Ahmed Abdul Qader

Ahmed Abdul Qader is a citizen of Yemen, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from June 18, 2002, to January 14, 2015.[1][2] His detainee ID number was 690. The Department of Defense estimated that Qader was born in 1984, in Sana'a, Yemen.

Main article: minors detained in the global war on terror
Ahmed Abdul Qader
Guantanamo captive Akhmed Abdul Qadir wearing the white uniform issued to compliant captives.
Arrested2001
Pakistan
Pakistani authorities
Released2015-01-14
Estonia
CitizenshipYemen
Detained atGuantanamo
Alternate name
  • Akhmed Abdul Qadir
  • Ahmad Abdel Qader Ahmad Hasan Abu Bakr
  • al-Hadrami
  • al-Mukallawi
  • al-Muthana
  • Moussab al-Yemeni
  • Asifa Abdel Rahman
ISN690
Charge(s)extrajudicial detention

Ahmed Abdul was cleared for release by the Guantanamo Review Task Force.[3][4][5][6][7] He was accepted as a refugee by Estonia on January 14, 2015.[2][8]

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.[9] 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.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[10][11] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[12]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[9]

Following Freedom of Information Act requests the DoD published documents from Ahmed Abdul's annual OARDEC hearings from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.[13][14][15][16]

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, studied these documents, and listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations[17] According to their study:

  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader 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."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... served on Osama Bin Laden’s security detail."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative".[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader 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."[17]
  • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... admitted fighting on behalf of Al Qaeda or the Taliban."[17]

Ahmed Abdul chose to participate in his initial 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[18] The United States Department of Defense published an 8-page summary of the transcript of his hearing.

Ahmed Abdul requested fellow captive Abdul Aziz, the Al Wafa director, as a witness.[18] Abdul Aziz stated he did not remember ever meeting Qadar, and since he didn't remember him Ahmed Abdul could never have worked for him.

Habeas corpus petition

Ahmed Abdul's habeas corpus petition was turned down in 2011.[8][19]

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
Qader's JTF-GTMO detainee assessment.

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[20][21] A 13-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo detainee assessment was drafted about him on May 20, 2008.[22] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M Thomas Jr. who recommended continued detention.

Guantanamo Review Task Force

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.[23] He established a task force to re-review the status of all the remaining captives. Where the OARDEC officials reviewing the status of the captives were all "field grade" officers in the US military (Commanders, naval Captains, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels) the officials seconded to the task force were drawn from not only the Department of Defense, but also from five other agencies, including the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security. President Obama gave the task force a year, and it recommended the release of Qader and 54 other individuals.

Transfer to Estonia

He was accepted as a refugee by Estonia on January 14, 2015.[2][8] The government decided to offer an invitation to Qader on October 9, 2014.[24][25] The invitation told him he would be allowed to apply for asylum status.

Estonia had been in discussions to accept individuals formerly held in Guantanamo, for years.[26][27] The Baltic Times reported, on August 29, 2009, that Estonia was prepared to accept multiple individuals. However, on October 12, 2010, Russia Today reported that Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, informed the Estonian legislature that Estonian law barred accepting the former captives.[28][29]

In 2011, the whistleblower site WikiLeaks published formerly secret diplomatic cables that stated the USA had offered to pay Estonia 62600 euros for every captive Estonia took.[29]

Third party comments

On December 24, 2014, Linda Greenhouse, a long-time commentator on the United States Supreme Court, writing in The New York Times, wrote about Ahmed Abdul habeas corpus petition, and comments made by more senior judges on his case.[30]

Sara Davidson, writing in the New Yorker magazine and Wells Bennett, writing for Lawfare, both commented on his case, following his transfer to Estonia.

