Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings for ISN 157
UNCLASSIFIED / FOUO
Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings for ISN 157[edit]
The Administrative Review Board was called to order.
The Designated Military Officer (DMO) was sworn.
The Board Reporter was sworn.
The Translator was sworn.
The Detainee entered the proceedings.
The Presiding Officer announced the convening authority and purpose of the Administrative Review Boardproceedings.
The Administrative Review Board members were sworn.
The Assisting Military Officer (AMO) was sworn.
The Presiding Officer asked the Detainee if he wishes to make a statement under oath. Muslim oath offered
The Detainee accepted taking the Muslim oath.
The Presiding Officer read the hearing instructions to the Detainee and confirmed that he understood
The Assisting Military Officer presented the Enemy Combatant Notification form, Exhibit ECA, to the Administrative Review Board
The Assisting Military Officer presented the Enemy Combatant Election Form, Exhibit ECB, to the Administrative Review Board
Presiding Officer: Assisting Military Officer please read your comments from the Enemy Combatant Election Form.
Assisting Military Officer: The detainee's initial ARB interview occurred on 9 September 2005, and lasted 60 minutes. After a review of the ARB's purpose and procedures, the Arabic translated Unclassified Summary of Evidence was read to the detainee. The detainee asked if there was an agreement between his country and the US to release the detainees. The AMO told the detainee that he was not aware of any decision to release the detainees. The detainee stated, "I have a lawyer; I have not met with my lawyer. I was supposed to meet with my lawyer three days ago and he didn't show up." When the detainee was asked if he wanted to attend the ARB, present a written or oral statement, or have the AMO speak on his behalf, the detainee said, "The decision has already been made." The AMO explained to the detainee that a decision has not been made. The detainee stated, "If I know that they will listen to the facts, I will attend." Followed by, "I was planning to come, but after this, no." The AMC explained further to the detainee the potential opportunity the ARB represented. When asked why he did not want to attend the ARB, the detained stated, "I have been there once and nothing happened." A follow-up interview occurred on 12 September 2005, and lasted one hour and 30 minutes. The detainee was given a copy of the English and translated Unclassified Summary of Evidence for his records. The detainee was polite and sometimes cooperative during the interview. A lot of additional time was expended during the follow-up interview explaining which decisions in the interview and ARB process he was allowed to make and which decisions he was not allowed and were not in his control to make. The detainee elected not to submit written comments regarding the Unclassified Summary of Evidence, indicated that he did not wish to provide any verbal statements at this time, and that he will speak to the Board to respond to the Unclassified Summary of Evidence.
The Designated Military Officer presented the Unclassified Summary of Evidence, Exhibit DMO-1, and Exhibit DMO-2, to the Administrative Review Board.
The Designated Military Officer stated that a copy of these exhibits had been previously distributed to the Assisting Military Officer and Detainee.
The Presiding Officer noted from the Enemy Combatant Election Form that the Detainee wanted to respond to each item of information from the Unclassified Summary as it was presented
The Designated Military Officer gave a brief description of the contents of the Unclassified Summary of Evidence, Exhibit DMO-1 to the Administrative Review Board to assist the Detainee with answering the statements.
Designated Military Officer: The following primary factors favor continued detention:
The detainee worked as a security officer for a firm called the Hajj Mawsem where he earned 4,600 Saudi Riyals per month.
Detainee: Yes. First, it's not a company. It belongs to the police, and the real name is the Army of Pilgrimage and Ceremonies. It is military police officers.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee agreed to help distribute aid, (food, clothing, etc.) in Afghanistan at the request of Sheik Al-Shaykh. Sheik Al-Shaykh was the senior sheik of the Masjid Al Harem Mosque, which is a large mosque near Kaba, Saudi Arabia.
Detainee: I didn't ask the Sheik Al-Shaykh, but I asked if the distributing of the food was something good to do and he said yes. That's why l joined.
Presiding Officer: I just need to know if the statement is true or false and if it is false, please correct it.
Designated Military Officer: Sheik al Shaykh suggested that the detainee work for the Al Birr Foundation. A man named Hassan Al Nashiri, a fellow student with the detainee, asked him to help distribute goods to poor Muslims.
Detainee: True.
Designated Military Officer: The purpose of the Al Birr organization was the help poor Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Detainee: True.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee left Saudi Arabia sometime around January 2001.
Detainee: I don't know the exact date.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee and Nashiri flew Saudi airlines from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, to Damascus, Syria, then a Syrian airline to Mashhad, Iran, where they stayed for two months.
Detainee; This is not true. I was by myself and I met Hassan Al Nashiri in Iran.
Board Member: Is the route correct?
Detainee: Yes.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee and Nashiri spent two months in Herat, Afghanistan, and in addition to food and clothing, they also bought books and tapes regarding Islam. Traveling through Afghanistan, the men stayed in various mosques, but provided no details on the mosques, sheiks, guides, or names of villages.
Detainee: Right.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee and Nashiri also traveled to Spin Buldak, Afghanistan, then to Quetta, Pakistan. They said they traveled to Pakistan to obtain better quality of goods to distribute. Several trips were made between Spin Buldak and Quetta.
Detainee: True.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee claims he traveled for approximately eight months distributing supplies with Al Nashiri, whom he referred to as the "money man."
Detainee: True.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee was arrested in Pakistan around December 12- 17, 2001, while on his way to reenter Afghanistan with aid supplies.
Detainee: This is not true.
