Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel

Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1][2] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number was 043. The Department of Defense reports Moqbel was born on December 1, 1977, in Taiz, Yemen.

Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel
Arrestedlate 2001
Pakistan
CitizenshipYemen
Detained atGuantanamo
ISN43
Charge(s)No charge, held in extrajudicial detention
StatusTransferred to Oman in 2016

On April 15, 2013, the New York Times published an Op-ed by Moqbel titled "Gitmo is killing me". In it he described that he would not eat "until they restore my dignity." He wrote that he had lost 30 pounds and described how it feels being force fed. "As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn't," Moqbel wrote. "There was agony in my chest, throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone."[3] His Op-Ed stirred wide commentary.[4][5][6]

In January 2016, Moqbel was among 10 Yemeni detainees that were transferred and resettled in Oman.[7]

Background

Moqbel arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and was held at Guantanamo for 14 years.[8]

In the Op-Ed Moqbel described traveling to Afghanistan to look for work, as he only earned $50 USD per month in Yemen.[3] He said he was misled, could not find work in Afghanistan. He denied any association with terrorism.[9][10]

Historian Andy Worthington noted that Moqbel mocked the extensive justifications offered for his detention, that he had been an Osama bin Laden bodyguard; that he had travelled all over Afghanistan – when he had only arrived in Afghanistan a month prior to his capture.[11]

In his April 2013 Op-ed Moqbel described what it was like to be force-fed at Guantánamo Bay.[3] Glen Greenwald, writing in The Guardian, praised the New York Times for publishing Moqbel's Op-Ed, which he described as one of the most powerful his readers would ever read.[12]

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.[13] 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

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[13] Memos containing the allegations that the DoD thought justified his detention were prepared for formal administrative hearings in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.[14][15][16][17] These memos were all published under the Freedom of Information Act. The DoD also published a seven-page transcript from Moqbel's 2004 hearing and a memo Moqbel prepared for his 2006 hearing.[9][10]

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:[18]

  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... traveled to Afghanistan for jihad."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel 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."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... were at Tora Bora."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives whose "names or aliases were found on material seized in raids on Al Qaeda safehouses and facilities."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... served on Osama Bin Laden's security detail."[18]
  • Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative".[18]

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.[19][20] The Telegraph published Moqbel's 10 page assessment, which had been drafted in April 2008.[21] His assessment was signed by camp commandant Mark H. Buzby, and recommended Moqbel's continued detention.[22]

The Telegraph quoted from his JTF-GTMO assessment, the claim that Moqbil had acknowledged participating in hostilities.[21] JTF-GTMO assessed him as having served in the 55th Arab Brigade, as well as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard team. JTF-GTMO assessed him as having participated at the Battle of Tora Bora. JTF-GTMO called him as a member of the dirty thirty. They claimed he had trained at the Al Farouq training camp, and that he had staffed al Qaeda guesthouses. They claimed his name was found on a suspicious list. They claimed "he acknowledged he was recruited by known al-Qaida member, Marwan Jawan, who also facilitated his travel to Afghanistan."

Russia Today pointed out that the JTF-GTMO assessment said "Moqbel poses a low threat to prison personnel and is of only medium intelligence value."[23]

Habeas corpus petition

A writ of habeas corpus was filed on Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel's behalf.

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.[24]

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 US 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".[25]

On July 15, 2008, Kristine A. Huskey filed a "NOTICE OF PETITIONERS' REQUEST FOR 30-DAYS NOTICE OF TRANSFER" on behalf of several dozen captives including Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel.[26]

Moqbel's letters published

Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo acquired copies of letters Moqbel had written to his lawyers.[27] They quoted his confusion as to how he could have been cleared for release over five years ago, yet still remain in detention.

