Abdul Haq Wasiq

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Abdul Haq Wasiq is a citizen of Afghanistan once held in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 4. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1971, in Ghazni, Afghanistan.

Abdul Haq Wasiq arrived at the Guantanamo detention camps on January 11, 2002, and has been held there for Template:For year month day.[2][3][4]

Held aboard the USS Bataan

Former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef described being flown to the United States Navy's amphibious warfare vessel, the USS Bataan, for special interrogation.[5] Zaeef wrote that the cells were located six decks down, were only 1 meter by 2 meters. He wrote that the captives weren't allowed to speak with one another, but that he "eventually saw that Mullahs Fazal, Noori, Burhan, Wasseeq Sahib and Rohani were all among the other prisoners." Historian Andy Worthington, author of the The Guantanamo Files, identified Wasiq as one of the men Zaeef recognized. He identified Mullah Rohani as Gholam Ruhani, Mullah Noori as Norullah Noori and Mullah Fazal as Mohammed Fazil.

Combatant Status Review

Main article: Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Wasiq was among the 60% of prisoners who participated in the tribunal hearings.[6] A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.

Wasiq's memo accused him of the following:[7]

a The detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban.
  1. The detainee in a letter to his brother, included greetings to an al Qaida member.
  2. The detainee was the Taliban Deputy Minister of Intelligence.
  3. The detainee used a radio to communicate with the Taliban Chief of Intelligence.
b The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.
  1. The detainee was involved in the operation to re-establish the front lines of Konduz, Afghanistan.

Administrative Review Board hearings

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".[8]

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat—or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Haq Wasiq's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 18 July 2005.[9] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee served as Deputy Minister of Intelligence in the Taliban Intelligence Service.
  2. The detainee served as acting Minister of Intelligence when Qari Ahmadullah was away from Kabul performing his duties as governor of Tahar province
  3. The detainee was a participant in military operation in Konduz.
  4. Detainee used Icom radios and provided information on communications security procedures within the Taliban Intelligence Department.
b. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee arranged to have an Egyptian al Qaida member, Hamza Zobir teach Taliban intelligence officers about intelligence work.
  2. The detainee gave a suspected Afghani arms smuggler a Codan high frequency radio set for safekeeping. The suspected arms smuggler allegedly had many weapons caches near Ghazni.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

a. At the time of his capture, the detainee claims he was attempting to assist the U.S. in capturing Mullah Mohammed Omar. He claims if the Americans had not arrested him, then they might have captured Mullah Mohammed Omar and the detainee's superior, Qari Ahmadullah, head of Taliban Intelligence.
b. Detainee has very citations, primarily for non-aggressive infractions including physical training in cell, leading prayer; making excessive noise; and periodically refusing medications, food, and showers.

Press reports

An article in the Christian Science Monitor quotes Ahmadullah, who was told by Mohammed Omar to go back to Kandahar.[10] It quotes him:

"He called me twice to come to Kandahar. But I cannot go there easily, because a lot of people know me, and I am frightened they will capture me somewhere on the road.[10] So I sent my assistant Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq to Kandahar. Unfortunately he was captured by American agents in Ghazni."

Release negotiations

Most afghans had been repatriated to Afghanistan by 2009.[11] Throughout the fall of 2011 and the winter of 2012 the United States conducted peace negotiations with the Taliban, and widely leaked was that a key sticking point was the ongoing detention of Wasiq and four other senior Taliban, Norullah Noori, Mohammed Fazl, Khirullah Khairkhwa and [[]].[12][13][14] Negotiations hinged around sending the five men directly to Doha, Qatar, where they would be allowed to set up an official office for the Taliban.

Life in Qatar

In March 2012 it was reported that Ibrahim Spinzada, described as "Karzai's top aide" had spoken with the five men, in Guantanamo, earlier that month, and had secured their agreement to be transferred to Qatar.[14] It was reported that Karzai, who had initially opposed the transfer, now backed the plan. It was reported that US officials stated the Obama administration had not yet agreed to transfer the five men.

On March 27, 2021, Carol Rosenberg, reporting in The New York Times, provided a followup on Wasiq, and the 19 other men who were the first twenty individuals to arrive at Guantanamo.[15] She said that, like the other four men, he still lives in Doha, with his family, in housing provided by the Qatar government. They are allowed to travel freely, within Qatar. Their children attend a Pakistani-run school, in Doha. She noted however, that they require the permission of both the US and Qatar governments to leave Qatar.

