Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah

Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah
Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah, wearing the white uniform issued to compliant individuals
Born	1962 (age 61–62) Hay al-Turbawi Ta'iz, Yemen
Arrested	Pakistani border Pakistani border guard
Released	2016-08-15 United Arab Emirates
Citizenship	Yemeni
Detained at	Guantanamo
Other name(s)	Muhammad Ahmad Said al-Adahi [1]
ISN	33
Charge(s)	No charge (extrajudicial detention)
Status	transferred
Occupation	Yemeni soldier (1982), worked at a Yemeni oil refinery

Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah is a citizen of Yemen who was held in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, for fourteen and a half years. ^{[2] [3]} His Internment Serial Number is 33. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1962, in Hay al-Turbawi Ta'iz, Yemen. ^[4]

He was transferred to United Arab Emirates, with fourteen other men, on August 15, 2016. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

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. ^[7] 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. ^{[7] [10]}

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: ^[11]

• Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with other groups hostile to coalition forces." ^[11]
• Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah 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." ^[11]
• Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... served on Osama Bin Laden’s security detail." ^[11]
• Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative". ^[11]

Al Edah chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. ^[12]

Al Edah attended his 2005 status review. ^[13]

Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah v. George W. Bush

Twenty-nine pages from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal were made public, on July 13, 2005, when a writ of habeas corpus was filed on his behalf. ^[14]

Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald , reported that US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered his release on August 17, 2009. ^[15] Al Edah's habeas hearing lasted three days, much of it was held in camera, so Kessler could hear classified evidence. Rosenberg interviewed Kristin Wilhelm and Richard G. Murphy Jr., two of Al Adahi's defense attorneys. They said that Al Adahi had secured affidavits from other captives who had falsely denounced him.

Al Edah testified that his watch had a traditional analog face—with hands. ^[15]

Revealed during the hearing was that Al Edah is suffering from heart disease, and that he had been offered heart surgery by camp medical officials. ^[15]

In December 2009, Kessler cited the Department of Defense for contempt of court. ^{[16] [17]} She had ordered the Department of Defense to record his merits hearing, but this was not done. Officials asserted the lapse was "due to oversight and miscommunication." The Government is appealing Kessler's decision.

U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered his release in late August 2009. ^{[18] [19]} After an examination of the classified evidence she concluded "brief attendance at Al Farouq and eventual expulsion simply do not bring him within the ambit of the Executive's power to detain."

The Department of Justice initiated an appeal of Kessler's release order on September 22, 2009. ^{[20] [21]}

On July 13, 2010, the decision to release Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah was reversed on appeal. ^[22]

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. ^{[23] [24]} His eleven-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on April 1, 2008. ^[1] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby. He recommended continued detention.

References

1. "Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Muhammad Ahmad Said Al Adahi, US9YM-000033DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
2. 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
3. "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-13.
4. Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Mohammed Ahmad Said al Edah". New York Times . Retrieved 2016-08-17.
5. Benjamin Wittes (2016-08-16). "A Big Guantanamo Transfer: Progress Towards the Site's Obsolescence". Lawfare.
6. Camila Domonoske (2016-08-16). "15 Guantanamo Bay Detainees Transferred To United Arab Emirates". National Public Radio. Two of the Afghan prisoners — Mohammed Kamin and Obaidallah, who only has one name — had been briefly charged in a military commission, The Miami Herald reports. The war crimes prosecutor dropped those charges.
7. "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.
8. Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times , November 11, 2004 - mirror Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
9. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times , December 11, 2004
10. "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
11. Benjamin Wittes; Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
12. Summarized transcripts (.pdf) Archived 2006-07-31 at the Wayback Machine , from Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 22-30
13. Works related to Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement at Wikisource
14. OARDEC (30 October 2004). "Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah v. George W. Bush" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 1–29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
15. Carol Rosenberg (2009-08-18). "Judge orders release of Yemeni from Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-05-24. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
16. Jaclyn Belczyk (2009-12-10). "Federal judge finds Pentagon in contempt for failing to record Guantanamo testimony". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 2009-12-20.
17. "Judge finds Pentagon in contempt in Gitmo case". Associated Press. 2009-12-10. Archived from the original on 2024-05-24.
18. Carol Rosenberg (2009-08-19). "Judge orders release of Yemeni from Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-05-24. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
19. Del Quentin Wilber (2009-08-21). "Judge Orders Release of Yemeni Prisoner From Guantanamo". Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2012-11-08.
20. Daphne Eviatar (2009-09-21). "Obama Administration Appeals Judge's Order to Release Gitmo Detainee (sic)". Washington Independent. Archived from the original on 2010-01-02.
21. Carol Rosenberg (2009-09-22). "U.S. appeals judge's order to free Yemeni from Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
22. Charlie Savage (2010-07-13). "Reversal Upholds Detention of Yemeni at Guantánamo". The New York Times .
23. 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.
24. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2012-07-10.

External links

• Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Five: Captured in Pakistan Andy Worthington, September 29, 2010
• Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)
• What Does It Take To Get Out Of Obama’s Guantánamo? Andy Worthington December 14, 2009

Works related to Detainee Statement at Wikisource Works related to 2004 at Wikisource Works related to 2006 at Wikisource