Saeed Ahmed Mohammed Abdullab Sarem Jarabh

From dKosopedia

Category: Illegal combatants

Findings

Documentation:

Cover Sheet: Prepared by James R. Crisfield, Jr. Status Review: Concurs and is final Sufficiency Review: Concurs and is final Convening Authority Appointment: Yes CSRT Record of Proceedings: Yes Combatant Status Review Tribunal Decision Report: Yes Summary of Tribunal Decision: Yes Unsworn Detainee Statement: Yes Detainee Election Form: Yes Detainee Session Notes: Yes Recorder Exhibit List: Yes Summary of Evidence: Yes Request for Redaction: Yes Affidavit: Yes (brother) PR Review: Yes (no comments)

Summary of case against him:

The detainee is a member of al Quaida who traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan to train at the Abu Abaida training camp. He admits to having contact with other al Quaida members and he was present with fighters in the Tora Bora region.

The detainee requested his father as a witness and evidence in the form of his plane ticket from Yemen and the record of his issued visa. All denied as "not relevant."

Summary of Jarabh's testimony:

Mr. Jarabh said that he had traveled from his home in Yemen to Afghanistan to teach the Koran and that his father had financed his trip for him. He said that due to circumstances there, finding a place to teach was difficult so he taught on the go as he traveled from place to place. When asked why he didn't return home after 9/11 he stated that,

"I couldn't leave. The borders were closed and the situation was chaotic."

He denied that he ever received military training and that he only shot with friends for proficiency, with rocks for targets, that he was neither a member of nor knew of any al Quaida members and that there was no way for anyone to know who was or wasn't al Quaida.

During the course of his testimony, he was made aware of an affidavit by his brother which said that he had traveled to Pakistan to buy honey for the family business, and that to his knowledge his brother had never gone to Afghanstan. He then said he was pressured not to change his original statement and that,

"so...I waited for an opportunity where it would be open, people would see, people would hear, there would be lawyers...I was waiting for an opportunity like that to tell my story.

"I asked the interrogators before, are these Tribunals going to be open to th epublic, are there going to be lawyers, are we going to be able to contact our families...

"When I saw that everything was closed or silenced, so I was just saying the same story over and over again. But the real story is like I told the Personal Representative."

He said that after having no success in Afghanistan, he traveled with friends to Pakistan With the intent to return to Yemen. H was taken by the Pakistanis at the "fifth point" [checkpoint?] He believes that the friends lied to him and turned him over to the Americans.

Links

AP List of Detainees