Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi
Abdul Aziz Adbullah Ali Al Suadi is a Yemeni citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from May 3, 2002, to January 21, 2016.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 578. The Department of Defense reports that Al Suadi was born on June 16, 1974, in Milhan, Yemen.
He was the first captive to be sent to Montenegro.[2] According to his lawyer David Remes, al-Suadi was one of the most westernized captives in Guantanamo. He mastered English there, and was getting high marks in the college courses in Mathematics he was taking by correspondence.
Inconsistent identification
Al Suadi's name was spelled inconsistently on the official documents the DoD has released.
- His name was spelled as Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi on the official lists released on April 20, 2006, and May 15, 2006.[1][3]
- His name was spelled as Abdulaziz Adbullah Ali Al Suadi on the first page of the unclassified dossier released to the Associated Press in early 2005.[4]
- His name was spelled as Abdul Aziz Alsuwedy on the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his second annual Administrative Review Board in 2006.[5]
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.[6]
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.
![](../I/Trailer_where_CSR_Tribunals_were_held.jpg.webp)
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[6][9]
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:[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of Al Qaeda."[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... traveled to Afghanistan for jihad."[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi 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."[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency."[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who was a foreign fighter.[10]
- Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi was listed as one of the captives who "say that they were doing charity work."[10]
Although Al Suadi didn't attend his 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal, the brief handwritten notes his Personal Representative prepared were part of his dossier:[11]
- Detainee will attend tribunal, to what degree is unclear.
- No lawyer/legal representation
- Circuitous interview
- In final interview, detainee changed to non-participation.
Al Suadi chose to participate in his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing.[12] In early 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a fifteen-page summarized transcript from his 2005 hearing.[13]
A two-page Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing.[5]
Al Suadi said he would not attend his 2006 administrative review, unless he could hear and respond to the classified evidence against him.[14] He drafted a statement to be read instead.
A three-page Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his third annual Administrative Review Board hearing.[15]
Habeas corpus
A writ of habeas corpus, Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi v. United States, was submitted on Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's behalf.[16] In response, on October 1, 2004, the Department of Defense released 16 pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's enemy combatant status was confirmed by Tribunal panel 5.
Recorder Exhibit List
Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's dossier contained a Recorder Exhibit List
isn | Title | Support | Classification |
---|---|---|---|
R1 | Unclassified Summary | N/A | Unclassified |
R2 | FBI Request for Redaction of National Security Information | 3.a.1. | Unclassified |
R3 | FBI 302 27-MAY-02 | 3.a.1. 3.a.2. | FOUO//LES |
R4 | 000274 KB 08-JUN-02 | 3.a.1. 3.a.2. | SECRET |
R5 | IIR 6 034 1208 03 | 3.a.3. | SECRET//NOFORN |
R6 | CITF Memorandum 26-MAY-04 | Summary | SECRET//NOFORN |
R7 | Terrorist-Related Locations and Facilities (Feb 24, 98) | 3.a.3. | SECRET//NOFORN |
R8 | EC Review Checklist | FYI | SECRET//NOFORN |
R9 | JTF GTMO Baseball Card | FYI | SECRET//NOFORN |
R10 | DOD JTF GTMO (unsigned-8-October-2004) | Summary | SECRET//NOFORN |
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.[17][18] His ten-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on June 9, 2008.[19] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M. Thomas Jr. He recommended continued detention.
Further reading
- "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. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
References
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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 from the original (PDF) 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
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Carol Rosenberg (2016-01-21). "Guantánamo detainee declines release; 2 others sent to Balkans". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2016-01-22. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
His lawyer, David Remes, called him a "fully westernized" English-speaking man who at Guantánamo studied math by correspondence course at Colorado's Adams State University.
- OARDEC (2006-04-20). "List of detainees who went through complete CSRT process" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- OARDEC legal advisor's declaration (.pdf) from Abdul Aziz Adbullah Ali Al Suadi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, September 3, 2004, page 1
- OARDEC (2006-11-17). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Alsuwedy, Abdul Aziz". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
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"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.
- Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, The New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
- Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
- "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
- 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.
- OARDEC (2004-09-03). "Detainee election form" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. p. 15. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- OARDEC. "Summarized Administrative Review Board Detainee Statement" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 207–221. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- "US releases Guantanamo files". The Age. April 4, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
- OARDEC (2006-11-30). "Translation oral statement ISN 578". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- OARDEC (2007-12-27). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Alsuwedy, Abdul Aziz". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- "Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi v. United States" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. October 1, 2004. pp. 1–16. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
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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.
- "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- "Abd Al Aziz Abduh Abdallah Ali Al Suwaydi: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Abd Al Aziz Abduh Abdallah Ali Al Suwaydi, US9YM-000578DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2016-02-09.