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Yasim Muhammed Basardah is a citizen of Yemen, unlawfully detained in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 252.

As of Aug. 5, 2010, Yasim Muhammed Basardah has been held at Guantanamo for eight years six months.[2]

Combatant Status Review[]

Main article: Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Basardah was among the 60% of prisoners who chose to participate in tribunal hearings.[3] A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.

Basardah's memo accused him of the following: [2]

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban.
  1. The detainee admitted that he traveled to Afghanistan in March 2001 for the jihad.
  2. The detainee stayed at a Taliban safe house in Quetta, Pakistan during his travel to Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee stayed at Taliban safe houses in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  4. In April 2001, Usama bin Ladin spoke at one of the Taliban safe houses while the detainee was in residence.
  5. The detainee trained at al Farouq training camp.
  6. The detainee received training on the Kalashnikob, Pakistan machine gun, explosives, and the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at the al Farouq camp.
  7. Usama Bin Ladin spoke at the al Farouq camp while the detainee was in training.
  8. The detainee was at a Taliban house in Kabul, Afghanistan when the U.S. bombing campaign began.
b. The detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee fought on the front lines in Taloqan after his training at al Farouq.
  2. The detainee suffered a chest injury while fighting on the front lines.
  3. The detainee fled to the Tora Bora region in November 2001.
  4. The detainee stayed in a cave with Usama Bin Ladin in Tora Bora.
  5. The detainee fled Tora Bora for Pakistan and was captured by the Pakistani military


Administrative Review Board[]

Detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee may pose if released or transferred, and whether there are other factors that warrant his continued detention.[4]

First annual Administrative Review Board[]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Yasim Muhammed Basardah's first annual Administrative Review Board on October 11, 2005.[5] The three page memo listed fifteen "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and four "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".

The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee answered a fatwa issued by Sheikh Hamid al Uqqla and traveled to Afghanistan for the Jihad.
  2. The detainee served on the front lines at Taloqan where he was injured.
  3. The detainee stayed at the Nebras Arab guesthouse, which was used by fighters headed to training at al Farouq and by Usama bin Laden.
  4. The detainee was recruited by Jamaat Tablighi, a group that recruits young men for Jihad in Afghanistan. Many of these young men are poor and on drugs. The detainee attended meeting sponsored by Jamaat Tablighi for two months.
  5. The detainee attended the Institute of Islamic Studies in Kandahar that supported the fatwa issued by Sheikh Abu Hamoud al Uqqla that called for the brother to fight in Afghanistan against General Massoud and the Northern Alliance.
b. Training
  1. The detainee attended the al Qaida run al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan.
c. Connections and Associations
  1. The detainee received $100 U.S. dollars from the son of a senior al Qaida operative who came to visit him and other Arabs in a prison near Parachinar, Pakistan.
  2. The detainee met Usama bin Laden and listened to him speak words of encouragement and enthusiasm to the fighters who stayed at the Nebras guesthouse.
d. Intent
  1. The detainee traveled from Yemen to the United Arab Emirates, through Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan.
  2. While in prison near Parachinar, Pakistan, the detainee conspired to lie about fighting in Afghanistan and to develop a cover story about teaching the Koran, teaching orphans, finding a wife and helping the poor.
e. Detainee Actions and Statements
  1. After two weeks of recovery at a guesthouse, the detainee went to Kabul for further treatment [for] an injury, and then returned to the front lines at Taloqan.
  2. The detainee obeyed the order from Usama bin Laden that all Arab fighter should go to Tora Bora.
f. Other Relevant Data
  1. The detainee is cooperative and states that he is being honest to his interviewers because he realizes that only by being truthful can he hope to go home.


The following primary factors favor release of transfer

a.The detainee states that he surrendered to the Pakistani Army after crossing over the border.
b.The detainee states that he had no knowledge of plans to kill General Massoud of the Northern Alliance just before the 11 September attacks.
c.The detainee states he had no prior knowledge of plans to attack the USS Cole, New York City on 11 September 2001, or of any current or future plans for attack on the United States.
d.If released, the detainee states that he would return to his wife in Yemen and would not fight Jihad because he has already fulfilled his one time obligation.


Transcript[]

Basardah chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[6] The Department of Defense published a twelve paper summarized transcript.

Second annual Administrative Review Board[]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Yasim Muhammed Basardah's second annual Administrative Review Board on October 11, 2005.[5] The three page memo listed twenty-one "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and one "primary factor favor[ing] release or transfer".

Transcript[]

Basardah chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[7] The Department of Defense withheld the transcript of his hearing.

Third annual Administrative Review Board[]

On January 9, 2009, the Department of Defense published the Summary of Evidence memos, transcripts, and decision memos from 200 of the remaining captives 2007 Administrative Review Board hearings.[8]

Summary of Evidence memo[]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for annual Administrative Review Board on [9] The three page memo listed twenty-one "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and two "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".

Statement[]

The Department of Defense did not publish a transcript from his hearing. It did list a two page statement from Basardah, but every word of it was redacted.[10]

Board recommendations[]

The Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.[11][12] The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his continued detention on November 6, 2007.

