Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani

Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani is a citizen of Yemen formerly held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] The Department of Defense estimate that he was born in 1980, in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.[2]

Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani
Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani's Guantanamo identity portrait -- the orange uniform indicates JTF-GTMO considered him noncompliant.
Born1980 (age 40–41)
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Detained atGuantanamo
Alternate nameGhaleb Nassar al Bahani
ISN128
Charge(s)no charge, extrajudicial detention

Multiple media outlets reported that al Bihani had simply been a cook for the Taliban's 55th Arab Brigade.[3][4][5][6][7]

Al Bihani's habeas corpus petition was the first one to be ruled on by a higher court.[8]

On May 28, 2014, a Periodic Review Board recommended that al-Bihani should be cleared for release.[9]

Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani arrived at Guantanamo on January 17, 2002, and was transferred to Oman with nine other men, on January 16, 2017.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

Official status reviews

Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in 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.[16] 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.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[16]

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[17]

  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of the Taliban."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... traveled to Afghanistan for jihad."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives for whom "The military alleges that the following detainees stayed in Al Qaeda, Taliban or other guest- or safehouses."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who was a foreign fighter.[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of "36 [captives who] openly admit either membership or significant association with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or some other group the government considers militarily hostile to the United States."[17]
  • Ghaleb Nasser Al Bihani was listed as one of the captives who had admitted "fighting on behalf of Al Qaeda or the Taliban."[17]

Writ of habeas corpus

Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf before US District Court Judge Richard J. Leon.[4][5][6][7][18][19][20] On January 29, 2009, Leon ruled that his CSR Tribunal had appropriated classified Al Bihani, as an enemy combatant—even though he had only served as a cook, quoting Napoleon Bonaparte: "An Army marches on its stomach."

Ghaleb's lawyer, Shereen Charlick, appealed Leon's ruling to a panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.[3] According to Charlick those in the 55th Arab Brigade “never had a chance to declare themselves neutral,” and Ghaleb, “was fleeing. He was trying to run away. One could argue that he assisted the United States’ effort by surrendering.”

A panel of three judges, Janice Rogers Brown, Brett Kavanaugh and Stephen F. Williams convened on October 2, 2009, to hear Ghaleb's appeal.[3] Although the judges expressed some skeptical comments they did not release a ruling.

The October 2, 2009, hearing was open to the public.[3] According to the Blog of Legal Times Charlick had wanted to attend the September 15, 2009, hearing of the appeal of Leon's ruling on Bensayah Belkacem, because his case was similar to Ghaleb's. But the judges ruling on Bensayah's appeal had cleared the court, in order to hear classified evidence.[21] Charlick was excluded, in spite of the security clearance she was granted in order to see classified evidence against Ghaleb.

The appeal panel made its ruling on January 5, 2010.[22][23] John Schwartz, writing in the New York Times, calling the ruling "sweeping", wrote the judges found: "...that the presidential war power to detain those suspected of terrorism is not limited even by international law of war." According to Schwartz, an expert in the Guantanamo cases, Eric M. Freedman of Hofstra University characterized the panel's ruling as having: “gone out of its way to poke a stick in the eye of the Supreme Court”. CNN reported that the ruling would apply to all other captives.[8][24][25]

Guantanamo Review Task Force

On January 22, 2009, when President Barack Obama had just taken office, he issued three Executive Orders related to Guantanamo—one of which set up a high-level Guantanamo Review Task Force. Practically no documents generated by this Task Force's activities have been made public, other than the three lists of captives. The Task Force broke the remaining captives into three groups: those who should face charges; those who did not represent enough of a threat to the US to justify continued detention, and who should be released; and finally individuals for who there was no evidence to justify laying criminal charges who nevertheless should continue to be detained due to the threat to the USA they were imagined to represent should they be released. Ghaled Nassar al-Bihani was one of men who weren't guilty of a crime, so they couldn't be charged, who, nevertheless, due to fears of what he might do, if released, the Task Force recommended continued detention.

Al-Bihani, and the other men who faced indefinite detention without charge, were supposed to have regular status reviews, to see whether they were still feared to represent a sufficient danger they should continue to be held in continued extrajudicial detention.

Periodic Review Board

Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani was the fourth individual to have a Periodic Review Board hearing scheduled to review his status.[26][27] His review was held on April 8, 2014. Senior representatives of the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence convened in Washington DC area. Al-Bihani, his civilian lawyer Pardiss Kebraie, his Personal Representatives, would be allowed to participate in the non-classified part of the review, via videolink. A limited number of reporters and human rights workers would be allowed to view part of the non-classified portion of the review, via a one-way video-link.

Two documents prepared for his review were made public on April 8, 2014.

A single page "Guantanamo Detainee Profile", prepared on January 27, was three paragraphs long—and was much less specific than the summary of evidence memos prepared for his annual OARDEC reviews.[28] It asserted that al-Bihani was "almost certainly" a member of al Qaeda, that he had brothers who had also traveled to Afghanistan, for jihad, that one brother was a member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Also published was a four pages from his Personal Representatives and his civilian lawyer Pardiss Kebraie.[29] His Personal Representative wrote:

Looking at the factors listed in the DTM 12-005 for assessing whether a detainee meets this standard, they can be grouped into three general categories: factors that go to whether a detainee has the capacity to be a significant and continuing threat to the security of the United States, whether he has the motive, and whether he will have the opportunity. In the vulnerability assessment methodologies with which I am familiar, if any of the three is absent or sufficiently low, then a threat is considered to be negligible.

His Personal Representative argued that al-Bihani didn't meet any of the criteria for being an ongoing threat, while the guidelines required him to meet all three criteria.