Alleged disappearance

On June 28, 2015, Mark Mackinnon, reporting from Tallinn, for The Globe and Mail, reported that Akhmed Abdul Qader had "disappeared".[31]

On July 7, 2015, an article in Postimees stated, that: "Up to now, the man has not been outside the country."[32]

New York Times interview

On July 29, 2016, Charlie Savage of The New York Times, profiled Qader after an extensive interview.[33][34] According to Savage, Qader reported 'terrible anxiety problems'. He reported that Qader was too anxious to travel, and sometimes couldn't leave his apartment. He described feeling anxious to go anywhere, for fear that, coincidentally, there is an explosion nearby, and his proximity makes him the prime suspect.

The Estonian government provides Qader with a studio apartment, a stipend, language lessons, health care, and a coach to help him adjust to life in Estonia.[33]

Qader's family arranged a marriage for him, conducted via Skype, but his wife hadn't been able to join him yet.[33]

Savage said that Qader had a pleasant surprise when his boss realized that his new apprentice was the recent refugee who had been held in Guantanamo.[33] He had kept his history private, even from his boss, when he was hire in the fall of 2015. However, his boss was friendly, and curious about his history, and invited him to a family dinner to share it. However, one drunken neighbor had harassed him, had left garbage at his door, and Qader had to phone the police. After that, harassment by the neighbor stopped.[34][35]

