Abdul Rauf Aliza

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Abdul Rauf Aliza is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 108. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on February 10, 1981, in Azam, Afghanistan. Abdul Rauf testified he was from Helmand Province.

[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 his 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 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.

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

[edit] Allegations

The transcript records this general summary of the allegations against Aliza, and the first allegation, because, when the Summary of Evidence memo was first read Abdul Rauf responded to those items. The Tribunal's President told him to wait, and the allegations would be read out a second time, and he would have a chance to respond then. However, the rest of the allegations are not recorded in the transcript.

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban.

1. The detainee joined the Taliban in 1998, where he received training on the Kalashnikov rifle in Kandahar Afghanistan. Over a year later he stayed in a Taliban guesthouse where he worked for the Taliban military.
2. — missing from the transcript —

[edit] Transcript

Abdul Rauf's transcript was only three pages long. Many details that were normally recorded in other captive's transcripts were missing from Abdul Rauf's transcript.

[edit] Summarized response to the allegations

• Abdul Rauf denied being a member of the Taliban.
• Abdul Rauf explained that the Taliban forcibly conscripted people into its service. They killed people who resisted conscription.

[edit] Summarized response to questioning

• Abdul Rauf denied ever receiving military training. He claimed the Taliban put him to work as a cook.
• Abdul Rauf testified he was forcibly conscripted by the Taliban three times, for a total of five months.
• Abdul Rauf said he was a member of the Al-Iza tribe.
• Abdul Rauf testified he lost his leg when he stepped on a landmine left over from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
• Abdul Rauf said that he stepped on the land mine when he was on leave during one of his hitches serving as a cook for the Taliban.
• Abdul Rauf testified he was from Helmand Province, part of the Pashtun portion of Afghanistan. He was an ethnic Pashtun, the same ethnic group as the Taliban. But he said this did not mean he supported the Taliban.

[edit] Witness requests

One of the last things recorded in Abdul Rauf's transcript were questions from the Tribunal's President as to whether there was any further unclassified evidence:

Tribunal's President:	Do you have any other evidence to present to this Tribunal?
Abdul Rauf:	I wanted my witnesses to present my evidence.

Other captive's transcripts recorded the discussion of the captive's witness requests

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

The factors for and against continuing to detain Aliza were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[3]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. In Kabul, the detainee stayed at a Taliban guesthouse for an unknown length of time.
2. The detainee, along with other Taliban soldiers, traveled to Yonganack where they surrendered to Dostum's Northern Alliance troops.

b. Training

1. The detainee spent about 1 month in Kandahar where he received basic informal courses on the [[AK-47|Kalashnikov ^[sic] rifle.

c. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee was identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf, a Taliban troop commander.
2. The detainee stated that he was one of about twelved other conscripted people who were guarding the communication building call Sadarat in Konduz.
3. The detainee and other Taliban soldiers would monitor the radio and receive updates on various fighting ongoing in the area by local Taliban soldiers.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

• The detainee stated he did not want to join the Taliban, but had no choice.
• The detainee stated he worked for the Taliban military delivering bread from a bakery to the troops because his handicap precluded his service as a regular soldier.
• The detainee was not in charge of the radio nor did he receive any training on the radio.
• The detainee related he has never traveled outside of Afghanistan prior to his transport to Camp X-Ray. The detainee does not own a passport.

[edit] Transcript

Aliza chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[4]

[edit] Testimony

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Rauf Aliza's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 99-101
3. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Abdul Rauf Aliza Administrative Review Board - page 47
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Rauf Aliza's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 107