Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri

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Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri is a citizen of Tunisia formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Nasseri's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 510. Joint Task Force Guantanamo reports that he was born on July 8, 1966, in Gafsa, Tunisia.

At the time of his transfer to Italian custody in November 2009, Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri had been held at Guantanamo for seven years five months.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

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 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 Tribunal. 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 Riyad Bin Mohammed Tahir Nasseri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on October 21, 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is associated with the Taliban and associated with al Qaida.

1. The detainee is Tunisian citizen who traveled to Afghanistan to learn how to fight.
2. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan via Italy and Pakistan.
3. The detainee received military training at the Derunta camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and Khaldan camp near Khowst Afghanistan.
4. The detainee received training on light arms while at the camps.
5. The detainee fled from Jalalabad, Afghanistan to the Tora Bora region after this area fell to the Northern Alliance.
6. The detainee stayed in the Bilal cave in the Tora Bora region.
7. The detainee was injured in the Tora Bora region during the United States bombing.
8. The detainee and others arranged their surrender.

Testimony

There is no record that Riyad Bin Mohammed Tahir Nasseri participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Administrative Review Board hearings

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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 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 Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 27 April 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment

1. The detainee left Italy in the mid-1990s for Bosnia where he received military training and participated in the war alongside Bosnian mujahidin.
2. The detainee led a band of thieves in Italy and Spain who cooperated with Algerian terrorists.
3. The detainee is a member of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
4. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is an Islamic extremist group that aims to overthrow the secular Algerian regime and replace it with an Islamic state.
5. The detainee was condemned in Italy for making and passing counterfeit money; had a warrant order issued for terrorism related crimes and subversion and has an international arrest order on record.
6. The detainee was sentenced in Tunisia to a ten year sentence for being a member of a terrorist organization operating abroad.
7. The detainee, known as a Tunisian terrorist, supervised a guesthouse in Afghanistan.
8. The detainee was involved in establishing the Tunisian Combat Group.
9. The Tunisian Combat Group (TCG), also known as the Jama'a Combattante Tunisienne, reportedly is seeking to establish an Islamic regime in Tunisia and also targets US and Western interests. The group has come to be associated with al Qaida and other North African extremist networks that have been implicated in terrorist plots during the past two years.
10. The detainee is considered one of the most dangerous Tunisian operatives.
11. The detainee is also a known member of the Tunisian Islamic Front (TIF).
12. The Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT) is suspected to be the armed wing of En-Nahda.

b. Training

1. The detainee received military training at the Derunta camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and Khaldan camp near Khowst, Afghanistan.
2. The detainee received training on light arms while at the camps.
3. Derunta was one of Usama bin Laden's most important bases in Afghanistan. The camp provided training in the use of explosives and toxic chemical usage. Derunta also contained several secondary bases belonging to Usama bin Laden.
4. Khalidoun Camp or "Al Khalidoun" was supervised by Ibn Cheikh al-Libi. Training consisted primarily of tactics for escaping from rockets, the use of rocket launchers, the manufacture of explosives and training in destructive techniques (physical liquidation). The camp was well known for bringing in volunteers recruited from North Africa, many of whom had been living in Europe and transferred to Afghanistan via Karachi, Pakistan.

c. Connections/Associations

The detainee was identified by a senior al Qaida lieutenant as having trained at Khaldan camp and eventually taking over as the Emir of the Tunisian Group in Afghanistan.

d. Intent

The detainee has hated America since he was a baby because it always takes the side of Israel. He stated that America will eventually receive justice for its crimes against Islam.

e. Other relevant data

1. The detainee fled from Jalalabad, Afghanistan to the Tora Bora region after this area fell to the Northern Alliance.
2. The detainee was injured in the Tora Bora region during the United States bombing.
3. The detainee and others arranged their surrender.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

a. The detainee maintains that he never participated in, observed nor heard of any training in chemical or biological weapons while at the Darwanta Camp.

b. The detainee stated he did not receive any training at or near Khost and had not heard of a terrorist training camp prior to the interview.

c. The detainee claims not to have belonged to any Tunisian Islamist group and has never tried to overthrow the Tunisian government.

d. The detainee claims that he was never the leader of any group.

Transcript

Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri did not participate in his Board hearing. On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a two page summarized transcript from his Administrative Review Board.

Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Riyad Bil Mohammed Tahir Nasseri's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 4 August 2006. The memo listed nineteen "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and six "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".

The "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" included:

• allegations he fought in Bosnia;
• allegations he was charged with counterfeiting in Italy;
• allegations he was tried and convicted in Tunisia for membership in a "terrorist group operating abroad."
• allegations that he was a cell leader in multiple groups with ties to al Qaida;
• allegations that he attended the Derunta training camp, and Khalden training camp, where he was trained in bomb making.

The "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer" included:

• disputing that he ever received bomb-making training;
• denied being a cell leader of radical groups;
• denied membership in Tunisian radical groups;

Transfer from Guantanamo

On November 30, 2009, Nasseri and another detainee, Adel Ben Mabrouk, were removed from Guantanamo and transferred into the custody of representatives of Italy, to face charges related to outstanding warrants in that country. Both men had been long time residents of Italy, prior to traveling to Afghanistan. Both men had criminal records for petty crimes in Italy. Both men are expected to face new terrorism charges in Italy.

External links

• Italy’s Guantánamo: Obama Plans “Rendition” Of Tunisians In Guantánamo To Italian Jail Andy Worthington

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