References
  1. 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 (PDF) from the original 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
  2. Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Ahmed Abdul Qader". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
  3. Carol Rosenberg (2012-09-21). "U.S. names 55 Guantánamo captives cleared for release". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23.
  4. Danica Coto (2012-09-21). "U.S. releases list of Guantanamo detainees cleared for transfer". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. The U.S. Justice Department has made public the names of 55 Guantanamo prisoners who have been approved for transfer to the custody of other countries, releasing information sought by human rights organizations. The announcement, which reverses a 2009 decision, was a surprise to organizations that had filed FOIA requests seeking the information.
  5. "US releases names of 55 Guantanamo detainees approved for transfer". freedetainees.org. 2012-09-23. Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2015-01-17.
  6. Fausto Biloslavo (2012-09-23). "Quei reclusi di Guantanamo che possiamo trovarci in casa" [Those inmates from Guantanamo that we can find in the house]. Il Giornale. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23.
  7. "Current Guantanamo Bay Detainee-Petitioners Approved For Transfer (Sept. 21, 2012)" (PDF). Department of Justice. 2012-09-21. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23.
  8. Sara Davidson (2015-01-15). "Sent to Guantánamo as a Teen-Ager, and Now to Estonia". New Yorker magazine. Archived from the original on 2015-01-17. Retrieved 2015-01-16. When Akhmed Abdul Qadir Hussain was eighteen (or a little younger, by some accounts), in early 2002, he was arrested by the Pakistani police, who gave him to American forces, who sent him to Guantánamo Bay.
  9. "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. 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.
  10. 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
  11. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  12. "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". United States Department of Defense. March 6, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  13. "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Qader, Ahmad Abdul". Guantanamo: OARDEC. 2004-10-20. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  14. "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Qader, Ahmed Abdul". Guantanamo: OARDEC. 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  15. "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Qadir, Akhmed Abdul". Guantanamo: OARDEC. 2006-11-03. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  16. "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Qadir, Akhmed Abdul". Guantanamo: OARDEC. 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  17. 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.
  18. "Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement". Guantanamo: OARDEC. n.d. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  19. Andy Worthington (2011-11-29). "As Judges Kill Off Habeas Corpus for the Guantánamo Prisoners, Will the Supreme Court Act?". Retrieved 2015-01-16. Reviewing his case, in light of the Circuit Court’s rulings, Judge Walton denied Hussein’s habeas petition for a variety of reasons that do not exactly encourage overwhelming support for the direction the habeas hearings have taken. Following a previous Circuit Court ruling (in the case of a Yemeni called Hussein Almerfedi), it was considered significant that Abdul Qader Ahmed Hussein had stayed at two mosques in Pakistan run by the vast and apolitical missionary organization Jamaat al-Tablighi, which is regarded, by Justice Department lawyers and the Circuit Court, as a front for terrorism, even though it has millions of non-terrorist members worldwide, and using it to justify detention is akin to imprisoning Catholics for the actions of the IRA.
  20. 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 2012-07-13. 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.
  21. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  22. "Ahmad Abdel Qader Ahmad Hasan Abu Bakr: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Ahmad Abdel Qader Ahmad Hasan Abu Bakr, US9YM-000690DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  23. Andy Worthington (2012-10-25). "Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?". Retrieved 2015-02-19.
  24. Carol Rosenberg (2014-10-09). "Estonia agrees to resettle a Guantánamo detainee". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2017-05-08. The Estonian government made the announcement in a statement that did not name the captive it would offer an opportunity to start a new life there after likely more than a decade at the prison in Cuba.
  25. "Former Guantanamo inmate has arrived in Estonia". Eesti Rahvusringhääling. 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2017-05-08. On October 9 the Estonian Government decided to accept a Guantanamo prison inmate and give him an opportunity to seek asylum in Estonia. The 31-year-old Ahmed Abdul Qader arrived on Wednesday afternoon.
  26. "Guantanamo prisoners may be placed in Estonia". The Baltic Times. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  27. "Gitmo prisoners might see the cold sea". Russia Today. 2009-02-02. Archived from the original on 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2017-05-08. Earlier this year, Latvia’s neighbour, Estonia, had volunteered to welcome the same facility in its country.
  28. "Estonia says no to "guests" from Guantanamo". Russia Today. 2010-10-12. Retrieved 2017-05-08. However, the country’s Foreign Minister, Urmas Paet, told parliament on Monday that current legislation makes it impossible for Tallinn to receive any detainees, according to Interfax news agency.
  29. "Cables: Estonia Refused Residence to Guantanamo Prisoners". Eesti Rahvusringhääling. 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2017-05-08. The US had offered to pay 62,600 euros per person to help cover housing and living costs, according to Postimees, which obtained the Wikileaks documents, detailing US State Department and Tallinn embassy dialogue, from its Norwegian affiliate newspaper, Aftenposten.
  30. Linda Greenhouse (2014-12-24). "Guantanamo Dreams". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Judge Edwards raised a similar alarm in another Guantánamo case, an appeal by a Yemeni detainee, Abdul al-Qader Ahmed Hussain, a teenager when he was captured in early 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan.
  31. Mackinnon, Mark (2015-06-28). "Former Guantanamo inmate nowhere to be found in Estonia". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-06-29. That’s an understatement. There hasn’t been a single report in the Estonian press about Mr. Qader since mid-January, just days after he landed in the country. Some of Estonia’s top investigative journalists say they’ve tried looking into what happened to Mr. Qader after he arrived, but couldn’t find a trace of him anywhere.
  32. Kaukvere, Tiina (2015-07-07). "Yemeni from Guantanamo finally granted residence permit in Estonia". Postimees in English. Estonia: Postimees. Retrieved 2015-07-07. Up to now, the man has not been outside the country.
  33. Charlie Savage (2016-07-29). "13 years at Guantánamo leave resettled ex-detainee fearful". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2016-07-29. 'Any trouble I get myself in now — even an honest mistake — will be a hundred times worse than if any normal person did it,' Qader said recently, trying to explain how that sense of paralysis has stayed with him. “I thought that after two months’ release, I’d be back to normal,” he said. 'But I cannot live my life regularly. I try, but it is like part of me is still at Guantánamo.'
  34. Savage, Charlie (2016-07-29). "After Yemeni's 13 Years in Guantánamo, Freedom for the Soul Takes Longer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
  35. "Guantanamo jeemenlasest eksvang rääkis avameelselt oma elust Tallinnas" [The Yemeni former Guantanamo prisoner talked openly about his life in Tallinn] (in Estonian). Postimees. 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
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