Reports his brother was killed fighting in Somalia

The Long War Journal reported that a martyrship video from Abu 'Asim al Tabuki Mansour Nasser al Bihani was published in November 2011.[30] It reported that this individual had fought in Chechnya, lived in Afghanistan, until the fall of the Taliban, had been captured in Saudi Arabia, transferred to Yemen, where he escaped from Prison, and finally travelled to Somalia, where he died fighting for jihadists. It reported he had two brothers in Guantanamo.

See also

References
  1. OARDEC. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-05-15. Works related to List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 at Wikisource
  2. "Guantanamo Bay: The Inmates Who Remain". Sky News. 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2015-02-13. Born in 1979 in Yemen, Nasser was taken prisoner in Afghanistan in 2001 and sent to Guantanamo in 2002. US authorities claim he was part of Osama bin Laden's 55th Arab Brigade and that he is high risk to the US and its allies. He has reportedly provided a significant amount of information about al Qaeda and Taliban activities in or near Tora Bora and the front lines of Kunduz.
  3. "D.C. Circuit Keeps Courtroom Open for Guantanamo Bay Case". Blog of Legal Times. 2009-10-02. Archived from the original on 2009-10-04.
  4. Andy Worthington (2009-01-29). "How Cooking For The Taliban Gets You Life In Guantánamo". Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  5. "Judge OKs Holding Taliban Cook At Gitmo". CBS News. 2009-01-28. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  6. "Judge won't free Taliban cook held at Gitmo". NBC News. 2009-01-28.
  7. "Holding cook at Guantanamo OK'd". Boston Globe. 2009-01-28. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  8. David G. Savage (2010-01-06). "Court upholds U.S. right to hold Guantanamo prisoners". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  9. Carol Rosenberg (2014-05-28). "Board OKs release of sickly 'forever prisoner' who learned yoga at Guantánamo: Ghaleb Nassar al Bihani, 35, of Yemen is cleared for release 'when practicable' and says he would prefer going to a third country rather than his homeland". Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2014-06-02. Retrieved 2014-06-02. The Yemeni’s new designation as eligible for release means that of Guantánamo prison’s 154 captives, 43 are now considered indefinite detainees and 78 could leave once the State Department negotiates transfer deals. The rest include three convicted war criminals and other captives either awaiting trial or considered possible tribunal candidates.
  10. Greg Myre (2017-01-16). "10 Guantanamo Prisoners Freed In Oman; 45 Detainees Remain". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2017-01-17. The freed prisoners were not identified by name or nationality, though the Oman News Agency, citing the country's Foreign Ministry, reported that the 10 had arrived in the country on Monday for "temporary residence."
  11. Carol Rosenberg (2017-01-16). "U.S. sends 10 Guantánamo captives to Oman". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-01-17. A Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the transfer had taken place, downsizing the detainee population to 45. Neither Oman nor the official provided the identities of the 10 men who were sent there.
  12. Carol Rosenberg (2017-01-16). "Victims of mistaken identity among the 10 sent from Guantánamo to Oman". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. A Pentagon statement did not explain why the Department of Defense chose to wait to identify the 10 men for more than a day after the Sultanate of Oman announced it had taken them in as “temporary” residents “in consideration to their humanitarian situation.”
  13. JTF-GTMO (2007-03-16). "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2008-12-22.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)". Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-21.
  15. Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Ghaleb Nassar al Bihani". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  16. "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
  17. Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study". The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  18. Nedra Pickler (2009-01-28). "Judge OKs holding Taliban cook at Guantanamo". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  19. "US judge approves holding Taliban cook at Guantanamo". Associated Press. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-01-28. mirror
  20. Del Quentin Wilber (2009-01-28). "Judge Rules U.S. May Continue to Hold Detainee at Guantanamo". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  21. "D.C. Circuit Orders Guantanamo Hearing Closed to Public". Blog of Legal Times. 2009-09-15. Archived from the original on 2009-10-02.
  22. John Schwartz (2010-01-06). "Court Backs War Powers Over Rights of Detainees". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  23. "Ghaled Nassar Al-Bihani v. Barack Obama -- Civil Action No 09-5051". United States Department of Justice. 2010-01-05. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-06.
  24. Bill Mears (2010-01-06). "Federal court limits rights of Guantanamo detainees". CNN. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  25. Jeremy Pelofsky (2010-01-06). "Yemeni loses appeal for release from Guantanamo". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06.
  26. Liz Goodman (2014-04-08). "Inside a Guantanamo parole hearing: The prison Obama vowed to close still holds 154 men 12 years after it opened". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2014-04-08. The detainee, Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani, listened intently to the government’s summary of his case in an air-conditioned trailer on the Cuban military base Tuesday morning. Reporters could observe portions of the proceedings by video in a Defense Department building in Arlington, Va.
  27. "Guantanamo Prisoner Appeals to Panel for Release". ABC News. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-02. Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani is the fourth Guantanamo prisoner to appear before the Periodic Review Board, which is reviewing the status of nearly half of the 154 prisoners still held at the U.S. base in Cuba. The reviews began last year as part of President Barack Obama's renewed effort to close the prison. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  28. "Guantanamo Detainee Profile" (PDF). Periodic Review Board. 2014-01-27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-04-13. Alt URL
  29. "Opening statement of Personal Representatives" (PDF). Periodic Review Board. 2014-04-08. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-04-13. Alt URL
  30. Bill Roggio (2011-12-10). "Jihadist releases bio of Yemeni al Qaeda operative killed in Somalia". Long War Journal. Retrieved 2011-12-14. The statement announcing the death of Abu 'Asim al Tabuki Mansour Nasser al Bihani was written by Abu Ibrahim al Muhajir and released on Shumukh al Islam, a jihadist forum closely linked to al Qaeda, on Nov. 26.
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