Gul Zaman

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Gul Zaman is a citizen of Afghanistan (WP) who was held in extrajudicial detention (WP) in the United States' (WP) B (WP), in Cuba (WP). His Guantanamo Wikipedia:Internment Serial Number was 459. American Wikipedia:intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1971, in Wikipedia:Khowst, Afghanistan. His father and uncle were reported to have been born in Zamikhel, a Zadran village in Khowst.

Andy Worthington (WP) asserted that three of the Wikipedia:Captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility, Gul Zaman, Wikipedia:Khandan Kadir and Wikipedia:Hafizullah Shabaz Khail were in fact former Guantanamo captives, where the official account was that Zaman, and seventeen other Afghan detainees determined not to have been "Wikipedia:enemy combatants" were repatriated on April 18, 2005.

The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison (WP) near Kabul.

Summary

Zaman is the son of Wikipedia:Khan Zaman, and the nephew of Wikipedia:Abib Sarajuddin. The three of them, and their neighbor, Wikipedia:Mohammad Gul, were captured on January 21, 2002. Zaman, and Mohammad Gul were released when their testimony at thie Tribunals confirmed that they were entitled to carry Pakistani passports, and those passports confirmed that they were in Wikipedia:Saudi Arabia when American forces bombed their village. Abib Sarajuddin and Khan Zaman's Tribunals confirmed that they had originally been wrongly classified as "Wikipedia:enemy combatants.

Combatant Status Review

Zaman was among the 60% of prisoners who chose to participate in tribunal hearings. A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.

Zaman's memo accused him of the following:

a. The detainee is associated with forces that engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners.

1. The detainee traveled from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia in 2001.
2. The detainee utilized counterfeit travel documents for his travel to Saudi Arabia.
3. The detainee returned to Afghanistan at the time the Northern Alliance recaptured Kabul.
4. The detainee's family and village members stated an important Taliban member used the detainee's father's guesthouse.
5. The detainee lives with his father, Hajji Sarajudeen.
6. The detainee's father worked as a recruiter for Pacha Khan.
7. Pacha Khan, a renegade Pashtun Commander, has been conducting military operations against the Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA) and coalition foces.
8. The detainee stated he owns one or two Kalashnikov Template:Sic rifles with 30 rounds of ammunition.
9. The detainee was captured with communications equipment.
10. The detainee admits seeing this type of equipment in the possession of Taliban members.
11. Coalition forces were fired upone during the capture of the detainee and three associates.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

thumb|Abdul Rahman addressed the Press during his release ceremony in Afghanistan, on April 20, 2005

File deleted at Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Images and_media_for_deletion/2008 August_20#Image:17_Afghans.2C_determined_to_not have_been_enemy_combatants.2C_released on_April_20.2C_2005.jpg

Zaman was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. The Department of Defense refers to these men as Wikipedia:No Longer Enemy Combatants.

Zaman was freed on April 20, 2005 with sixteen other Afghans whose Tribunals had determined they were not enemy combatants. The Wikipedia:Associated Press reported that their release ceremony was addressed by Wikipedia:Afghan Chief Justice Wikipedia:Fazl Hadi Shinwari. Wikipedia:Carlotta Gall of the Wikipedia:New York Times reported that the Chief Justice encouraged the men to regard their detention as something sent from God. The reports stated that the Chief Justice warned the cleared men that a candid description of their detention could damage the chances of other Afghan captives to be released.

"Don't tell these people the stories of your time in prison because the government is trying to secure the release of others, and it may harm the release of your friends."

Zaman was one of the three captives who chose to address the Press. He was quoted as saying:

"There were some old people there, some of them are still there. And it is very amazing that somebody who was taken from his home stayed for three years in prison. The prison has nothing to commend it. There were difficulties. The other problems the world knows about,"

Both reports quoted Chief Justice Fazil Hadi Shinwari distinguishing three categories of captives:

"There are three kinds of prisoners in Guantanamo. There are those that have committed crimes and should be there, then there are people who were falsely denounced, and third there are those who are there because of the mistakes of the Americans."

Subsequent Bagram detention

On January 15, 2010, the Department of Defense complied with a court order and published a heavily redacted list of Wikipedia:Captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. There were 645 names on the list, which was dated September 22, 2009. Historian Wikipedia:Andy Worthington, author of the Wikipedia:The Guantanamo Files, noted that three of the individuals on that list had the same name and ID number as former Guantanamo captives. He noted that all the other Bagram captives had ID numbers that weren't in the same range as those used at Guantanamo, and he asserted that these three men, Gul Zaman, Wikipedia:Khandan Kadir and Wikipedia:Hafizullah Shabaz Khail were in fact former Guantanamo captives.

