Ahmed Mohamed

For the Brigadier General currently serving as the Vice Chief of Defence Force of the Maldives (WP) National Defence Force, see Wikipedia:Ahmed Mohamed

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Ahmed Mohamed is a citizen of China, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 328. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that Mohamad was born on May 1 1978 in Atush, China.

He is one of the 22 Uighurs held in Guantanamo for many years despite it becoming clear early on that they were innocent.

He won his habeas corpus in 2008. Judge Ricardo Urbina declared his detention as unlawful and ordered to set him free in the United States. The government appealed, and the judges decided that he did not have the right to be released in the United States.

Ahmed Mohamed arrived at Guantanamo on May 3, 2002. Their attorney's translator claims they had been sold to the U.S. military by bounty hunters.

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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 members of the press. In practice, most Tribunals went unobserved; the Tribunal only intermittently told the press that Tribunals were being held, and when they did they kept the detainee's identities secret. Only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Mobley

Originally the Bush (WP) Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the wars for capitalism and oil, known as the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. They were not offered the protections afforded by criminal law either, leaving them in a legal limbo through years of detention. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligations, and to keep the Geneva Conventions at arms' length, the concept of competent tribunals was invented, tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

The Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (WP). The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants, again to avoid the Geneva Conventions standards -- 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, further attempting to institutionalize a standard that stood against the consensus of international law.

Critics mounted legal challenges to this policy. Justice James Robertson ruled that the United States was obliged under article 5 of the Wikipedia:third Geneva Conventionthird Geneva Convention to treat all prisoners as lawful combatants, who would be entitled to prisoner of war status, unless a "competent tribunal" had determined that they were not lawful combatants.

The policies of the tribunals themselves were also challenged by the Judicial branch. In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

The released prisoners are arrogantly, even absurdly called "No longer enemy combatants" (WP); an attempt to make numerous issues, including illegal arrest and holding without trial, disappear in plain sight.

Mohamed 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.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmed Mohammed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 14 September 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is a Uighur fighter:

1. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan via Pakistan to receive training at a Uighur training camp in Tora Bora.
2. The detainee arrived at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp in November 2000.
3. The detainee received training on pistols, AK-47, and two types of rifles while at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp.
4. The detainee was a weapons instructor from May 2001-October 2001.
5. The detainee was at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp when it was bombed by US/coalition forces in October, 2001.
6. The detainee evaded in the Tora Bora Mountains before being captured by Pakistani Security Forces along with a group of other Uighur fighters.

Transcript

Mohamed chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. On March 3 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a Summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Testimony of Sabet Khan Template:sic

Mohamed called another Uighur detainee, who is identified in the transcript as Sabet Khan Template:sic. Mohamed asked his witness to testify that he had not served as a weapons instructor.

Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO

Documents released in response to the writ of habeas corpus Hassan Anvar v. George W. Bush contained a memo entitled: "Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO". This memo, dated 30 October 2004, provides one paragraph biographies of 22 Uighur captives. The memo asserts that all 22 captives are suspected of membership in the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement". The memo describes the Uighur camp as an "ETIM training camp".

The portion of the document devoted to Ahmed Mohammed states:

Ahmed Mohammed is a 26-year-old Chinese citizen. who is an ethnic Uighur from the Template:sic Artush province of China. He claims to have fled China in 2000 in an effort to escape Chinese oppression of the Uigher community and traveled to Afghanistan. He was last interviewed in late 2004. He has no reported incidents of violence in his discipline history. Mohammed is suspected as being a probable member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). He is suspected of having received training in an ETIM training camp in Afghanistan.

The information paper also identified him as "Ahmad Muhamman Yaqub".

Administrative Review Board hearing

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".

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.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmed Mohamed's first annualAdministrative Review Board, on 21 June 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. The detainee expressed a desire to become a soldier.
2. The detainee was identified as Abdul Jabar Template:sic, an al Qaida member with the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
3. Abdul Jabhar Template:sic was identified as a trainer at a Tora Bora camp who conducted training on the DSHK heavy machine gun DSHK and an unidentified shoulder launched rocket.
4. During the U.S. bombing campaign, the detainee and surviving Uighurs were resupplied on a regular basis while in Tora Bora, until the bombing became too heavy.
5. The detainee and other Uighurs arrived in Pakistan by mid-November 2001.

b. Training

1. The detainee was exposed to the Kalashnikov Template:sic, a handgun, and a long barreled rifle.
2. The detainee spent approximately 10 months at the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.
3. The Uighur training camp near Tora Bora was named Template:sic Eastern Turkistan Uighur Party.

c. Connections/Associations

1. The detainee believed the Taliban helped finance the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.
2. The detainee was recruited in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
3. The detainee was identified as a visitor to known al Qaida guesthouse in Kabul and Shakardara, Afghanistan.

d. Intent

The detainee was preparing to fight the Chinese government in case of a future conflict with the Uighur Template:sic, not to fight in Afghanistan.

e. Other Relevant Data

1. Upon fleeing from Tora Bora to Pakistan, the detainee and other Uighur fighters were turned over to Pakistani authorities and then transferred to U.S. custody.
2. The detainee left Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan with $3000 United States currency.
3. The detainee stated: "If there was ever an uprising against Template:sic Uighurs, I would go inside China and fight.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee denied any knowledge of the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
b.	The detainee claims his identification, as Abdul Jabar was a mistake.

Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmed Mohamed's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 7 April 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. In Bishkek, Krygyzstan the detainee told one of his neighbors that he wanted to get in shape and receive military training. The neighbor told the detainee about the camp at Tora Bora. got the detainee visas for Iran and Pakistan, and got the detainee a plane ticket from Bishkek to Iran for 300 United States Dollars.
2. In November 2000 the detainee traveled to Masshad and Zahedai, Iran and the to Quetta and Peshawar, Pakistan before crossing into Afghanistan.
3. The detainee stayed in a Uighur house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and then went to Tora Bora, Afghanistan where the detainee received training at a Uighur training camp.
4. The detainee went from Kyrgyzstan to get military training in Afghanistan because he had always wanted to be a soldier in the military but did not want to be in the Chinese military.
5. When asked the purpose of the training at Tora Bora, the detainee said that if something happened in the Uighur homeland, those who had been trained could take up arms against the Chinese government to save the Uighur nation.

b. Training

1. Typical camp training consisted of teaching from the Koran and other Islamic studies as was as a small portion of weapons training. Typical camp training included how to use a variety of weapons including the Kalashnikov Template:sic rifle, the Seminov pistol, the DSHK heavy machine gun, and an unknown type of shoulder-fired rocket.
2. Since the detainee already knew how to pray and had studied the Koran, he chose to learn about the Kalashnikov Template:sic rifle, hand guns, and an unidentified bolt-action rifle.
3. The detainee served as a weapons instructor at the Uighur camp.
4. The detainee also taught Uighurs at the camp some martial arts and physical fitness techniques.

c. Connections/Associations

1. The professed leader of the East Turkistan Movement visited the camp on two occasions during the detainee's stay.
2. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is one of the most militant of the ethnic Uighur separatist groups pursuing an independent Eastern Turkistan. which would include Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Xinjiang. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement and other overlapping militant Uighur groups are linked to the international Mujahedin movement, and to a limited degree al Qaida.
3. Another person identified the detainee as Abdul Jabar, an al Qaida member with the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
4. The detainee was seen a few times at the Aashara guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan and the guest house located in Shakardara, Afghanistan. The detainee and his troops stayed at the guest houses but had their own group, Islamic Movement of Turkistan. The Islamic Movement of Turkistan fought with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. The Uighurs did this to receive trainng from the Taliban and a promise from the Taliban that they would assist them in their fight to free themselves from Chinese oppression.
5. The detainee believed that the Taliban helped finance the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. The first night of the United States bombing campaign destroyed the UIghur training camp. Uihgurs that survived the bombing campaign fled to Tora Bora after the bombing campaign.
2. The Uighurs saw some Arabs leaving in the direction of the Pakistan border and took the opportunity to follow them. The Uighurs lost sight of the Arabs and found themselves in Parachinar Village, Pakistan. The villagers turned the Uighurs over to the Pakistan authorities.
3. The detainee told the Pakistani authorities he was a member of the Taliban so they would send him to an American prison instead of being turned over the the Chinese government.
4. The detainee spent six months in a Kandahar, Afghanistan jail in United States custody. From Kandahar, the Uighur detainees were flown to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee claimed he does no know anything about a group called the Islamic Movement of Turkistan. When asked who Abdul Jabar was, the detainee said it was the name of a Uighur teacher who was at the Tora Bora camp.
b.	The detainee denied that he had any knowledge of who was funding the Uighur camp. The detainee stated that he had thought the Americans funded the camp. The detainee laughed when he was told that the camp might have been funded by al Qaida.
c.	The detainee advised that he did not belong to any Uighur organizations.
d.	The detainee claimed that the Uighurs did not participate in any way with the Taliban or al Qaida.
e.	Until his experience in camp, the detainee held the United States in the highest regard, viewing the United States as the only saviors of the suppressed Uighur people. Uighurs from age 7 to 70 know that America is the sole advocate for human rights and democracy in the world and they expect sympathy from Americans.
f.	The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on 11 September 2001 and also denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or United States interests.

See also

• Guantanamo Bay detention camp
• [[Uighur detainees in Guantanamo]

External links

• http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/10/09/from-guantanamo-to-the-united-states-the-story-of-the-wrongly-imprisoned-uighurs/ The story of the wrongly imprisoned Uighurs, Andy Worthington
• Human Rights First; http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/Habeas-Works-final-web.pdf Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)