The Board's record stated that Basardah had originally intended to attend his Board, but changed his mind at the last moment.[12]

Habeas corpus appeal, and appeal under the Detainee Treatment Act[]

Yasim Muhammed Basardah had a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf. In September 2007 the Department of Justice published dossiers of unclassified documents arising from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of 179 captives.[13] His documents were not among those the Department of Defense published.

The Detainee Treatment Act and Military Commissions Act[]

The United States Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Both these Acts included provisions to close of Guantanamo captives' ability to file habeas corpus petitions.[14][15]

The Detainee Treatment Act included a provision to proscribe Guantanamo captives who had not already initiated a habeas corpus petition from initiating new habeas corpus petitions.[14] The Act included provision for an alternate, more limited form of appeal for captives. Captives were allowed to submit limited appeals to panels of three judges in a Washington DC appeals court. The appeals were limited—they could not be based on general principles of human rights. They could only be based on arguments that their Combatant Status Review Tribunal had not followed the rules laid out for the operation of Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

Nine months later Congress passed the Military Commissions Act.[14] This Act contained provision to close off all the remaining outstanding habeas corpus petitions. After the closure of the habeas corpus petitions some Guantanamo captives had appeals in the Washington DC court submitted on their behalf, as described in the Detainee Treatment Act.

The DTA appeals progressed very slowly.[14] Initially the Department of Justice argued that the captive's lawyers, and the judges on the panel, needed consider no more evidence than the "Summary of Evidence memos" prepared for the captives' CSR Tribunals. By September 2007 the Washington DC court ruled that the evidence that formed the basis of the summaries had to be made available.

The Administration then argued that it was not possible to present the evidence the Tribunals considered in 2004—because the evidence had not been preserved.[14]

Only one captive, a Uyghur captive named Hufaiza Parhat, had his DTA appeal run to completion. On June 20, 2008 his three judge panel concluded that his Tribunal had erred and that he never should have been confirmed as an enemy combatant.

Boumediene v. Bush[]

On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".[16]

Basardah's appeal under the DTA[]

Basardah's appeal under the DTA was suspended by the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit examining his case.[17][18] On 5 November 2008 the panel suspended his appeal on jurisdictional grounds. The panel wrote that when Congress passed the Detainee Treatment Act, stripping captives of the right to habeas corpus, they didn't anticipate that the Supreme Court would restore it, and that it was a mistake to proceed on two separate mechanisms for proceeding towards the same end.

Lyle Denniston, writing in Scotusblog, commented that this ruling implied that DTA appeals were closed for all future petitioners.[19] He speculated that the other 190 outstanding DTA appeals would regard it as a precedent. Denniston wrote that Basardah had been waiting for his DTA appeal, 07-cv-1192, to be heard since June 2007.

Asylum in Spain[]

On May 19, 2010, historian Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that Saba News was reporting Yasin had been transferred to Spain.[20]

References[]

  1. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-15. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Guantanamo Docket - Yasim Muhammed Basardah
  3. OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
  4. "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". March 6, 2007. http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902. Retrieved November 12, 2010. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 OARDEC (2005-10-11). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Basardah, Yasim Muhammed". United States Department of Defense. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/252-yasim-muhammed-basardah/documents/1/pages/303#12. Retrieved 2009-01-22.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Arb1MemoIsn252" defined multiple times with different content
  6. Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Yasim Muhammed Basardah's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 233
  7. OARDEC (date redacted). "Summary of Administrative Review Proceedings for". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 38. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/252-yasim-muhammed-basardah/documents/6/pages/196#38. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  8. Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for Administrative Review Boards (Round 3) Held at Guantanamo [1] 2009-01-09
  9. OARDEC (2007-06-22). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 46–48. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/08-F-0481_FactorsDocsBates201-300.pdf#46. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  10. redacted [2] Yasim Mohammed Basardah
  11. OARDEC (2007-11-01). "Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 252". United States Department of Defense. pp. page 432. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/08-F-0481_ARB3DecisionMemos1824-2385.pdf#432. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 OARDEC (2007-08-06). "Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 252". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 433–441. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/08-F-0481_ARB3DecisionMemos1824-2385.pdf#433. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  13. OARDEC (August 8, 2007). "Index for CSRT Records Publicly Files in Guantanamo Detainee Cases". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_publicly_filed_CSRT_records.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 The Dog Ate My Evidence: What happens when the government can't re-create the case against you? [3] Dahlia Lithwick 2007-10-17 mirror
  15. NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006 [4] Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter 2006-10-16 mirror
  16. Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant' [5] Farah Stockman 2008-10-24 mirror
  17. DC Circuit suspends status review for Yemeni held at Guantanamo [6] Andrew Morgan 2008-11-05 mirror
  18. YASIN MUHAMMED BASARDH, (ISN 252), PETITIONER v. ROBERT M. GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE [7] 2008-11-04 mirror
  19. Circuit Court: DTA process is probably dead [8] Lyle Denniston 2008-11-04[dead link] mirror
  20. Who is the Syrian Released from Guantanamo to Bulgaria? [9] Andy Worthington 2010-05-19

External links[]


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