Nabil Hadjarab

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Nabil Hadjarab is a citizen of Algeria, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Hadjarab's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 238. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 21, 1979, in Aentaya, Algeria.

As of May 6, 2010, Nabil Hadjarab has been held at Guantanamo for eight years three months.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

File:Trailer where CSR Tribunals were held.jpg

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.

Initially the Bush administration 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 a 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 administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Nabil Said Hadjarab's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 18 September 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. Detainee is a member of al Qaeda.

1. The detainee traveled to London, United Kingdom from Paris at the end of November 2000.
2. While in London, the detainee attended Finsbury Park Mosque, a known al Qaida facility, where known terrorist were recruited.
3. The detainee flew Pakistani International Airlines into Islamabad, Pakistan March 2001.
4. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan in March 2001.

b. Hostile activity

1. The detainee was taught how to use an AK-47 assault rifle in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in July 2001.
2. The detainee attended the Al Farouq training camp.
3. The detainee stated he was encamped for approximately 20 to 25 days in a trench in Afghanistan. The trench was equipped with an AK-47 assault rifle and some hand grenades.
4. The detainee was captured December 2001 and turned over to U.S. Forces.

Transcript

Hadjarab chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a three page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Administrative Review Board hearing

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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".

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 were not authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they were not 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 Nabil Hadjarab's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 6 July 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment

1. While living in France, the detainee purchased a French passport, then traveled from Paris to the UK at the end of November 2000.
2. The detainee primarily attended three mosques in London; Finsbury Park, Baker Street, and Stamfort Hill. Finsbury Park was the mosque he attended most often fro both prayers and lectures.
3. Sheik Abu Hamza, the spiritual leader of Finsbury Park Mosque, supported the killing of civilians by the Algerian GIA (Group Islamic Algerian). He also facilitated travel to Afghanistan and access ot Usama Bin Laden's training commanders.
4. The GIA (Armed Islamic Group) is identified by the Department of Homeland Security as an Islamic extremist group.
5. The detainee has been identified as the London associated of an individual who is implicated in a plot to detonate an improvised radiological device in the United States.
6. Omar, who the detainee met in London, financed and arranged the detainee's travel from the UK to Pakistan and on to Afghanistan in March 2001.
7. Hassan Ibn Omar served as Sheik Abu Hamza's immediate subordinate at the Finsbury Park Mosque.
8. Once in Jalalabad, the detainee stayed at a house owned by an individual named Zacharia. Three other individuals were staying at the house, all of whom spoke Arabic with a North African dialect.

b. Training

1. The detainee was trained on an AK-47 by Zacharia, who gave him the AK-47 for use in self-defense.
2. In November 2001, the detainee fled Jalalabad. He joined a group of eight others, led by Abu Thabit, and went up into the mountains, where he shared a trench with the group.
3. Thabit commanded Camp Thabit, which was located in the Tora Bora region south of Jalalabad. The camp was one of a series of camps that were set up to support and defend retreating Taliban and al Qaida terrorist forces.
4. The detainee's trench was equipped with an AK-47 and a few [and grenades.

c. Other Relevant Data

1. In mid December 2001, the detainee was injured during a helicopter attack as he was heading toward the Pakistan border.
2. The detainee said he surrendered on the outskirts of a village in Afghanistan, to armed Afghanis, who then turned him over to U.S. Forces.
3. The detainee said eh was brought to a hospital where he was treated for his wounds. He was then sent by bus to Kabul and turned over to the Northern Alliance, who released the detainee to American troops.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

a. The detainee stated that he is truly sorry about what happened on September 11, 2001. He stated that from the beginning, he has been sincere with investigators and has told everything.

b. The detainee said he did not know any al Qaida members.

c. The detainee stated he had never been at al Farouq or received any military/weapons training. He also denied that he had been a combatant in Afghanistan.

d. The detainee said he did not know Afghanistan was a haven for terrorists.

Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Nabil Hadjarab's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 7 April 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

Hadjarab v. Bush

A habeas corpus petition was filed on behalf of Nabil Hadjarab. In September 2007 the Department of Justice published dossiers of unclassified documents arising from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of 179 captives. His documents were not among those the Department of Defense published.

Military Commissions Act

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.

Boumediene v. Bush

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".

Reinitiation

On July 18, 2008 Danielle R. Voorhees filed a status report on Civil No. 05-CV-1504 on behalf of Nabil Hadjarab (ISN 238).

External links

• Nabil Hadjarab, an Algerian in Guantánamo, Appeals to President Sarkozy to Allow Him to Rejoin His Family in France Andy Worthington, September 10, 2010
• Nabil Hadjarab - “Brilliant artist, keen footballer, sweet kid.” Reprieve
• Nabil Hadjarab Reprieve

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