Abdullah Al Tayabi

Abdullah Al Tayabi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.PDF| [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners] |409 KiB , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Al Tayabi's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 332.American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Tayabi was born in 1980, in Halban Saudi Arabia.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902
title=Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=March 6 date=December 2007

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.

Al Tayabi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.PDF| [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_49_3298-3380.pdf#81 Summarized transcripts] , from Al Tayabi's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 81-83] PDF| [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_50_3381-3489.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts] |5.00 MiB , from Al Tayabi's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 1-16]

Allegations

The allegations that Al Tayabi faced during his Tribunal were:PDF| [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_49_3298-3380.pdf#81 Summarized transcripts] , from Abdullah Al Tayabi's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 81-83] PDF| [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_50_3381-3489.pdf#1 Summarized transcripts] |5.00 MiB , from Abdullah Al Tayabi's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 1-16] :""'a. The detainee is associated with forces engaged in hostilities with the United States or its coalition partners.:#"The detainee, a Saudi Arabian citizen, voluntarily traveled from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan, in August 2001.:#"The detainee received weapons framing at the Al-Farouq training camp.:#"The detainee received familiarization with the Kalashnikov rifle and a pistol at a house in which he stayed in Kandahar.:#"The detainee traveled to another training camp near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, after Al-Farouq, but the training was cancelled due to the war.:#"The detainee was captured near the Pakistan border.

Al Tayabi's account of the abuse that coerced him into false confessions

Al Tayabi told his Tribunal that, while he was in Bagram, he was made to stand for seven to nine days, with his hands and feet bound, with guards depriving him of sleep.

In addition Al Tayabi told his Tribunal a detailed account of brutal torture while in Afghan custody, where he was warned that if he didn't repeat the story his Afghan torturers taught him, and the American returned him, they would kill him.

Al Tayabi said he found the threats credible because he saw his Afghan captors shoot andkill another prisoner.

Al Tayabi said that when he was transferred to American custody, in Bagram, they were brutal too.They beat him. One of his interrogators shoved a gun in his face and threatened to shoot him.Al Tayabi told his Tribunal he told the Red Cross about the abuse when the visited himin Afghanistan. He offered to show his Tribunal the scars this treatment left on him.

Al Tayabi said that in Kandahar he was stripped naked and left in the rain, with his handsand feet so tightly bound he couldn't move his feet for two weeks afterwards.

Al Tayabi told his Tribunal that his guards beat him every time the took him to the interrogatorswhen he arrived in Cuba.

Al Tayabi said a Saudi delegation visited Guantanamo about a month after he arrived. He told themabout the abuse, and felt he could ask his interrogators if he could see a psychologist. They refusedeven though he told them he had tried to commit suicide twice.

So he continued to repeat the story he had been taught by his Afghani captors.

His medication was arbitrarily withheld. His mail was withheld, or so heavilycensored as to be unreadable. American interrogators kept trying to push him intoadditional confessions, and he felt convinced they had no interest in hearing the real truth.

Al Tayabi's response to the allegations against him

Al Tayabi denied engaging in any hostilities, or carrying any weapons, or going anywhere near where there was any fighting.

Al Tayabi acknowledged traveling to Pakistan in August 2001. He acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan. Al tayabi's explanation for this travel was that he was a mechanical engineering student who was a big fan of hollywood movies.He had always wanted to learn how to fire a gun. But, in Saudi Arabia, an ordinary citizen had no opportunityto learn how to shoot, unless they joined the military, or the police -- options that were closed to him becausehe was underweight. He and a school-chum figured they could make a quick trip to Afghanistan, during their schoolbreak, long enough to try firing a gun.

Al Tayabi denied attending the Al Farouq training camp. This was part of the false story his Afghan captors hadterrorized him into repeating. But it wasn't true. He was only in Afghanistan for about two weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al Tayabi acknowledged that he watched a fellow guest, at the first house where he stayed in Afghanistan, named Abu Musif Al Miki, disassemble and clean his AK-47. Al Tayabi said they left their passportsand most of their money at this first house, for safe-keeping, because they were warned they might be robbed.

Al Tayabi said that a friend of his school-chum took them to a second house, in Jalalabad, where they learned how to shoot a pistol. Al Tayabi said that they could have gone from this house, to a training camp, if they had beenreferred by someone those running the camp trusted. But, since they weren't, they weren't allowed to attend.

Al Tayabi said that after he had learned how to shoot a pistol, and learned he couldn't attend a trainingcamp, he wanted to return home. But, before he could retrieve his passport Jalalabad became unsafe forforeigners. He was told all the passports were burned in the attacks. He and his two friends fled to themountains. He lost his two friends, and joined with some other refugees. When they got to the village of
Samer Kheer Afghanis kidnapped him, and demanded a ransom in order to be released. The other captiveswere able to have others buy their freedom, but he couldn't contact anyone, so they kept him in captivity.

These captors were the ones who trained him to give the false confessions.

Al Tayabi concluded by saying::"I just want to go back and finish my school. I have no hatred against anybody or any country or toward America. Just the opposite, the Americans helped us against Sadam Hussein when he attacked my country."

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 Abdullah Al Tayabi were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3 2006.PDF| [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Factors_Set_2_1046-1160.pdf#101 Factors for and against the continued detention] |4.67 MiB , "Administrative Review Board" - pages 101-102 - March 28 2005]

"The following primary factors favor continued detention:"

:""'a. Commitment:#"The detainee, a Saudi Arabian citizen, voluntarily traveled from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Dubai, UAE and Karachi, Pakistan, in August 2001.:#"The detainee was captured near the Pakistan border.

:""'b. Training :#"The detainee received weapons training at the al Farouq Training Camp. :#"The detainee received familiarization with the Kalishnikov rifle and a pistol at a house in which he stayed in Kandahar. :#"The detainee traveled to another training camp near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, after al Farouq, but the training was cancelled due to the war.

:""'c. Connection / Association :#"The detainee's name was on a list of captured mujahidin found on a hard drive associated with a senior al Qaida member.:#"The detainee's name was on a list of al Qaida Mujahidin and the contents of their "trust" accounts found on computer media recovered during raids against al Qaida associated safe houses.:#"The detainee joined Abu Thabet's "sic" group that was crossing the mountains heading for the Pakistani border. :#"Abu Thabit "sic" fought for the al Qaida terrorist organization. 4.

"The following primary factors favor release or transfer:"

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References