[ALOCHONA] Leak uncovers dossier on lone Bangladeshi inmate at Guantanamo

Leak uncovers dossier on lone Bangladeshi inmate at Guantanamo

The leak of some 759 "detainee assessment" dossiers reveals the thinking of US Pentagon officials on who has been detained, what for, and how long at the notorious detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, where the 1949 Geneva Conventions on Prisoners of War have been known to be flouted. The dossiers were released on Monday by the New York Times in the US, and the Guardian, UK, who obtained them from whistleblower site WikiLeaks. They contain the file on the lone Bangladeshi to have been incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, Mubarak Hussain bin Abul Hashem.

Abul Hashem served in Guantanamo from January 2002 to his release in December 2006, when a special US Air Force plane flew him back to Bangladesh after failing to gather any evidence to implicate him in terrorist activity. Since his return, Abul Hashem has gotten married, and became the father of a baby girl in 2008. The dearth of any clear evidence linking him to terrorist activity, which is quite apparent from a look through his dossier, makes the 5 years he lost in Guantanamo even more regrettable.

The assessment starts with a section on Abul Hashem's personal information, which includes the false name (Rawhan Ben Abd Al Rauf) he gave to the Pakistani officials who first detained him, his true name, his place of birth in Brahmanbaria, and his date of birth, which is given as January 1st, 1978. The section closes with his Internment Serial Number, US9BG-000151DP. Since being released, Hashem has revealed he was known as "Enemy Combatant 151" while in custody.

The next section of note contains a recommendation that "detainee be Released or Transferred to the Control of Another Country." But although this assessment is dated March 25, 2005, it would be another 21 months before Abul Hashem was finally released. It is also revealed here that the previous time he was assessed for release or transfer was September 13, 2003.

In the March 2005 updated recommendation, Abul Hashem is assessed as "a probable Islamic extremist", with "possible" ties to Al Qaeda and its global terrorist network. It is said that all debriefers and analysts "concurred" that his cover story is not plausible, and that he is "extremely deceptive" during interviews.

Abul Hashem is said to have been uncooperative and aloof during interrogation. The fact that a senior Al Qaeda lieutenant, Abu Zubeidah, was "familiar" with him is said to indicate that Hashem at least utilised Al Qaeda safehouses while entering/exiting Afghanistan. He is also said to pose a "low-risk", as he is unlikely to pose a future threat to the US, its interests, or its allies. There follows an account based on Abul Hashem's own statements on how he ended up in Guantanamo, which is then set against US officials' own assessment how things panned out. Largely, they differ on the circumstances surrounding his capture.

After going to Pakistan in 1999, Abul Hashem is said to have claimed he travelled to Kabul in November 2001. While there, he visited the Mazar-i-Sharif, and stayed with one Bashir Ahmed for four days before returning to Pakistan.

On his way back, after getting to the Pakistani side of the border, he travelled to Peshawar. It was there that he was detained by Pakistani plainclothes policemen, for "looking like a foreigner" and not having any identification. He was then turned over to the Pakistani military who handed him over to US custody. Later he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay on January 17, 2002.

The US officials' assessment thereafter of Hashem as an "Islamic extremist" is admitted to be based on "largely circumstantial" information, such as:

- Abul Hashem's decision to travel to Kabul just after the US offensive began.
- The fact that he was one of 195 detainees captured and turned over to US custody by Pakistani officials during late 2001 and early 2002, and the rest were all Arab mujahideen attempting to flee Afghanistan and US troops.
- His parents' background ("his father is an Imam") is said to suggest they "encouraged" him to join Jihad in Afghanistan.
-Abu Zubeidah's statement that Abul Hashem looked "familiar", even though he was unable to recall his name or identity.

In its concluding sections, the assessment states Abul Hashem is of "low" intelligence value, that is, unable to provide much information that could be considered valuable for America in its War on Terror. The final word on his status at that point reconfirms him as an "enemy combatant". The assessment is signed by Brigadier General Jay H. Wood.

http://www.unbconnect.com/component/news/task-show/id-46649

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