after more than two years in America’s notorious Guantanamo Bay terror suspect prison told last night how he had been barred from returning to the UK.

And, as Jamal “Tony” Kiyemba spoke of the systematic torture he suffered at the hands of his captors, The Mail on Sunday has learned that Home Secretary Charles Clarke personally intervened to keep him out of Britain on “national security grounds”.

The 25-year-old Londoner has been returned to his country of birth, Uganda, where he is now in custody. Kiyemba was freed without warning last week as international pressure mounted on America to close the detention camp after a highly critical UN report on the treatment of prisoners there.

Last night his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, who specialises in human rights cases, handed this newspaper a dossier detailing the abuses his client alleges he suffered.

Kiyemba claims the Americans forced him, under torture, to confess to terrorist activities, and that MI5 interrogated him repeatedly, quizzing him about British terror suspects and the jailed clerics Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada.

The Government is refusing to reveal why Kiyemba, a Leicester University pharmacy student who grew up in London and whose mother, four brothers and sister all live in Britain, has been excluded from the country. But his lawyer believes something he was tortured into saying may hold the clue.

Kiyemba was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK when he left Uganda following the death of his father in 1993. He didn’t apply for British citizenship and this meant that at Guantanamo Bay he was not entitled to representation by the Foreign Office nor, on his release, to automatic rights to return to his family.

“I may not be British according to some bit of paper but in reality I am a Brit and always will be,” he told his lawyer. “My doctor, my local mosque, my teens, my education, employment, friends, taxes, home and above all else my family – it is all in Britain.”

Kiyemba was arrested in Pakistan in March 2002. He had gone there, he claims, to study Arabic and the Koran because it was “very cheap”. He says he was held there for two months, beaten by Pakistani intelligence officers, threatened with torture and, finally, blindfolded and gagged, put on an American plane and flown to the US prison at Bagram in Afghanistan.

There, he claims, he was subjected to systematic torture. He told his lawyer that he would be “hung on the door for two hours and then allowed to sit for half an hour but never allowed to sleep. This would go on for 48 hours in a row”.

After this, he claims, he would be taken for interrogation for two hours at a time. “I had to kneel on the cold concrete throughout the interrogations with my cuffed hands above my head,” he said. “The only way out, I was told, was to confess. I heard and saw other torture – banging, screaming, cries, barking dogs and a dead guy who had tried to escape. One of the MPs [military police] said: ‘Who’s next?’ So I confessed to be left alone.”

Kiyemba’s lawyer says his client was then interviewed by MI5 officers. ‘They showed him many pictures of supposed terrorists in the UK and told him that he could only get them to help if he helped them.

“But he did not know any of them – he recognised Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada from television but had never seen them in person.”

In October 2002 Kiyemba was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. He recalls how on the journey he was forced to wear “the tightest cuffs to date, with chains, taped goggles, ear muffs, nose masks and taped gloves to prevent finger movement”. He added: “Any movement meant you got hit by the nearest soldier.”

At Guantanamo, Kiyemba says he had three more visits from MI5 who asked him if he wished to make any changes to his previous statements. He says when he said no, “they left in what seemed like an angry mood”.

He added: “The American interrogators did not believe my story. Soon they had me standing up for sleep deprivation. They swore that if I did not admit to having planned jihad in Afghanistan, then what lay ahead for me would be far worse.

“The Americans promised to send me to “our Egyptian friends who are renowned for torturing and they will do the dirty work for us”. In the end I just gave up resisting and told them what they wanted to hear so that they would leave me alone.”

But, he says, the torture did not let up. On one occasion Kiyemba claims he was forced to the ground by guards, bound and soaked with pepper spray.

“They then sprayed it on a towel until it was soaked and rubbed the towel in his eyes,” his lawyer noted. “He did not know what to do about the pain. He asked a medic, who told him to wash his eyes out with cold water – this made it worse.”

A letter from a senior Foreign Office staffer was the first official word Kiyemba’s family got of his release. It said: “You should be aware that the Home Secretary has personally directed that he should be excluded from the UK on grounds of national security.”

Last night Mr Stafford Smith, director of the human rights group Reprieve, called on the Home Secretary to reconsider his client’s plight.

He said: “Jamal Kiyemba has lived his whole life in Britain since he was a boy. His mother and family all live here. Charles Clarke refused to lift a finger to help him when he was being abused in Guantanamo Bay. Now he has barred him from his home and his mother based on allegations he won’t reveal but which were almost certainly based on what Jamal said under torture.”

   —News from Guantanamo     August, 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 269, dob: Not documented, British resident
Mohammed ‘Yusuf’ El Gharani

Sent to Guantanamo at fourteen years of age

Mohammed El Gharani was just 14 years old when he was seized by the Pakistanis and sold to the Americans for a bounty.

As a Chad national in Saudi Arabia, his opportunities for education and advancement were extremely limited, so Mohammed left his home shortly before 11th September, 2001, hoping to learn English and train to work with computers.

There is no evidence that Mohammed ever traveled to Afghanistan nor that he intended to do so. Nevertheless, he is now one of twenty juveniles that Reprieve has identified that are being held in Guantanamo Bay.

He states that he has been terribly abused there – including having a cigarette stubbed out on his arm by an interrogator and being constantly abused by guards. Most of his mistreatment stems from his vocal objection to being called a ‘nigger’ by US Military personnel.

The United States has explicitly misled the public about whether children are being held in Guantanamo Bay. On BBC Radio 4’s ‘PM’ programme on January 29, 2004 Jon Manel interviewed Lieutenant Commander Barbara Burfeind at the Department of Defense in Washington:

BURFEIND: We don’t plan on, er, detaining, em, juveniles at Guantanamo further. Er, I can’t say in terms of the future of anywhere else.

