Saidullah Khalik

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Saidullah Khalik

Saidullah Khalik is a citizen of China held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 280 Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report he was born on July 27 1977, in Ghulja, China. He admits attending a military camp in Afghanistan, before being wounded during the U.S. bombing and fleeing to the Tora Bora mountains, and eventually into Pakistan where he was arrested.

Saidullah Khalik is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.[2]

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

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.[3][4] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[5]

Initially the Bush Presidency asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Saidullah Khalik's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 29 October 2004.[6] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

  • The detainee is associated with forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee admits to traveling to Afghanistan in May 2001.
  2. The detainee admits to attending a military training camp in the Tora Bora Mountains.
  3. The detainee received training on the Kalishnikov rifle at the training camp.
  4. The detainee was in Afghanistan during the U.S. bombing campaign.
  5. The detainee received wounds to his face and arm as well as other flesh wounds during the U.S. bombing campaign.
  6. The detainee fled to the caves in the Tora Bora region during the bombing campaign.
  7. The detainee fled to Pakistan from Tora Bora.
  8. The detainee traveled to Pakistan from Afghanistan with a group of armed Arabs.
  9. The detainee was arrested in Qabayilar, Pakistan by Pakistani Police.

Transcript

There is no record that Saidullah Khalik participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Brookings Institute analysis

Scholars at the Brookings Institute, lead by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations[7]:

  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the captives who the Wittes team unable to identify as presently cleared for release or transfer.[7]
  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with other groups hostile to coalition forces."[7]
  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."[7]
  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... were at Tora Bora."[7]
  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the captives who was a foreign fighter.[7]
  • Saidullah Khalik was listed as one of the remaining 17 Uyghur captives who had been cleared for release.[7]

Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO

Documents released in response to the writ of habeas corpus Hassan Anvar v. George W. Bush contained a memo entitled: "Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO".[8] This memo, dated 30 October 2004, provides one paragraph biographies of 22 Uighur captives. The memo asserts that all 22 captives are suspected of membership in the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement". The memo describes the Uighur camp as an "ETIM training camp".

The portion of the document devoted to states:

Khalik Saidullah is a 27-year-old ethnic Uighur and Chinese citizen, born in 1977, in Ghulja, Xinjiang, China. He was last interviewed in mid 2003. He has no reported incidents of violence in his discipline history. Saidullah is suspected as being a probable member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). He is suspected of having received training in an ETIM training camp in Afghanistan.

Administrative Review Board hearing

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".[9]

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" are supposed 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.

Current status

The Bush Presidency asserts that Guantanamo captives are privileged to have an unprecedented level of review of their detention, compared to combatants detained in other conflicts.

Although there is no record that Saidullah Khalik has been cleared for release, or transfer, there is also no record that the annual Administrative Review Boards were convened to review whether he should remain in Guantanamo. Five Uyghurs, whose CSR Tribunals determined they had not been enemy combatants were transferred to detention in an Albanian refugee camp in 2006. A man who was born to Uyghur parents, in Saudi Arabia, and thus was considered a Uyghur, was nevertheless returned to Saudi Arabia. All the other Uyghurs remain in Guantanamo.

In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 and 2006.[10][11] No Board reviewed Saidullah Khalik's status in 2005 or 2006.

In September 2007 the Department of Defense released the recommendation memos from 133 of the Administrative Review Boards that convened in 2005 and the recommendation memos from 55 of the Administrative Review Boards that convened in 2006.[12][13] No recommendation memos were released for Saidullah Khalik.

Farah Stockman, of the Boston Globe, reports that the captives have largely lost their remaining faith in the official review procedures -- because a large number of those whose Boards recommended their release remained in detention, years afterwards, while others, whose Boards recommended their continued detention have been released.[14][15][16]

References

  1. OARDEC (May 15 2006). "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. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  2. China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo, Asia Times, November 4 2004
  3. Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11 2004 - mirror
  4. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11 2004
  5. "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". United States Department of Defense. March 6 2007. http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902. Retrieved 2007-09-22. 
  6. OARDEC (29 October 2004). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal - Khalik, Saidullah". United States Department of Defense. pp. page 22. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000300-000399.pdf#22. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study". The Brookings Institute. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2008/12/16%20detainees%20wittes/1216_detainees_wittes.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-16. "Al Sani said he traveled to Afghanistan shortly before September 11 and trained on a Kalashnikov. “I felt it was important in coming of age,” he said. “I went to Afghanistan for weapons training, not to fight anyone.”"  mirror
  8. "Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO". United States Department of Defense. 30 October 2004. pp. pages 28-34. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/publicly_filed_CSRT_records_1731-1808.pdf#28. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  9. Spc Timothy Book (Friday March 10 2006). "Review process unprecedented". JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office. pp. pg 1. http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/wire/WirePDF/v6/TheWire-v6-i049-10MAR2006.pdf#1. Retrieved 2007-10-10. 
  10. OARDEC (August 9 2007). "Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_1_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  11. OARDEC (July 17 2007). "Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_2_Detention_Transfer_Factors.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  12. OARDEC (July 17 2007). "Index to Transfer and Release Decision for Guantanamo Detainees". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_transfer_release_decision_ARB_Round_1.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  13. OARDEC (August 10 2007). Index "Index of Transfer and Release Decision for Guantanamo Detainees from ARB Round Two". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_ARB_Round_2_Decision_Memos.pdf Index. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  14. Farah Stockman (November 19 2007). "Some cleared Guantanamo inmates stay in custody: Lawyers call US system of hearings a sham". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/19/some_cleared_guantanamo_inmates_stay_in_custody/?page=full. Retrieved 2007-12-20. 
  15. Farah Stockman (November 22 2007). "Nationality plays strong role in who gets freed from Guantánamo". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/22/africa/gitmo.php. Retrieved 2007-12-20. 
  16. "Guantanamo's newest critic". Boston Globe. November 25 2007. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/11/25/guantanamos_newest_critic/. Retrieved 2007-12-20.