No longer enemy combatant

No Longer Enemy Combatant (NLEC) is a term used by the U.S. military for a group of 38 Guantanamo detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determined they were not "enemy combatants".[1] None of them were released right away. Ten of them were allowed to move to the more comfortable Camp Iguana. Others, such as Sami Al Laithi, remained in solitary confinement.

Thirty-eight detainees were finally classified as NLECs.[2] The fifth Denbeaux report, "No-hearing hearings", reported that an additional three Combatant Status Review Tribunals determined that captives should not have been determined to have been enemy combatants, only to have their recommendation overturned.[3]

The Washington Post has published a list of the names of 30 of the 38 individuals who were determined not to have been enemy combatants.[2]

The delay in the release of some of the detainees was said to be due to considerations of their safety. Some could not be returned to their home countries, out of fears of retaliation from their fellow citizens, or from the governments of their countries. Some, like Al Laithi, were returned to their home countries after the US secured a promise that they would not be punished by their home countries. Others, like five of the Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo, were released when the US found a third country which would accept them.[4][5]

Three further captives who had been determined not to have been enemy combatants, who had been occupants of Camp Iguana since May 2005, were released in Albania in November 2006.[6][7][8]

Multiple CSRTs

The fifth Denbeaux study, entitled "No-hearing hearings", revealed that some Guantanamo captives had second or third Combatant Status Review Tribunals convened when their first tribunal determined that they had not been enemy combatants after all.[9]

H. Candace Gorman, the pro bono lawyer for Abdel Hamid Ibn Abdussalem Ibn Mifta Al Ghazzawi, expressed surprise when she learned that her client had initially been determined not to have been an enemy combatant, after all.[10] Gorman described traveling to the secure site in Virginia, the only place where lawyers were allowed to review their clients' classified files. She was told that the justification for convening her client's second tribunal had been that the DoD had new evidence. However, when she reviewed the transcript of his second tribunal she found that there had been no new evidence.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Abraham came forward and swore an affidavit, describing his experience sitting on Al Ghazzawi's tribunal. It was critical of the process, including the pressure exerted to find against the detainee.[11][12][13][14][15]

NLEC captives

On 19 November 2007, the Department of Defense published a list of the 38 men finally deemed to be no longer enemy combatants in 2004.[16]

NLEC captives
ISNNameNotes
142FazaldadReturned to Pakistan on 17 September 2004[17]
208Maroof Saleemovich SalehoveDate of release to Tajikistan unknown
248Saleh Abdall Al OshanRepatriated to Saudi custody on 20 July 2005[18][19]
260Ahmed AdilSent to Albania with four other Uyghurs
276Akhdar Qasem BasitSent to Albania with four other Uyghurs
279Mohammed AyubSent to Albania with four other Uyghurs
283Abu Bakr QasimSent to Albania with four other Uyghurs
287Sami Abdul Aziz Salim AllaithyRepatriated to Egypt, after assurances
293Adel AbdulhehimSent to Albania with four other Uyghurs
298Salih UyarReleased to Turkey on 18 April 2005[17]
357Abdul RahmanDate of return to Afghanistan unknown.
457Mohammad GulReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
459Gul ZamanReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
491Sadik Ahmad TurkistaniUyghur born in Saudi Arabia, repatriated to Saudi Arabia
561Abdul Rahim MuslimdostReleased to Pakistan, disappeared mysteriously
581Shed Abdur RahmanDate of release to Pakistan unknown
586Karam Khamis Sayd KhamsanDate of release to Pakistan unknown; charged with attempting to assassinate US ambassador to Yemen in December 2005;[20][21] acquitted on 13 March 2006[22][23]
589Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al AsmrReturned to Jordan on 19 July 2005[17]
631Padsha WazirReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
649Mustaq Ali PatelReturned to France on 7 March 2005[17]
672Zakirjan AsamSet free on 17 November 2006[17]
712Hammad Ali Amno GadallahReturned to Sudan on 19 July 2005[17]
716Allah Muhammed SaleemReleased to Albania on 7 January 2007, where he applied for asylum[24]
718Fethi BoucettaReleased to Albania rather than his home of Algeria
730Ibrahim FauzeeCitizen of the Maldives, release date unknown
812Qalandar ShahReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
834Shahwali Zair Mohammed Shaheen NaqeebyllahReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
835Rasool Shahwali Zair Mohammed MohammedReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
929Abdul QudusYoungest person ever detained at Guantanamo only 14 years old when he arrived in Guantanamo early 2002, he returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
952ShahzadaReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
953HammdidullahReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
958Mohammad NasimReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
986Kako KandahariReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
1013Feda AhmedReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
1019NasibullahReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
1041Habib NoorReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]
1117JalilReturned to Afghanistan on 11 March 2005[17]
1157Hukumra KhanReturned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17]

