Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Hamdoun, Zahar Omar Hamis bin (2007)

UNCLASSIFIED Department of Defense Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
	13 September 2007

To:	Hamdoun, Zahar Omar Hamis bin
Subject:	Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Hamdoun, Zahar Omar Hamis bin

1.

An Administrative Review Board will be convened to review your case to determine if your continued detention is necessary.

2.

The Administrative Review Board will conduct a comprehensive review of all reasonably available and relevant i nformation regarding your mac . At the conclusion of this review the Board will make a recommendation to: (1) release you to your home state; (2) transfer you to your home state, with conditions agreed upon by the United States and your home state; or (3) continue your detention under United States control.

3.

The following primary .factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. A parishioner at the Takwa Mosque convinced the detainee to go to Afghanistan for Dawa. The detainee went to Afghanistan eight months after graduating high school. The detainee stated he traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan via Yemen and Karchi and Quetta, Pakistan.
2. The detainee stated he stayed at a Taliban embassy house in Quetta, Pakistan.
3. The detainee was at a guest house called Muddafah al Ansar in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
4. A source stated the at Ansar Madafa was a waypoint and support center for Arabs transitioning to and from local training camps in the area of Kandahar, Afghanistan,
5. The detainee stated he stopped at a house called Madafa, known as the House of the Saudi Ambassador, located in Wazir Akbahr Khan, Shahree Nao, Afghanistan.
6. The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Guest House is known as Azzam Guest House.
7. The Azzam Guest House is run by one of Usama bin Laden's most trusted people.
8. A source stated the Azam Guest House was used by groups fighting in the northern frontline areas of Afghanistan, exclusively,
9. The detainee stated an individual told him he should go to Farouk Camp for dawa. The detainee stated that when he arrived at Farouk Camp, he was asked to take weapons training for jihad and he willingly agreed.

b. Training

1. The detainee trained at Camp al Farouq for two to three months on various weapons including the Kalashnikov, M-16, pistols, PK, Rocket-Propelled Grenades, and hand grenades.
2. The al Farouq Camp was funded by al Qaida and was more advanced than other training camps in Afghanistan.

c. Connections/Associations

1. The detainee stated that in 2000 an individual paid for the detainee's eye surgery in Karachi, Pakistan as a gift.
2. The individual in the previous statement was an important al Qaida official.
3. The detainee stated an individual made all travel arrangements, and bought food and clothing for the detainee while the detainee was staying in a house in Karachi, Pakistan, the location of the detainee's arrest.
4. This individual was a former facilitator to senior al Qaida members.
5. The detainee was seen after September 2001 in Zurmat, Afghanistan. The detainee might have been an al Qaida instructor and was responsible for the frontlines.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee stated that during his training at Farouk Camp, Usama bin Laden visited the Camp to give a lecture on the battle of Jagi in Northern Afghanistan.
2. On 7 February 2002, a search was conducted on a safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, used by an al Qaida associate. Among the items found in the facility were two brand new aircraft passenger life vests.
3. At the time of the detainee's arrest, life jackets from an airline were found at the house in Karachi, Pakistan. The detainee acknowledged he saw one vest lying on a second floor balcony.
4. Initial testing on the two life vests and a backpack found at the safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, tested positive for explosives.
5. An individual identified the detainee as the primary weapons instructor at Camp at Farouq. Reportedly , the detainee also taught explosives.

4.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee stated he did not know why the vest was lying on a second floor balcony of the Karachi, Pakistan house he was arrested in. The detainee stated he has no . knowledge of how the vest got there or who put the vest on the floor. The detainee stated he never saw any explosives in the house,
b.	The detainee stated he initially lied about his attendance at at Farouq because he was told that al Farouq related admissions would guarantee that the detainee was transferred to United States custody and away from Arab custody, The detainee stated he was told that the Americans treated attendance at at Farouq as a minor issue, and that the detainee would be released from United States custody faster when compared to being jailed in Pakistan.
c.	The detainee stated he told his initial interviewers he attended small arms training at a Taliban camp because his captors told him if he would admit to jihad be would be taken to a nice American prison instead of a bad Arab prison where he would be tortured.
d.	When questioned about how the detainee knew specifics of the al Farouq Camp if the detainee had never attended, the detainee stated that the details he knew about the at Farouq Camp were common knowledge and the names he mentioned were made up.
e.	The detainee stated he never trained with or met Usama bin Laden. The detainee denied previous reporting and stated he went to Afghanistan for two years as an Islamic missionary.
g.	The detainee stated he went to Afghanistan to teach people the Koran and how to pray.
h.	The detainee, contrary to previous statements, stated that he had never trained at any training camp, including al Farouq The detainee, contrary to 'previous statements, stated he had never seen Usama bin Laden in person but that he only saw him on the television.

5.

You will be afforded a meaningful opportunity to be heard and to present information to the Board; this includes an opportunity to be physically present at the proceeding. The Assisting Military Officer (AMO) will assist you in reviewing all relevant and reasonably available unclassified information regarding your case. The AMO is not an advocate for or against continued detention, nor may the AMO form a confidential relationship with you or represent you in any other matter.

	ISN 576 DMO Exhibit I
UNCLASSIFIED