Abdul Bagi
Abdul Bagi is a citizen of
Afghanistan, held in
extrajudicial detention in the
United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in
Cuba.
[ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20 2006] His detainee ID number is 963.
Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the
Geneva Conventions to captives from
the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a
competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of
prisoner of war status.
Subsequently the
Department of Defense instituted the
Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were
lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an
enemy combatant.
Bagi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
[Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 1-12]allegations
The allegations Bagi faced during his Tribunal were:
[Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 1-12]#''The detainee is a member of the
Taliban.#''The detainee admitted that he was supposed to participate in an ambush against U.S. forces.#''The detainee admitted that he threw his weapon down a well and hid in a hole.#''The detainee was captured on the afternoon of 10 February 2003, along with his uncle, by U.S. personnel.
Bagi's response to the allegations
Bagi denied being a member of the Taliban. He denied admitting participating in an ambush on
February 10 2003, or in any hostilities whatsoever. He denied owning a weapon, or throwing one down a well, or hiding when an American convoy drove by.
Bagi's account of his capture was that he and his uncle were driving his uncle's tractor to the bazaar to buy oil and filters. They heard an American vehicles approaching them, so they pulled off the road so they wouldn't be in the way. They got off the tractor to wait for the Americans to go by. But the Americans stopped, and took them into custody.
The Americans took him over to a newly dug well, and asked what it was for. He explained it was a well, for irrigating crops.
The Americans took his uncle and himself to where they had secured the other men in the village. Most of the other men were released. But he and several other men were taken to Bagram. It was only in Bagram, seven days later, when he was interrogated did he learn that his dossier contained the claim that he had hidden in a hole and thrown a weapon down a well. According to Bagi the well only had about a foot of water in it, and anyone could have seen if an object even as small as a pen had been thrown in it.
witnesses
Bagi asked three other men from his village, who were captured the same day he was, to testify on his behalf. The transcript from his CSRT does not identify them by name. It is clear from the context that one of the witnesses is his uncle. When Bagi attended his
Administrative Review Board hearing the identity of his other two witnesses was contained in the summary of his CSRT. They were
Alif Mohammed and
Baridad.
Bagi asked all three witnesses whether he owned a weapon and whether he was a member of the Taliban.All of the witnesses testified that he didn't own a weapon, was just a simple farmer, and had no contact with the Taliban.
Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual
Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".
They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.
Bagi chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.
[Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 42]*
Rahmatullah*
Alif Mohammed*
Baridad