Testimony

Gul Zaman acknowledged that he had traveled to Saudi Arabia, to work, but that he traveled on a legal passport.

He returned for personal reasons. His return had nothing to do with the recapture of Kabul.

He denied that his father had hosted any Taliban leaders. He pointed out that he was still in Saudi Arabia at the time his father's house was bombed.

He said that Pasha Khan had asked Wikipedia:Mohammed Nasim, a tribal elder, to ask his father to go around to local villages to rally support against the Taliban, during the period when the Taliban was falling. He said his father didn't work directly for Pasha Khan.

He said he had no knowledge of Pasha Khan going renegade. At the time of his capture Khan was supporting the Americans, and enjoyed their support. A February 2, 2002 Wikipedia:New York Times article describes Pasha Khan competing with another local leader for the American's endorsement of authority over the city of Wikipedia:Khost.

He acknowledged that his family owned a rifle. Owning weapons was one of the traditional privileges granted by the former kings of Afghanistan to their isolated border district.

He denied that anyone in their area owned a radio transmitter. He acknowledged that, during the Taliban regime, he had seen Taliban officials using communications devices.

He denied hearing or seeing any firing on the night he was captured.

Witnesses

Gul Zaman called two witnesses, his uncle Wikipedia:Khan Zaman and his neighbor Wikipedia:Mohammad Gul.

Khan Zaman's testimony

Khan Zaman confirmed that Gul Zaman traveled to Saudi Arabia, on a legal Pakistani passport. He confirmed that Gul Zaman returned around the time Kabul was recaptured, but that this had nothing to do with the timing of his return. He confirmed that he returned for personal and family reasons.

Khan Zaman denied that Gul Zaman's father Abib Sarajuddin had ever hosted Jalaluddin.

Khan Zaman confirmed that Sarajuddin had gone around to neighboring villages, trying to rally opposition to the Taliban. He confirmed that Pasha Khan had requested this of a tribal Elder Nasim. He stated that, at this time, Pasha Khan was working with the Americans.

Khan Zaman confirmed that they did not have a radio of any kind in their household. He said his interrogators showed him a picture of a radio of the kind that American records said was captured in their household. He said he had never seen this kind of radio before in his life.

Khan Zaman denied hearing or seeing any weapons fire on the night they were captured.

Khan Zaman confirmed that they owned a rifle, and that the inhabitants of their isolated district had traditionally been allowed to own a rifle.

In answer to questioning from the Recorder Khan Zaman confirmed that they lived in an area called Wikipedia:Zani Khel. But he said it was the name of the area of their tribe, not the name of their village. Their house was midway between two villages, Shamawat and Khojari.

Khan Zaman was asked if he was familiar with the names Wikipedia:Wazir Khan Zadran and Wikipedia:Zakim Khan. These two names were mentioned in the February 2, 2002 New York Times article. One was the brother of Pacha Khan. The other was his rival for US support for authority over Khost.

Khan Zaman was asked if the village elder Nasim had a relationship with Pacha Khan. He confirmed that they had both been commanders under an anti-Taliban commander named Pir.

Khan Zaman described how Afghans who had been refugees were able to travel legally on Pakistani passports.

Khan Zaman explained he wasn't caught in the attack on the family home because he was in Gardez that day. He said Gul Zaman was still in Saudi Arabia. He said their capture came a month and a half to two and half months following the aerial bombardment destroyed their home. He said at the time of their capture they had been loaned another home.

Mohammad Gul's testimony

Mohammad Gul confirmed that Gul Zaman arrived back in the village after he did, and he had arrived back after the American air strike against Gul Zaman's father's house. He confirmed that there were no radio transmitters in the village. He confirmed that he did not hear any firing on the night they were captured. He described, in detail, how an Afghan, could travel legally on a Pakistani passport.

Mohammad Gul described how Afghanistan had gone through decades of warfare, and that many Afghanis, including Gul Zaman and himself, had fled to Pakistan as refugees. Pakistan had been willing to issue legal passports to Wikipedia:Afghan refugees who could establish their identities.

See also

• Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay
• Wikipedia:Mohammed Mussa Yakubi

External links

• A NATION CHALLENGED: CIVILIANS; Villagers Say Errors by U.S. Causing Grief For Innocent

References

Wikipedia:Template:Exonerated Guantanamo captives Wikipedia:Template:Afghanistan War Wikipedia:Template:WoTPrisoners

Deleted category: Category:Exonerated terrorism suspects Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2011_July_12#Wrongfully_accused_people