Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi

Ali Ahmad Mohammed al-Rahizi
Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi's official Guantanamo identity portrait, showing him wearing the white uniform issued to compliant individuals
Born	October 13, 1979 or August 1980 [1] [2] Taiz, Yemen
Detained at	Guantanamo
ISN	45
Charge(s)	No charge
Status	Transferred to the United Arab Emirates

Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. ^[3] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 45. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports he was born on October 13, 1979, in Taiz, Yemen.

He was one of the first twenty Guantanamo captives, sent there on January 11, 2002, and called "the worst of the worst". ^[4] Guantanamo analysts characterized him as one of the "Dirty Thirty". ^[5] In 2009, he was classified as a "forever prisoner"—an individual for whom there was no evidence they had committed a war crime, who, nevertheless, was considered too dangerous to release. ^[6] A Periodic Review Board hearing, in April 2014, reversed this determination. He was transferred to the United Arab Emirates on November 16, 2015, with four other Yemenis. ^[7]

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. ^[8] 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

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. ^{[8] [11]}

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: ^[12]

• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of Al Qaeda." ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees stayed in Al Qaeda, Taliban or other guest- or safehouses." ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan." ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency." ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... served on Osama Bin Laden’s security detail." ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative". ^[12]
• Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Rahizi was listed as one of the "82 detainees made no statement to CSRT or ARB tribunals or made statements that do not bear materially on the military’s allegations against them." ^[12]

habeas corpus

A writ of habeas corpus, Ali Ahmed Mohammed Al Rezehi v. George W. Bush, was submitted on Ali Ahmed Mohammed Al Rezehi's behalf. ^[13] In response, on October 14, 2004, the Department of Defense released 26 pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Mentioned in the "No-hearing hearings" study

According to the study entitled, No-hearing hearings, there was an anomaly in Al Rahizi's record. ^[14] Al Rahizi's Personal Representative met with him for twenty minutes on September 23, 2004. Al Rahizi's Tribunal convened on September 28, 2004, without Al Rahizi being present.

The study quoted from the Summary of the Basis for Tribunal Decision: ^[14]

The detainee understood the Tribunal Proceedings, but chose not to participate . . . The Tribunal questioned the personal representative closely on this matter and was satisfied that the personal representative had made every effort to ensure that the detainee had made an informed decision.

The study then commented: ^[14]

The Tribunal’s close questioning of the personal representative is problematic because the form the personal representative presented to the Tribunal stated that the he had neither read nor left a written copy of the procedures with the detainee.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. ^{[15] [16]} His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was nine pages long, and was drafted on June 20, 2008. ^[17] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M. Thomas Jr. He recommended continued detention.

Transfer

Guantanamo analysts characterized him as one of the "Dirty Thirty". ^[5] In 2009, he was classified as a "forever prisoner" as an individual for whom there was no evidence he had committed a war crime but still was considered too dangerous to release. ^[6] A Periodic Review Board hearing, held in April 2014, reversed this determination. He was transferred to the United Arab Emirates on November 16, 2015, along with four other Yemenis. ^[7]

References

1. https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82840-isn-45-ali-ahmad-muhammad-al-rahizi-jtf-gtmo/498327ecb26f5d70/full.pdf ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
2. https://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN045/131229_U_ISN045_GOVERNMENT'S_UNCLASSIFIED_PUBLIC.pdf?ver=1GK4P47k6WrqOWCvLgJVIQ%3d%3d ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
3. "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 30 September 2007. 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
4. Carol Rosenberg (2015-01-10). "First flight: 8 of first 20 'worst of worst' still at Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2015-08-04. Retrieved 2016-01-10. Thirteen years ago today, a U.S. Air Force C-131 Starlifter cargo plane set down at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, dislodged 20 men in orange jumpsuits brought from Afghanistan and started the Pentagon's experiment in offshore detention.
5. Andy Worthington (2010-09-15). "Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part One: The "Dirty Thirty"" . Retrieved 2016-01-10. 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
6. "Guantanamo board backs release of Yemeni Ali Ahmed al-Rahizi could theoretically be repatriated, but dozens of Yemenis also approved for transfer remain jailed. 26 Apr 2014 06:15 GMT | US & Canada, Latin America, Afghanistan, Cuba, Pakistan". Al Jazeera. 2014-04-26. Archived from the original on 2014-05-27. Retrieved 2016-01-10. Last month, 34-year-old Ali Ahmed al-Rahizi, appeared before the Periodic Review Board (PRB), which said he no longer posed a threat to the US.
7. Charlie Savage (November 15, 2015). "5 Yemeni Guantánamo Inmates Are Sent to United Arab Emirates". The New York Times.
8. "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. 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.
9. Lewis, Neil A. (2004-11-08). "Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-17.
10. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times , December 11, 2004
11. "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
12. Benjamin Wittes; Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
13. "Ali Ahmed Mohammed Al Rezehi v. George W. Bush" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. 14 October 2004. pp. 58–74. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
14. Mark Denbeaux; Joshua Denbeaux; David Gratz; et al. "No-hearing hearings" (PDF). Seton Hall University School of Law. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
15. Christopher Hope; Robert Winnett; Holly Watt; Heidi Blake (2011-04-27). "WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed -- Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose". The Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2012-07-13. The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
16. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
17. "Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Razihi: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Ali Ahmad Muhammad Al Razihi, US9YM-000045DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2016-01-10.