Boudella el Hajj

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Boudella el Hajj

Boudella el Hajj was born in Algeria, moved to Bosnia, married Nađa Dizdarević a Bosnian woman, and became a Bosnian citizen. Boudella, and five associates of his, who were also Bosnians who were born in Algeria were arrested by Bosnian authorities. Local United States intelligence officials said they detected "chatter" that implicated the six in a conspiracy to bomb the Bosnian embassy.

Main article: Algerian Six

El Hajj's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 10006.^[1]

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 Allegations
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
3 References

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in small trailer, the same width, but shorter, than a mobile home. The Tribunal's President sat in the big chair. The detainee sat with their hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor in the white, plastic garden chair. A one way mirror behind the Tribunal President allowed observers to observe clandestinely. In theory the open sessions of the Tribunals were open to the press. Three chairs were reserved for them. In practice the Tribunal only intermittently told the press that Tribunals were being held. And when they did they kept the detainee's identities secret. In practice almost all Tribunals went unobserved.

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

Al Hajj chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

The Associated Press acquired copies of the unclassified portions of many of the detainees' dossiers. Boudella el Hajj's dossier was one of the 59 Associated Press available for public download.^[2]

[edit] Allegations

Boudella's "Summary of Evidence" listed the allegations that had kept him detained in Guantanamo.^[3]

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida:

The detainee was arrested with XXXXXXXXXXX, a known al Qaida associate, for International Terrorism by the Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities.
XXXXXXXXXX had phone conversations with Abu Zubaydah, a senior aide to Usama Bin Laden, who was in charge of screening recruits for al Qaida training camps in Afghanistan..
The detainee and others acted as an organized terrorist group and they were in contact with known al Qaida member, Abu Zubaydah.
Detainee was arrested by Bosnian authorities in connection with a planned attack on the American embassy.
Detainee is a member of the Mujahadin network. Also, detainee is likely a member of Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, a militant organization.
Armed Islamic Group of Algeria is on the list of sympathizers and helpers of Usama Bin Laden’s al Qaida.

[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.

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