Sudanese Guantanamo detainee details released by Wikileaks
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By Toby Collins
April 25, 2011 (LONDON) – The details of the detention of Sami Al-Haj,
a Sudanese journalist who was incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay for seven
years on the suspicion that he was involved in terrorist activities,
were released last week, in a major intelligence haemorrhage involving
hundreds of documents.
JPEG - 9 kb
Guantanamo Bay detainee Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Haj (wikileaks)
The main concern of the documents, which are communications between
the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay and the US Southern Coand in
Miami, Florida, is whether each prisoner should continue to be held or
be returned to their home governments. They cover the period of
2002-2009.
The 800 files are being released by Wikileaks, a controversial
organisation which releases sensitive information for free on the
internet. Its founder, Julian Assange, came under pressure from the US
government after releasing revealing diplomatic cables and from the
Swedish government which issued an arrest warrant charging Assange
with sex crimes last year.
On Sami Muheidine Mohamed Al-Haj’s file, the Sudanese cameraman is
described as "member of al-Qaida and logistics expert with direct ties
to al-Qaida, [and] al-Haramayn".
Al-Haramayn, a Saudi-Arabian charitable foundation now disbanded, was
banned worldwide by the UN Security Council Committee and was
described by the US Department of Treasury in 2004 as having direct
links with Osama Bin Laden, the founder of Al-Qaeda, an international
terrorist group.
Al-Haj was arrested by Pakistani authorities in December 2001 and was
handed over to US authorities in January 2002. He met high level
al-Qaeda members in Pakistan in his work as a cameraman for the Al
Jazeera news network. The report says he is of “high intelligence
value” and recommends that he remains in detention.
He was released in 2008 without charge. His British lawyer, Clive
Stafford Smith said in an interview with Al Jazeera in 2005, “The only
reason he has been treated like he has is because he is an Al Jazeera
journalist. The Americans have tried to make him an informant with the
goal of getting him to say that Al Jazeera is linked to Al Qaida.”
In 2007, the Sudanese Minister of Justice, Mohammad Ali Al-Mardi,
described Al-Haj’s detention as “an illegal act”.
In the same year Al-Haj went on hunger strike, demanding the
following, as published by Al Jazeera:
The right for detainees to practice their religion freely and without duress.
Applying the Geneva Convention to the treatment of Guantanamo detainees.
Releasing a number of prisoners from isolation confinement, and in
particular one Shakir Amer that has been in continued isolation since
September 2005.
Conducting a full and fair investigation into the deaths of three
prisoners who died in June 2006.
His release or trial by a federal US court.
The US’s file on Al-Haj states that he is "reportedly a leader in the
Muslim Brotherhood’s Shura Council and was involved in plans and
operations to distribute weapons, to include Stinger missiles, and
financial support to extremists in Chechnya."
"Detainee provided logistical support to Islamic militants in Chechnya
through al-Haramayn in Baku, Azerbaijan (AZ), and acted as a money
courier and propagandist for the al-Qaida network under the cover of
his employment with the Union Beverage Company (UBC) and al-Jazeera
Media. Detainee is on a DIA [Defence Intelligence Agency] list of
potential terrorist recidivists".
According to his own account, he carried in excess of US$15,000 to
Azerbaijan on three occasions. He was stopped at Baku airport in 1999
carrying US$220,000. The crux of the accusations against Al-Haj appear
to be that he was responsible for carrying money through Azerbaijan to
support Islamic fundamentalists in Chechnya.
Chechnya is a republic of Russia, in the east of the northern
Caucuses. In recent years it has been through two civil wars and
Russia still battles Islamic separatists in the Chechen mountains. In
January of this year the Chechen leader, Kadyrov, issued a
controversial decree telling public servants how to dress in an
Islamically acceptable way at work.
As well as tracking Al-Haj’s movements and involvement with other
suspects, the report assesses his conduct in detention as "compliant
and rarely hostile" but recounts an incident in which he threw bodily
fluids at staff.
Also included in the list of detainees are the following Sudanese
nationals: Adel Hassan, Al-Rachid Hasan Ahmad Abdul Raheem, Amir
Yakoub Mohammed Al Amir Mahmoud, Hammad Ali Amno Gadallah, Ibrahim
Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi, Ibrahim Osman Ibrahim Idris, Mohammed Nur
Osman, Mohammed Al Ghazali Babaker Mahjoub, Mustafa Ibrahim Mustafa Al
Hassan, Salim Mahmoud Adem Mohammed Bani Amir, and Walid Mohammad Haj
Mohammed Ali.
Controversy surrounds Guantanmo Bay; during his presidential election
campaign, Obama told the electorate he would shut it down, a promise
upon which he has reneged. Prisoners are held in Guantanamo Bay
without proper trial and in contravention of basic human rights,
including the use of torture techniques. It is the repository for the
prisoners considered the highest value in terms of intelligence for
the War on Terror.
The Obama administration used the potential removal of north Sudan
from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List (SSTL) as an incentive to
conduct the north-South Sudan plebiscite peacefully. In February 2011
Obama said “there is a path to greater prosperity and normal relations
with the United States, including examining Sudan’s designations as a
state sponsor of terrorism”. This was reinforced by Johnnie Carson, US
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Africa Affairs, in
March 2011 when he described a roadmap which had been given to
Khartoum to lead them off them list.
The Southern Sudanese successfully voted in favour of separation from
the north in January 2011. The declaration of the independence of the
Republic of South Sudan will take place in July 2011. The Khartoum
regime is yet to contest the validity of the sovereignty of the South.
If this does result in removal from the SSTL, it is likely to bring
the classification into further disrepute. The links between the
independence of South Sudan and terrorism are obscured. The US’s
considerable aid to South Sudan belies its strategic significance; how
the US will act upon this in the future is not known.
In 1993 Sudan was added to the list for, amongst other things,
harbouring Osama bin Laden, head of al-Qaeda. Sudan shares the list
with Cuba, Syria and Iran which wields the stick of sanctions. It was
thought by some that sanctions could be used to maneuverer Khartoum
with regards to the ever-present Darfur issue, where thousands have
died, thousands more are displaced and conflict continues.
(ST)
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