Sulaiman al-Nahdi

Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi is a citizen of Yemen, who held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from May 5, 2002, until November 16, 2015.[1] Al Nahdi's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 511. The Department of Defense reports that al Nahdi was born on December 1, 1974, in Mukalla, Yemen.

Sulaiman al-Nahdi
Suleman Awad Suleman Bin Agil Alnahdi
Released2015-11-16
UAE
Detained at Guantanamo
ISN511
Charge(s)No charge, held in extrajudicial detention

Al Nahdi was cleared for release in 2008, but he wasn't released until late 2015, when he and five other Yemenis were sent to the United Arab Emirates.[2]


Official status reviews

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror.[3] This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct 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.

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:[4]

  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who the Wittes team unable to identify as presently cleared for release or transfer.[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... traveled to Afghanistan for jihad".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi 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".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... were at Tora Bora".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives whose "names or aliases were found on material seized in raids on Al Qaeda safehouses and facilities".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who was a foreign fighter.[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who "deny affiliation with Al Qaeda or the Taliban yet admit facts that, under the broad authority the laws of war give armed parties to detain the enemy, offer the government ample legal justification for its detention decisions".[4]
  • Sulaiman Awath Sulaiman Bin Ageel Al Nahdi was listed as one of the captives who had admitted "fighting on behalf of Al Qaeda or the Taliban".[4]

Al Nahdi chose to submit a written statement to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal rather than attend in person.[5]

Al Nahdi's statement

Al Nahdi's statement said that the allegations against him contained exaggeration.

Al Nahdi said he traveled to Afghanistan because he was moved by the plight of children. He was moved by cleric's speeches and the images on TV.

Al Nahdi's statement acknowledges that someone paid his travel expenses, without mentioning who paid for him. He pointed out he traveled there prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. His travel had nothing to do with a hatred of America. He asserted he had no problems with America. He asserted he played no role in the conflict between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance.

Al Nahdi denied being a member of al Qaeda—he said he had never heard of al Qaeda until he was arrested.

Al Nahdi acknowledged attending an Afghan training camp, where he saw Osama bin Laden, but he said he had nothing to do with him, and did not identify with what bin Laden was saying. He asserted bin Laden should be charged for what he did. He pleaded that bin Laden's crimes shouldn't be taken out on him.

Al Nahdi said he had promised his mother he would stay in Afghanistan for no more than six months.

Al Nahdi said he had been well behaved at Guantanamo, with the exception of once throwing juice at a guard when he was upset when he learned his mother had died.

Al Nahdi chose to participate in his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing, and the DoD published a 16 page transcript.[6]

Habeas corpus petition

Al Nahdi had a writ or habeas corpus filed on his behalf in 2005.[7]

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.[8]

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 U.S. 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".[9]

On July 17, 2008, Richard Murphy filed a "Petitioner's request for 30-day notice of removal or transfer" on behalf of al Nahdi and six other captives.[7] The petition would prevent the Department of Defense from transferring him out of U.S. jurisdiction without giving his attorney's thirty days notice. The Department of Defense had transferred some captives to countries where they were subsequently subjected to abusive treatment—even though they had active habeas corpus petitions.

Life at Guantanamo

In 2008, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on efforts to provide intellectual stimulation for the captives.[10] They reported that camp authorities had recently hire a full time English language instructor and a full time Arabic language instructor. In addition interested captives were instructed in the rudiments of drawing and painting, and were given access to art supplies. Al Nahdi had used his time in art class to prepare what his lawyer described as a "greeting card", which he gave to her, to take back to share with staff at her office—only to have military censors classify it, and stamp it with a "secret" stamp.

In articles marking the camp's tenth anniversary, both Associated Press and the McClatchy News Service noted that al-Nahdi remained in the camp even though he had been cleared years earlier.[11]

References
  1. "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. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
  2. Carol Rosenberg (November 16, 2015). "U.S. sends 5 Guantánamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates". Miami Herald. With Congress pushing stricter restrictions on prisoner transfers, the Pentagon this weekend released five Yemenis from the prison camps at Guantánamo to resettle in the United Arab Emirates, a nation in the Persian Gulf. None of the captives had ever been charged with a crime.
  3. "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. January 21, 2002. Archived from the original on November 23, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  4. Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (December 16, 2008). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
  5. "Unsworn detainee statement" (PDF). OARDEC. 2004. Archived from the original on July 31, 2006 – via The New York Times.
  6. "Summary of Administrative Review Board for ISN 511" (PDF). OARDEC. 2005. Archived from the original on April 8, 2006 – via The New York Times.
  7. Richard Murphy (July 17, 2008). "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 74 -- Petitioner's request for 30-day notice of removal or transfer" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2008.
  8. Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter (October 16, 2006). "Notice of Military Commissions Act OF 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 2, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
  9. Farah Stockman (October 24, 2008). "Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant'". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on October 27, 2008. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
  10. Bill Meyer (November 23, 2008). "Gitmo prisoners get English, a dose of culture". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved November 16, 2015. A year and a half ago, she said, a Guantanamo client named Suleiman al-Nahdi, now 33, sketched greeting cards for people at her Atlanta law firm -- only to have military censors stamp them SECRET and stash them in a vault. She appealed and got them declassified.
  11. "Guantanamo Bay Anniversary: Detention Center Turns Ten". McClatchy News Service. January 11, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2015. Human rights groups and lawyers for prisoners are dismayed that Obama not only failed to overcome resistance in Congress and close the prison, but that his administration has resumed military tribunals at the base and continues to hold men like [Suleiman] al-Nahdi who have been cleared for release," the Associated Press writes. "Critics are also angry over the president's Dec. 31 signing of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision allowing indefinite military detention without trial.
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