Abdul Razzak (Guantanamo detainee 942)

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Abdul Razzak 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 942.

[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's 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. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Mobley

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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Razzak were:^[2]

[edit] associations

1. Detainee served as a Taliban driver beginning in 1992.
2. Detainee is an al Qaida facilitator and smuggler.
3. Detainee was a commander of a Taliban terrorist cell in Afghanistan.
4. Detainee conducted an escort mission for Usama bin Laden in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
5. Detainee provided goods and funding for Taliban terrorist cells in Afghanistan.
6. Detainee provided guidance in the terrorist training camp near Kandahar.

[edit] commitment/activities

1. Detainee fought against United States forces in Kabul.
2. Detainee provided weapons and explosives to a Taliban terrorist cell in Afghanistan.
3. Detainee was involved in assassination attempts against Afghani government officials.

[edit] witnesses

Razak requested three witnesses; Abdul Wahled, Haji Abdul Zaher and Ismael Kahn. The Tribunal's President ruled that they were not reasonably available bedause they thought that they were all in Afghanistan, and the State Department's requests to the Afghan government had been gone unanswered.

[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.

Razzak chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Razzak's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 55-50
3. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Razzak's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 272