Presiding Officer: Which part is not true?
Detainee: It's not true that they arrested me on this date inside Pakistan.
Presiding Officer: What is the truth?
Detainee: They arrested me in Pakistan, but I was not going to Afghanistan. I was going to Peshawar, a city in Pakistan.
Board Member: You were arrested in Pakistan?
Detainee: Yes.
Designated Military Officer: Training: The detainee attended a mountain tactics class.
Detainee: Not true.
Presiding Officer: Did you attend any advanced military training at any time?
Detainee: In Afghanistan, no.
Presiding Officer: Anywhere else?
Detainee: I was with the military police.
Presiding Officer: That would be with your employment with paragraph 1?
Detainee: Yes.
Designated Military Officer: The mountain tactics course was a seven-week course held at the Faruq training camp, which covered guerilla warfare in mountainous terrain.
Detainee: I don't know anything about that.
Designated Military Officer: The Al Faruq camp provided a general program that consisted of a fundamental or basic course lasting 40 days. The course provided trainees with fundamental military skills in light and heavy weaponry, field guns, warheads, topography and explosives.
Detainee: I don't know anything about that.
Designated Military Officer: Other relevant data: The detainee was unable to provide any names of individuals who were connected to the Al Birr Foundation. He stated there was no need for him to register with the foundation because he was not going to receive a salary.
Detainee: That's true. When I was asked to distribute food, and after I asked the sheik
about the good things to do, then I decided to join. I wasn't looking for any benefit to know those people in that organization or to get any salary.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee has always maintained that he was in possession of a letter for the Al Birr Foundation that explained the purpose of his work in Afghanistan. However, he was unable to explain how he obtained the letter from the foundation if he never registered there.
Detainee: This is not true. That piece of paper was with Hassan. The information in that letter was about distributing food. I didn't need to look at that letter because I am not a member of that organization.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee had his passport and other documents stolen. After hearing about the detainee' s loss, an unknown guide gave him 1,000 Rupees and took him to a bus headed to Peshawar, Pakistan.
Detainee: Right.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee has provided four different versions of his personal history and how he came to be detained. During initial screening, he first stated the non-governmental organization was Yemeni based, and then later said it was Saudi based.
Detainee: That is not true. I didn't say that.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee told agents he was divorced four or five years ago. However, he could not, or would not, explain how his divorce, five years previous, seemed to contradict the ages of his children.
Detainee: I do not know why you need this information.
Presiding Officer: Is it true or false?
Detainee: I don't know exactly when I divorced my wife, but it is true that I divorced my wife.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee told agents, after his divorce, he got a job selling cars . He said he sold only one car for his uncle, but he did not know how much it sold for because his uncle set up the deal.
Detainee: If you mean my mother's brother, this is right. I bought the car for myself to resell it.
Presiding Officer: What kind of car was it?
Detainee : Toyota Hylux.
Designated Military Officer: A passport from Iraq, with one of the detainee's aliases, Ahmad Muhammad Salih, was recovered from the master bedroom of a suspected al Qaida operative's residence.
Detainee: I do not have an alias under this name. The name I use and the one I mentioned to the Pakistani Police is Muhammed Ahmad Abdullah Salih.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee may have been involved in a November 1995 bomb attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad. He then escaped to the Shamshad and Deruntah camps in Afghanistan the day of the attack.
Detainee : Not true.
Designated Military Officer: The Deruntah training camp has a poisons course that lasts approximately two weeks and teaches students how to poison food and drinks.
Detainee: I don't know anything about this.
Designated Military Officer: The following primary factors favor release or transfer: The detainee claims he had no association with Taliban or al Qaida forces and he denies having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September I lth. Additionally, he denies any knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or its interests.
Detainee : This is true.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee had no concern about the doings or whereabouts of al Qaida or the Taliban, and stated that he doesn't feel members of those organizations are Muslim at all due to their actions against others.
Detainee : This is true.
Designated Military Officer: The detainee stated that although he feels that a great injustice has been done and is being done to him by his detainment here at GTMO, he would still never take up arms against anyone, and would never want to leave Saudi Arabia to try and help others out of his country.
Detainee: This is true.
Administrative Review Board Member 's questions:
Board Member: What is your education level?
Detainee: I cannot defend myself. I want those questions to go direct to my lawyer.
Board Member: You cannot say how much schooling you've had?
Detainee: Yes, I can.
The Presiding Officer explained purpose of the Administrative Review Board proceedings to the Detainee, and confirmed that he understood
Presiding Officer: How much school do you have?
Detainee : I did finish the I0th.
Board Member: You quit your job as a police officer with a salary to do charitable work in Afghanistan?
Detainee: I did not leave because of that,
Board Member: Were you being paid to do charitable work in Afghanistan?
Detainee: No.
Board Member: Did you ever do any charitable work in any other country besides Afghanistan?
Detainee: Pakistan.
Board Member: Why didn't you travel directly to Afghanistan? Why did you travel to Syria, Iran, and several other countries? Why didn't you go directly to Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia?
Detainee: I think there is not a direct flight to Afghanistan.
Board Member: What did you do in Iran for two months?
Detainee: I was buying goods and sending them to Afghanistan.
Board Member: Where did you stay in Iran?
Detainee: I don't remember exactly where I was in Iran.
Board Member: Did you stay in a house or a hotel?
Detainee: I don't remember.
Board Member: Did you ever carry a weapon while traveling in Afghanistan or Pakistan?
Detainee: No.