Zakirjan Asam

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Zakirjan Asam (also transliterated as Zakirjan Hassan) is a citizen of Uzbekistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Asam's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 672. The Department of Defense reports that Asam was born on May 18, 1975, in Saratov, Russia.

[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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations that Asama faced during his Tribunal were:^[2]

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --

1. The detainee traveled from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in the spring of 2001.
2. The detainee is a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
3. The IMU is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide as having ties with the Taliban.
4. The detainee is acquainted with two individuals who hold leadership roles in the IMU.
5. The detainee was at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, when the U.S. bombing campaign began.
6. The detainee has ties to Muslims in the Sink'Iang ^[sic] Province of China.
7. The detainee fled to the mountains when the U.S. bombing campaign started.
8. The detainee was captured by the Northern Alliance in the mountains.
9. The detainee was captured a second time and turned over to U.S. forces.

[edit] testimony

The caption to this poster, distributed by the CIA in Afghanistan, reads: “You can receive millions of dollars for helping the Anti-Taliban Force catch Al-Qaida and Taliban murderers. This enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life. Pay for livestock and doctors and school books and housing for all your people."

Azam said he was "sent" by special forces from Kazakhstan to Tajikistan.

Azam said he had not even heard of the IMU prior to his arrival in Guantanamo. He heard about the IMU from two of his fellow detainees. He said this in answer to one of his interrogators questions. He believes that the allegation that he knew two people who held leadership roles in the IMU may have been due to a problem in translating this answer.

Azam denied being at Mazari Sharif when the U.S. bombing campaign started. He said he had never been to Mazari Sharif.

Azam said he had never heard of Sink'Iang^[sic].

Azam denied being captured by the Northern Alliance. He said associates demanded a bribe or they would turn him over to the Americans for a bounty.Everyone knew that the Americans would pay a bounty for any foreigner.

[edit] Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Asam was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3] They report that Asam remains in detention. They report his nationality as Russian. The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

The Ottawa Citizen speculates that Asam may be one of a select number of detainees under consideration for an offer of Asylum.^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Zakirjan Asam's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - mirror - pages 1-14
3. ^ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants", Washington Post
4. ^ U.S. detainees eye Canada as new home: Cleared of links to terrorism, many Guantanamo inmates fear returning to homelands, Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2006