Yasser Talal Al Zahrani
Yasser Talal al Zahrani | |
---|---|
Born | extrajudicial detention ) | September 22, 1984
Status | Death in custody |
Yasser Talal al Zahrani (September 22, 1984 – June 10, 2006) was a citizen of
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 93. The Department of Defense (DoD) reported that he was born on September 22, 1984, in Saudi Arabia. At the time of his capture, al-Zahrani was initially suspected of being "a front line fighter for the Taliban", though he was later considered "second line". He was also suspected of arranging weapons purchases.[3]In 2006, while in detention, he wrote a letter to his father, Colonel Talal al-Zahrani, a former Brigadier General in the Saudi police force,[4] that suggested that two prisoners seemed to be on the verge of death, and that he suspected foul play. Ten days later, the Department of Defense announced that he and the two prisoners had committed suicide.[5] The press, the Saudi government, the detainees' families, and human rights groups have raised serious questions about whether these deaths were suicides or manslaughter due to torture.
Combatant Status Review
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal. His memo accused him of the following:[6]
- That he had arrived in Afghanistan in July 2001.
- That he had trained at an Konduz
- That he had served on the second line, near Konduz, in the second week of September 2001.
Administrative Review Board
Detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee might pose if released or transferred, and whether there were other factors that warranted his continued detention.[7]
Allegations
There is no record that Yasser Talal Al Zahrani chose to attend his hearing. The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his hearing listed 26 factors favoring his continued detention.[8]
The factors stated:
- That he decided to travel to Afghanistan, instead of finishing high school, in August 2001.
- That he trained at the Taliban's Konduz Center, and at al Qaida's al Farouq training camp.
- That he was a financial courier.
- That he had ties to various senior al Qaida and Taliban leaders.
- That he served as security guard for three months
- That he was captured, and sent to a prison in Mazari Sharif, and was injured during the prison riot at Qali Jangi in early November.
Death
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On June 10, 2006, the DoD reported that three Guantanamo detainees: two Saudis and one Yemeni, had committed suicide.[9] DoD spokesmen refrained from releasing the dead men's identities.
On June 11, 2006, Saudi authorities released the names of the two Saudi men.
Al Zahrani's age
Abdulla Majid Al Naimi, a detainee from Bahrain, was released on November 8, 2005. On June 25, 2006, he made a public statement about the deaths, saying he had known the three men and disputed that they had committed suicide. He said that al-Zahrani was only 16 when he was captured. He thought the youth should have been treated as a minor.
He said,
He was 21 when he died, barely the legal age in most countries, and was merely 16 when he was picked up four and half years ago. His age shows that he is not even supposed to be taken to a police office; he should have been turned over to the underage [juvenile] authorities.[13]
Recent letter to his father
The
Al Zahrani also disputed the US report that his son was non-compliant, saying his son had spent his time memorizing the
Al Zahrani said that his son had been in Afghanistan working for Islamic charities.Letter of June 1
The English language Arab newspaper
Asharq Alawsat reports that the letter was handed by the detainee, to his lawyer, who turned it over to Talal Al Zahrani's father's lawyer.[16] Asharq Alawsat reports that the detainee's name is being kept confidential, for his safety.
Guantanamo attorneys must all agree that they must turn over all their notes and other documents before they leave Guantanamo. They have to report to a secure document center in Washington DC center in order to review their own notes. If a detainee authored a letter suggesting Talal Al-Zahrani and the two other men didn't really commit suicide, keeping his identity confidential could not have prevented the DoD from learning his identity.
Post mortems
Guantanamo camp authorities conducted
Al Zahrani's father claimed that after his own examination of his son's corpse he was convinced he bore the marks of a beating.[17] He sees this as confirming his skepticism that Al Zahrani did not commit suicide, but was murdered.
Al Utaybi's family reported that his Saudi post-mortem had found that the DoD had retained Al Utaybi's brain, heart, liver and kidneys.[18]
Mangin asked the DoD to supply his team with Ahmed's throat, and with the bed sheets they claimed had been used to hang the three men.
Weight reports
The
NCIS Report
On August 23, 2008 Josh White writing in the Washington Post reported the paper had received 3,000 pages of documents arising from the NCIS investigation through Freedom of Information Act requests.[5] He reported that the NCIS report attributed the deaths to lapses on the part of the guards, and to a policy of leniency for the compliant captives.
The report said the deaths were in
Outstanding habeas petition
Yassar Talal al-Zahrani and fellow Saudi
Media representations
Death in Camp Delta was directed by the Norwegian filmmaker, Erling Borgen .][23][24]
See also
- Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp
- Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed al-Salami
- Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi
References
- ^ "Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN: US9SA0-000093DP (S)" (PDF). Retrieved September 3, 2023.
- ^ a b "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-7453-2665-8, 2007
- ^ "Colonel Talal al-Zahrani on the death of his son in Guantanamo". Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
- ^ a b c Josh White (August 23, 2008). "Guards' Lapses Cited in Detainee Suicides: Probe Also Faults Lenient Policies At Guantanamo". Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
- ^ "CSRT Summary of Evidence memo for AL ZAHRANI, Yasser Talal," United States Department of Defense. Wikisource. September 22, 2004
- ^ "Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials". March 6, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
- ^ – pages 24–26 – September 8, 2005
- ^ Three Guantanamo detainees die in suicides Archived July 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, June 10, 2006
- Daily News & Analysis, June 11, 2006
- ^ Saudis allege torture in Guantanamo deaths[permanent dead link], Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 11, 2006
- OARDEC (April 20, 2006). "List of detainees who went through complete CSRT process" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
- ^ "Ex-detainee disputes triple suicide report" Archived August 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Gulf Daily News, 25 June 2006
- ^
- Hamilton Spectator, 17 June 2006
- ^ Asharq Alawsat, August 12, 2006 – mirror
- ^ a b Yasser’s Body Bears Marks of Beating, Arab News, June 19, 2006
- ^ Vital organs missing from repatriated body: family Archived January 2, 2013, at archive.today, Gulf News, June 21, 2006
- ^ Gitmo detainee buried after body cross-examined Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Yemen Times, June 25, 2005
- ^
"ISN: 093" (PDF). JTF-GTMO. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
- ^
"Body Mass Index and Health" (PDF). USDA. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
- ^ Pete Yost (December 5, 2009). "Obama administration seeks to kill Gitmo lawsuit". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 11, 2009.
- ^ ""Death in Camp Delta" Directed by Erling Borgen". Dailymotion.com.
- ^ "Video: Andy Worthington Discusses the Documentary "Death in Camp Delta," Examining the Alleged Suicides in Guantánamo in June 2006". Andyworthington.co.uk.
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (January 2020) |
- Yasser Talal al Zahrani's Guantanamo detainee assessment via Wikileaks
- Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld
- Murders at Guantánamo: The Cover-Up Continues Andy Worthington June 9, 2010
- Saudi Gitmo detainees’ death Saudi Gazette July 28, 2010
- The Guantánamo "Suicides": A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle Harper's Magazine January 18, 2010
- Three Corpses In Gitmo: The Very Worst Seems True Archived January 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine The Atlantic January 18, 2010
- Guantánamo 'suicides' were at secret 'black' site The Daily Telegraph January 18, 2010
- US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning The Guardian January 18, 2010
- Study faults Guantanamo death probe
- Obituary: Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, The Economist, June 15, 2006
- Guantánamo's Children: Military and Diplomatic Testimonies – humanrights.ucdavis.edu