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 determined they were not "enemy combatants".[1] None of the detainees who were determined not to have been enemy combatants were released right away. Ten of the detainees who had been determined not to have been enemy combatants 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.[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]
| ISN | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 142 | Fazaldad | Returned to Pakistan on 17 September 2004[17] |
| 208 | Maroof Saleemovich Salehove | Date of release to Tajikistan unknown |
| 248 | Saleh Abdall Al Oshan | Repatriated to Saudi custody on 20 July 2005[18][19] |
| 260 | Ahmed Adil | Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |
| 276 | Akhdar Qasem Basit | Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |
| 279 | Mohammed Ayub | Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |
| 283 | Abu Bakr Qasim | Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |
| 287 | Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy | Repatriated to Egypt, after assurances |
| 293 | Adel Abdulhehim | Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |
| 298 | Salih Uyar | Released to Turkey on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 357 | Abdul Rahman | Date of return to Afghanistan unknown. |
| 457 | Mohammad Gul | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 459 | Gul Zaman | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 491 | Sadik Ahmad Turkistani | Uyghur born in Saudi Arabia, repatriated to Saudi Arabia |
| 561 | Abdul Rahim Muslimdost | Released to Pakistan, disappeared mysteriously |
| 581 | Shed Abdur Rahman | Date of release to Pakistan unknown |
| 586 | Karam Khamis Sayd Khamsan | Date 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] |
| 589 | Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr | Returned to Jordan on 19 July 2005[17] |
| 631 | Padsha Wazir | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 649 | Mustaq Ali Patel | Returned to France on 7 March 2005[17] |
| 672 | Zakirjan Asam | Set free on 17 November 2006[17] |
| 712 | Hammad Ali Amno Gadallah | Returned to Sudan on 19 July 2005[17] |
| 716 | Allah Muhammed Saleem | Released to Albania on 7 January 2007, where he applied for asylum[24] |
| 718 | Fethi Boucetta | Released to Albania rather than his home of Algeria |
| 730 | Ibrahim Fauzee | Citizen of the Maldives, release date unknown |
| 812 | Qalandar Shah | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 834 | Shahwali Zair Mohammed Shaheen Naqeebyllah | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 835 | Rasool Shahwali Zair Mohammed Mohammed | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 929 | Abdul Qudus | Youngest 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] |
| 952 | Shahzada | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 953 | Hammdidullah | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 958 | Mohammad Nasim | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 986 | Kako Kandahari | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 1013 | Feda Ahmed | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 1019 | Nasibullah | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 1041 | Habib Noor | Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005[17] |
| 1117 | Jalil | Returned to Afghanistan on 11 March 2005[17] |
| 1157 | Hukumra Khan | Returned 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 January 17.
References
- Kathleen T. Rhem (March 30, 2005). "38 Guantanamo Detainees to Be Freed After Tribunals". American Forces Press Service. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- "Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classified as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- Mark Denbeaux et al., No-hearing hearings Archived 2008-07-29 at WebCite", November 17, 2006
- Albania takes Guantanamo Uighurs, BBC, May 6, 2006
- Freed from Guantanamo, 5 face danger in Albania, Boston Globe, May 18, 2006
- U.S. Releases Three Men From Terror Camp In Guantanamo Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, All Headline News, November 17, 2006
- Albania Agrees To Resettle Three Detainees from Guantanamo Archived 2008-04-09 at the Wayback Machine, US State Department, November 20, 2006
- Pentagon sends Guantánamo captives to Albania, Miami Herald, November 17, 2006
- Mark Denbeaux, Joshua Denbeaux, David Gratz, John Gregorek, Matthew Darby, Shana Edwards, Shane Hartman, Daniel Mann, Megan Sassaman and Helen Skinner. "No-hearing hearings". Seton Hall University School of Law. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 29, 2008. Retrieved April 2, 2007.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Secrets of the War Criminals, Huffington Post, December 12, 2006
- "Gitmo Panelist Slams Hearing Process: Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham Is First Member Of Military Panel To Challenge Guantanamo Bay Hearings". CBS. June 23, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
- "Declaration of Stephen Abraham, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve, June 14th, 2007" (PDF). United States Supreme Court. June 14, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
- Mike Rosen-Molina (June 22, 2007). "Guantanamo tribunal officer says CSRTs pressured on 'enemy combatant' rulings". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
- Leonnig, Carol D.; white, Josh (June 23, 2007). "An Ex-Member Calls Detainee Panels Unfair: Lawyer Tells of Flawed 'Combatant' Rulings". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
- Andy Worthington (August 8, 2007). "Guantánamo: Will More Whistleblowers Step Forward, Please?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
- "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. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- OARDEC (2008-10-09). "Consolidate chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased" (PDF). Department of Defense. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman (March 19, 2007). "The Saudi Repatriates Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2011. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
- Saudi Arabia: Guantanamo Detainees Return to Legal Limbo, Reuters, May 26, 2006
- "Panel Court Postpones Case of Guantanamo detainee". Yemen Observer. December 30, 2005. Retrieved 2006-03-12.
- "U.S. Ambassador's attackers stand trial". Yemen Times. December 15, 2005. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2006-03-12.
- "Security & Terrorism". United Press International. March 18, 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-19.
- "Court acquits Ex-Guantanamo Detainee". Yemen Observer. March 14, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-03-23. Retrieved 2006-03-19.
- Essam Fadl (January 6, 2007). "Egypt: Human Rights Activist Identifies 2 Former Egyptian Guantanamo Detainees". Asharq Alawsat. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
- Carol Rosenberg (2009-01-17). "Six more detainees freed from Guantánamo". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on January 18, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-18.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)