On 17 January 2009, Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, quoted Guantanamo spokesman Jeffrey Gordon, that a panel of officers had recently reviewed Bismullah's "enemy combatant" status, and determined, "based on new evidence", that he was not an enemy combatant after all.[25] Bismullah was released to Afghanistan on 17 January.

See also

References
  1. Kathleen T. Rhem (30 March 2005). "38 Guantanamo Detainees to Be Freed After Tribunals". American Forces Press Service. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  2. "Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classified as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
  3. Mark Denbeaux et al., No-hearing hearings Archived 2008-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, 17 November 2006
  4. Albania takes Guantanamo Uighurs, BBC, 6 May 2006
  5. Freed from Guantanamo, 5 face danger in Albania, Boston Globe, 18 May 2006
  6. U.S. Releases Three Men From Terror Camp In Guantanamo Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, All Headline News, 17 November 2006
  7. Albania Agrees To Resettle Three Detainees from Guantanamo Archived 2008-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, US State Department, 20 November 2006
  8. Pentagon sends Guantánamo captives to Albania, Miami Herald, 17 November 2006
  9. Mark Denbeaux, Joshua Denbeaux, David Gratz, John Gregorek, Matthew Darby, Shana Edwards, Shane Hartman, Daniel Mann, Megan Sassaman and Helen Skinner. "No-hearing hearings" (PDF). Seton Hall University School of Law. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. Secrets of the War Criminals, Huffington Post, 12 December 2006
  11. "Gitmo Panelist Slams Hearing Process: Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham Is First Member Of Military Panel To Challenge Guantanamo Bay Hearings". CBS. 23 June 2007. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2007.
  12. "Declaration of Stephen Abraham, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve, June 14th, 2007" (PDF). United States Supreme Court. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  13. Mike Rosen-Molina (22 June 2007). "Guantanamo tribunal officer says CSRTs pressured on 'enemy combatant' rulings". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  14. Leonnig, Carol D.; white, Josh (23 June 2007). "An Ex-Member Calls Detainee Panels Unfair: Lawyer Tells of Flawed 'Combatant' Rulings". Washington Post. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
  15. Andy Worthington (8 August 2007). "Guantánamo: Will More Whistleblowers Step Forward, Please?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 August 2007.
  16. "Detainees Found to No Longer Meet the Definition of "Enemy Combatant" during Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  17. OARDEC (9 October 2008). "Consolidate chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased" (PDF). Department of Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  18. Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman (19 March 2007). "The Saudi Repatriates Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
  19. Saudi Arabia: Guantanamo Detainees Return to Legal Limbo, Reuters, 26 May 2006
  20. "Panel Court Postpones Case of Guantanamo detainee". Yemen Observer. 30 December 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2006.
  21. "U.S. Ambassador's attackers stand trial". Yemen Times. 15 December 2005. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2006.
  22. "Security & Terrorism". United Press International. 18 March 2006. Retrieved 19 March 2006.
  23. "Court acquits Ex-Guantanamo Detainee". Yemen Observer. 14 March 2006. Archived from the original on 23 March 2006. Retrieved 19 March 2006.
  24. Essam Fadl (6 January 2007). "Egypt: Human Rights Activist Identifies 2 Former Egyptian Guantanamo Detainees". Asharq Alawsat. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2007.
  25. Carol Rosenberg (17 January 2009). "Six more detainees freed from Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2009.
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