JON MANEL: Why not at Guantanamo anymore?

BURFEIND: Em, they just, I’ve just been told that they are not planning on having juveniles at Guantanamo.

This was false when Lt. Cdr. Burfeind made the statement and it remains false today. There are at least nine juveniles in Guantanamo Bay and five other have been released. None is being held in Camp Iguana and some, including Mohammed, are being held in the infamous Camp V – the most onerous of all the Guantanamo camps.

The US government has not filed any charges against Mohammed.

We hope to bring news of Mohammed whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.
Mohammed is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

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WE CALL on the United States government to give Mohammed a fair hearing.

   —News from Guantanamo     August, 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 727, dob: 11/28/1969, British resident
Omar Deghayes

A case of mistaken identity

Omar Deghayes is a British refugee from Libya who is being held in Guantanamo Bay on evidence that has been shown to be false. A person appearing on a Chechnyan training videotape seized by the Spanish Government was wrongly identified as Omar. Omar himself has never been to Chechnya and the person portrayed was actually a man called Abu Walid, who died in Chechnya in April 2004.

Based on this misidentification, Omar was placed on the list of the top 50 terrorists in the world and was seized in Pakistan. He was taken to Bagram Airforce Base, tortured, and then transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he has been held for three years. In one beating by the ERF (Emergency Reaction Force) team, he was permanently blinded in his right eye.

He faces rendition to Libya, where the repressive government of Colonel Gaddafi has already made known its intention to kill him. Omar’s father, Amer Deghayes, was a lawyer and a prominent figure in Libyan public life. When Gaddafi came to power, Amer was assassinated. Three days after the funeral, around twenty family friends and relatives were rounded up and imprisoned by the secret police.

The family eventually managed to flee to Britain, where they already had close ties and a house. Omar was formally given refugee status around 1987. He got a UK driver’s license and a bank account with NatWest. He did his A levels at Davies College and did his legal training at Wolverhampton University. He became a member of the Law Society and took a legal practice course in Huddersfield, although he had not yet completed his qualifications. He still hopes to return to England to continue his legal career.

Curious about life under a strict Islamic regime, Omar decide to visit Afghanistan. While he was there, he met and married an Afghan and had a son, but intended to return to England, where his application for citizenship was still pending.

Then the US bombing began. Fearing for his family, Omar immediately left for Pakistan, hoping to bring his family back home to England. But while he was there, the Pakistani police stormed in, handcuffed him and took him, his wife and child to prison. He was later moved to Guantanamo Bay.

Even though Omar has been a long-term refugee in Britain from the oppressive Gaddafi regime in Libya, the British Government insists he must apply to Libya for ‘consular assistance’. Libyan delegates did indeed visit Omar in Guantanamo. They told him, ‘You have no problems with the US. Your problems are with us.’ The delegate added, ‘You will be brought to judgment in Libya. When we bring you to Libya, I will personally teach you the meaning of this… In here I cannot do anything, but if I meet you [later] I will kill you, if you don’t kill me.”

Reprieve is currently working to secure the help of the UK Government, in order to ensure that Omar is not returned to Libya, but rather to his home in the UK.

The US government has not filed any charges against Omar.

We hope to bring news of Omar whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.
Omar is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

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WE CALL on the United States government to give Omar a fair hearing.

   —News from Guantanamo     August 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 906, dob: 12/23/1969, British resident
Bisher Al Rawi

Grabbed in the Gambia

Bisher Al Rawi is a British refugee from Iraq. His entire family has lived in Britain for years, after fleeing Saddam Hussein’s regime. The only reason Bisher did not take out British nationality was that, one day, he hoped to return to Iraq and reclaim his family’s properties. His passion as a young man was for motorbikes.

Contrary to US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s claim that all the Guantanamo Bay prisoners were seized on the battlefield of Afghanistan, Bisher was grabbed in the Gambia, some 500 miles further from Kabul than London. He’d gone there with Jamil El Banna to help his brother, Wahab, set up a mobile peanut processing plant. The family had invested £250,000 in the project, but the money was stolen by the Gambian authorities, who seized Bisher and turned him over to the Americans. They took him first to Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo Bay.

The US insists that Bisher took a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ device with him to Gambia. It turns out this was nothing more than a battery charger, as respected civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce (who represents Bisher in the UK) has proved by going to Argos and buying one. In fact, there’s no evidence that Bisher has committed a crime of any kind.

The British Government intervened to secure Bisher’s brother Wahab’s release, but has declined to intervene on Bisher’s behalf, because he’s not a British national.

The US government has not filed any charges against Bisher.

We hope to bring news of Bisher whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.

Bisher is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

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WE CALL on the United States government to give Bisher a fair hearing.

   —News from Guantanamo     August 7th, 2006
Detainee No: 905, dob: 5/28/1952, British resident
Jamil El Banna

Grabbed in the Gambia

Jamil El Banna is a British refugee from Jordan. His wife and children live in London.

Along with his friend Bisher al Rawi, Jamil was seized in the Gambia where they’d gone to help set up the al Rawi mobile peanut processing plant. He was seized by the Gambia authorities, turned over to the Americans, who took him first to Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo Bay.

The British Government has declined to intervene on Jamil’s behalf on the grounds that he is not a British national.

The US government has not filed any charges against Jamil.

We hope to bring news of Jamil whenever his lawyer gets to visit him next.

Jamil is represented by Clive Stafford Smith :: Reprieve, PO Box 52742, London, EC4P 4WS.

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WE CALL on the United States government to give Jamil a fair hearing.