Further reading

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 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: Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel". New York Times. Retrieved October 2010. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel (2013-04-14). "Gitmo Is Killing Me". New York Times. p. A19. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. I could have been home years ago — no one seriously thinks I am a threat — but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a "guard" for Osama bin Laden, but this was nonsense, like something out of the American movies I used to watch. They don't even seem to believe it anymore. But they don't seem to care how long I sit here, either.
  4. Abby Ohlheiser (2013-04-15). "The Guantánamo Hunger Strike Gets a NYT Op-Ed". Slate magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. While the reasons given for the hunger strike have ranged from mistreatment of the Quran to the camp's living conditions, Moqbel's motivation is a little more simple: He's still in Guantánamo. Here's a snippet from the op-ed, headlined by the Times "Gitmo Is Killing Me"
  5. Joe Coscarelli (2013-04-15). "What It's Like to Be Force-Fed at Guantánamo Bay". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. "There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren't enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings." The rush to feed everyone, he says, results in a sloppy, more painful experience. "It was so painful that I begged them to stop feeding me," Moqbel writes of one particularly brutal experience.
  6. "'Guantanamo is killing me': inmate". Agence France Presse. 2013-04-15. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. An inmate detained at Guantanamo for over a decade without charge on Monday gave a graphic account of his participation in a two-month-old hunger strike at the US-run military prison. In an op-ed published in the New York Times entitled "Gitmo Is Killing Me," Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel said he had lost over 30 pounds since going on hunger strike February 10 and that a fellow inmate weighed just 77 pounds.
  7. Schwartz, Felicia (2016-01-14). "U.S. Sends 10 Yemeni Detainees From Guantanamo to Oman". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  8. "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)". Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-21.
  9. OARDEC (2004). "Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15. Works related to ISN 043 – Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement at Wikisource
  10. Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel (2006-10-23). "To the office of the administrative board to review detend". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15. Works related to ISN 043 – statement of 2006/10/23 at Wikisource
  11. Andy Worthington (2010-09-15). "Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part One: The "Dirty Thirty"". Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. These accusations make you laugh. These accusations are like a movie. Me, a bodyguard for bin Laden, then do operations against Americans and Afghanis and make trips in Afghanistan? I don't believe any human being could do all these things … This is me? I have watched a lot of American movies like Rambo and Superman, but I believe that I am better than them. I went to Pakistan and Afghanistan a month before the Americans got there … How can a person do all these operations in only a month?
  12. Glenn Greenwald (2013-04-15). "Obama, Guantánamo, and the enduring national shame: One of the most powerful Op-eds ever published in the NYT, by a Yemeni detainee, underscores the president's role in this travesty". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. The New York Times this morning deserves credit for publishing one of the most powerful Op-Eds you will ever read. I urge you to read it in its entire
  13. "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.
  14. OARDEC (2004-10-12). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal – Moqbel, Samir, Naji Al Hasan". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  15. OARDEC (2005-11-18). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Hasan, Samir". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  16. OARDEC (2006-10-13). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Hasan, Samir N". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  17. OARDEC (2007-11-21). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of A Hasan, Samir N". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  18. Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study". The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  19. 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.
  20. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  21. "Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbil: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbil, US9YM-000043DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-04-15. Recommendation: Continued detention under DoD control.
  22. Mark H. Buzby (2008-04-08). "Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9AG" (PDF). Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Retrieved 2013-04-15. Media related to File:ISN 00043, Samir al Hasan's Guantanamo detainee assessment.pdf at Wikimedia Commons
  23. "Gitmo prisoner: 'I will not eat until they restore my dignity'". Russia Today. 2013-04-15. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. According to a secret 2008 dossier on Moqbel drafted by the Pentagon and obtained and published by WikiLeaks, the detainee's name has been found on al-Qaeda documents, and he allegedly admitted during at least one of the interrogation sessions that he has been subjected to regularly for over a decade to taking up arms with the group.
  24. Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter (2006-10-16). "NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 2008-09-30. Retrieved 2008-09-30.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  25. Farah Stockman (2008-10-24). "Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant'". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2008-10-24.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. Kristine A. Huskey (2008-07-15). "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 63 – NOTICE OF PETITIONERS' REQUEST FOR 30-DAYS NOTICE OF TRANSFER". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original on 2008-11-12. Retrieved 2008-11-13.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  27. Patrícia Campos Mello (2015-07-01). "Guantanamo Detainee Writes of Legal Limbo in Previously Unpublished Letters". Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 2015-07-07. Folha had access to the letters Mukbel sent to his lawyers, the first time a Brazilian media outlet has obtained direct communication from a Guantanamo detainee. In some of the letters, he asks about his family; in others, he questions his legal status.
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