Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani

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Musab Omar All Al Mudwani is a citizen of Yemen held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Mudwani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 839. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Mudwani was born in 1980, in Al-Hudida, Yemen

[edit] Identity

Al Mudwani is one of the 58 detainees whose full unclassified Combatant Status Review Tribunal dossier was acquired by the Associated Press and made available for download from their site. On those documents his name is spelled: Musab Omar All Al Mudwani.^[2] On the official lists of names released on April 20, 2006 his name is spelled: Musab Omar All Al Mudwani.^[3] But on the official list released 25 days later, on May 15, 2006, his name is spelled: Musab Omar Ali Al Madoonee.^[1] American intelligence analysts estimate Al Mudwani was born in 1980, Al-Hudida, Yemen.

[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 a competent tribunal 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 Mudwani chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations against Al Mudwani were:

a The detainee is an Al Qaeda fighter:

1. In July 2001, Al Mudwani was recruited by two men, who identified themselves as former mujahid, to go to Afghanistan and train to fight.
2. The detainee stated that he stayed at the Daftar Al-Taliban guesthouse for four hours, prior to going to Kandahar, where he stayed at the Madafat Al-Nibras guesthouse where he was fed and given new clothes.
3. The detainee stated that after seven (7) days at the guesthouse in Kandahar, he traveled to the Al Farouq training camp, a known Taliban training camp.
4. The detainee stated that he received training on the Kalahnikov rifle, pistol BEKA, RPG, and the Magnoona. The detainee stated the he only trained for twenty-five (25) days because the camp closed due to the U.S. bombing campaign.
5. The detainee stated that he saw Usama Bin Laden (UBL) several times and at various training facilities during his time in Afghanistan and last saw Bin Laden in Khowst about a month before the fall of Kabul.

b The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

1. The detainee stated that he left Al-Farouq on a military bus with twenty-five (25) other students from Al-Farouq and went to Kabul.
2. The detainee stated that he went to Kabul, and three days after his arrival Kabul fell.
3. After the fall of Kabul, the detainee went to Pakistan where he was captured by the Pakistani police, after a shootout, on September 11, 2002.

[edit] Testimony

Al Mudwani acknowledged many of the allegations including traveling to Afghanistan and receiving training at Al Farouq.

Al Mudwani’s Personal Representative had prepared a list of questions with him, to serve as a memory aid. He asked Al Mudwani : "When you were in Yemen prior to leaving, you were given a ticket to go and observe the cultural conditions under the Taliban in Afghanistan.” Al Mudwani replied:

"Yes, under the Taliban - how the Muslims were doing under the Taliban. There were rumors that these were evil or bad people. In Islam, you cannot judge another Muslim unless you see it with your own eyes. As for myself, the expenses were covered by someone that was doing good. So I said I did not have anything to lose. I planned to go for one month. I had a visa for one month only. I wanted to see how things were and come back home. When the events happened, I still had a few days left on the visa. The roads were closed and I could not leave."

Al Mudwani explained that he had not planned to undertake military training, that he had only arranged a one month visa, but that after he arrived in Afghanistan, and surrendered his passport and money, for safekeeping, he was informed that all visitors had to pass through the camp.

[edit] Brother's letter

Al Mudwani's dossier contained a letter from his eighteen year old brother. According to his brother Al Mudwani had attended business school, and was not very religious. According to his brother Al Mudwani traveled to Pakistan to study, arriving on July 29, 2001. Al Mudwani phoned every couple months, and, so far as his family knew, he had been studying in Pakistan from his arrival in July 2001 until his capture on September 11, 2002.

[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, whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

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

[edit] See also

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} documents (.pdf) from Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - - mirror pages 115-125
3. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 30