References

  1. ↑ OARDEC (2006-05-15). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  2. ↑ JTF-GTMO (2007-03-16). "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/measurements/. Retrieved 2008-12-22.  mirror
  3. ↑ "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 on 2009-12-21. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhumanrights.ucdavis.edu%2Fresources%2Flibrary%2Fdocuments-and-reports%2Fgtmo_heightsweights.pdf&date=2009-12-21. 
  4. ↑ Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Abdul Haq Wasiq". New York Times. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/4-abdul-haq-wasiq. 
  5. ↑ Abdul Salam Zaeef (2010). "Torture and Abuse on the USS Bataan and in Bagram and Kandahar: An Excerpt from "My Life with the Taliban" by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef". Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andyworthington.co.uk%2F2010%2F12%2F12%2Ftorture-and-abuse-on-the-uss-bataan-and-in-bagram-and-kandahar-an-excerpt-from-my-life-with-the-taliban-by-mullah-abdul-salam-zaeef%2F&date=2010-12-16. "We were not permitted to talk to each other, but could see one another while the food was handed to us. I eventually saw that Mullahs Fazal, Noori, Burhan, Wasseeq Sahib and Rohani were all among the other prisoners, but still we could not talk to each other." 
  6. ↑ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
  7. ↑ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Haq Wasiq's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 13-24
  8. ↑ Spc Timothy Book (Friday March 10, 2006). "Review process unprecedented". JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office. pp. 1. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/wire/WirePDF/v6/TheWire-v6-i049-10MAR2006.pdf#1. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  9. ↑ OARDEC (18 July 2005). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Wasiq, Abdul Haq". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 1–2. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000001-000098.pdf#1. Retrieved 2007-11-27. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Al Qaeda planning next phase". Christian Science Monitor. 2001-12-28. http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1228/p4s1-wosc.html. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  11. ↑ M K Bhadrakumar (2012-01-10). "There's more to peace than Taliban". Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NA12Df01.html. Retrieved 2012-01-11. "Nevertheless, Iranian media insist that three high-ranking Taliban leaders have been released - Mullah Khairkhawa, former interior minister; Mullah Noorullah Noori, a former governor; and Mullah Fazl Akhund, the Taliban's chief of army staff - in exchange for an American soldier held by the Taliban."  mirror
  12. ↑ "Guantanamo Taliban inmates 'agree to Qatar transfer'". BBC News. 2012-03-10. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17327440. Retrieved 2012-03-12. "If the president pursues this strategy, though, he will need support from wary politicians in Congress, our correspondent says. Many there see a transfer of what they call the most dangerous inmates at Guantanamo as a step too far, he adds."  mirror
  13. ↑ Rahim Faiez, Anne Gearan (2012-03-12). "Taliban prisoners at Guantánamo OK transfer". Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/10/2688491/taliban-prisoners-at-guantanamo.html. Retrieved 2012-03-12. "Five top Taliban leaders held by the U.S. in the Guantánamo Bay military prison told a visiting Afghan delegation they agree to a proposed transfer to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, opening the door for a possible move aimed at bringing the Taliban into peace talks, Afghan officials said Saturday."  mirror
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Hamid Shalizi (2012-03-10). "Taliban Guantanamo detainees agree to Qatar transfer - official". Reuters. http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/10/afghanistan-guantanamo-taliban-idINDEE82905620120310. Retrieved 2012-03-12. "Karzai's top aide, Ibrahim Spinzada, visited the Guantanamo facility this week to secure approval from the five Taliban prisoners to be moved to Qatar."  mirror
  15. ↑ Carol Rosenberg (2021-03-27). "They Were Guantánamo’s First Detainees. Here’s Where They Are Now.". The New York Times (Washington, DC): p. A1. Archived from the original on 2023-06-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20230628084907/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/27/us/politics/guantanamo-first-prisoners.html?unlocked_article_code=Tspffh2S76qJWDu_7-qMgf8Uh_yT7foYzOEhxEPON8NpD4lpCBSGGXI8Jy2d-UiPI0Pfqc6OkWR_LCM3XvcFKWwgPWGUbuLXBIyQuFEne7ULAdD0vZfcGu4d760A3TkavRmwEP-3crpp9LUCP1iJ5h6NRc4-AqhPjU6OyC-vHu-2Ayz7HpFwy7qVvNDNKodK6q7YDGj2EiUGglGm3u2FzmZsmJf5Njs7cg80he8hM-A-WcIJxIWjC5N1AFenQM8YLlPwK4sUDOXK5G3lrZ-0FFv-62LArpX_McFNVgAwkN2bFl2-gbmGa7Wgz_XtDvuqMvjhRVyPVYQKfB9cBg_M2DXPYykfZdWs&smid=em-share. Retrieved 2023-06-28. "After an initial period of confinement, they now live with their families in housing provided by the Qataris. They can move freely around the cosmopolitan capital — the women shop in local markets, the children study in a Pakistani-run school — but need the blessing of their host country as well as the United States and destination nation to travel abroad." 

External links


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