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Ammar Al-Baluchi ( ar, عمار البلوشي, ; also transliterated as Amar Al-Balochi, born Ali Abdul Aziz Ali,Shannon, Elaine. '' Time''
Al-Qaeda Moneyman Caught
1 May 2003
29 August 1977) is a Pakistani citizen in U.S. custody at
Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
. Charges against him include "facilitating the 9/11 attackers, acting as a courier for
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
and plotting to crash a plane packed with explosives into the U.S. consulate in Karachi." A member of the same al-Baluchi clan as Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) and Ramzi Yousef, U.S. officials state that he was a "key Lieutenant" of his uncle KSM who assisted KSM in the execution of the September 11 attacks, and that he told investigators that he had sought help in al-Qaeda's efforts to develop biological weapons to use against its enemies. He reportedly married and then divorced
Aafia Siddiqui Aafia Siddiqui ( ur, ; born 2 March 1972) is a Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, United States for attempted murder and other felonies. Siddiqui was born in Paki ...
, the Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at US soldiers and incarcerated in the United States. Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.246 He was arrested in 2003 and held in the Salt Pit, a CIA black site in Afghanistan, during which he was extensively tortured. The CIA used Baluchi as a "training prop" to teach torture techniques to interrogators; trainees took turns shoving his head into a wall in sessions which lasted for hours, causing him
brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...
. He was also doused with ice water and kept in stress positions. His torture did not yield the CIA any useful intelligence. Baluchi was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2006. In 2018, the United Nations called for his immediate release from arbitrary detention.


Early life

Ammar al-Baluchi was born in Al Ahmadi, Kuwait, and is the maternal nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (organizer of the 9/11 attacks) and cousin of Ramzi Yousef, the organizer of the
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
. The extended family of al-Baluchi is ethnically Baluchi and originally from Balochistan. The family patriarch and his brother were lay
Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...
preachers. They moved the family to Kuwait in the 1960s. Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.60 Baluchi grew up in Kuwait but spent most of teenage years in Iranian Baluchistan, Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.219 but is a citizen of Pakistan. Trained as a computer technician, he dressed in Western clothes and "introduced himself as a businessman", but had been "groomed ... since boyhood" by his cousins and uncles "to join their clandestine war," according to journalist Debra Scroggins. According to a U.S. government biography, his "chief mentor" was his cousin and
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
orchestrator Ramzi Yousef, "who taught him in the early 1990s in Iran about the importance of war against the West." He is fluent in English and worked at Mohammed's
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
-processing company in Karachi for a while before being hired in 1998 as a computer technician for ''Modern Electronics Corporation'' in Dubai. According to some evidence given at the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, he was "very open-minded and western-oriented", while his ex-wife told investigators he was "a very strict Muslim" who opposed his wife's leaving the home.


Career in jihad


Preparation for 9/11

According to a U.S. government biography, Baluchi "volunteered his services" to uncle KSM in 1997. According to U.S. officials, the majority of money that came to the
Saudi Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
hijackers for the September 11 attacks was transferred through Baluchi and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The
9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
reported that he "helped them with plane tickets, traveler's checks, and hotel reservations", and "taught them about everyday aspects of life in the West, such as purchasing clothes and ordering food". In his defence, Baluchi claims that he often helped people in Dubai with such things to supplement his income, and he had no way of knowing whether any of them were criminals. On 10 October 1998, Baluchi used his passport to open a bank account with the Emirates Bank International, using the name "Ali" based on his
nasab Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also Muslim countries have not had given/ middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout ...
''Ibn Abdulaziz Ali'' and listing his employer's address with PO box 16958, Jebel Ali, Dubai. He was then introduced to
Marwan al-Shehhi Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi ( ar, مروان يوسف محمد رشيد لكراب الشحي, , also transliterated as Alshehhi; 9 May 1978 – 11 September 2001) was an Emirati al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist who served as ...
by his uncle, and Shehhi allegedly asked him to help transfer money from Shehhi's company in Dubai to his company in the United States, ostensibly to help avoid banking fees if he transferred the money himself. In January 2000, an order using Shehhi's credit card had a
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
-400 flight simulator program, a
Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
flight deck video, and some
flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
literature and flight manuals shipped to Baluchi's work address. Baluchi then shipped them to his uncle to pass onto Shehhi.9/11 Commission Report Findings
On 18 April, Baluchi sent a wire transfer of $5,000 to Adel Rafeea, the administrator of the Islamic Center of San Diego, from the Wall Street Exchange Centre in Dubai, using his PO Box, passport and listing his phone number as 0506745651. Rafeaa later claimed that Nawaf al-Hazmi had asked him to accept the money on his behalf. Tracing the calls made to Baluchi's phone number, authorities discovered that he had received 16 calls from 28 to 30 June from a pre-paid Voicestream mobile purchased in Manhattan on 4 June. The phone was deactivated on 11 July, and authorities allege it belonged to Atta, while Baluchi insisted that he only ever spoke with Shehhi, who had hired him. Around this time, Baluchi complained to Mohammed that he couldn't do all this additional work himself, and his uncle told him that Mustafa al-Hawsawi would co-ordinate with him to act as an assistant. On 29 June, a man named "Isam Mansur" wired $5,000 to the Western Union at 1440 Broadway in New York, where Shehhi picked it up. This is alleged to have been Baluchi, since two later direct payments into Shehhi's Sun Trust account from the Exchange Center, a $10,000 payment to Shehhi on 18 July from "Isam Mans''u''r" and a $9,500 5 August payment from "Isam Mans''ou''r", gave Baluchi's PO Box number. On 8 August, Baluchi opened a bank account at
Dubai Islamic Bank The Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is an Islamic bank in Dubai, established in 1975 by Haj Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Lootah. It is the first Islamic bank in the world to have incorporated the principles of Islam in all its practices and is the largest Islamic ...
, using his name, passport and phone number. A $20,000 payment from Baluchi's bank account to Shehhi's Sun Trust account on 29 August gave a phone number one digit different from the one given by Isam Mansour on 5 August. A $70,000 payment was made to Shehhi's account by "Hani (Fawaz Trading)" on 17 September from the same exchange centre. Hani gave a telephone number one digit removed from the one Baluchi used on the transfer from his bank account on 29 August. In September, Hani Hanjour went to Dubai, where Baluchi gave him $3,000 to open a new bank account, and later deposited $5,000 in the account which Hanjour later accessed from ATMs in the United States. When Ahmed al-Ghamdi went to Dubai, Baluchi helped him purchase a cell phone. It is believed nine of the hijackers met with him in Dubai and received various levels of aid. The 9/11 Commission Report stated that he "relied on the unremarkable nature of his transactions, which were essentially invisible amid the billions of dollars flowing daily across the globe." On 27 August 2001, Baluchi applied for a visa to travel to the United States for a week after his employer announced the closing of their Dubai branch, and the government had sent notices informing the employees their work permits had been rescinded and they had to leave the country. He was declined since he appeared to be an economic immigrant, and instead moved back home to Pakistan a few days before the attacks.


Post-9/11

Moving back in with his parents in Karachi, Pakistan, Baluchi saw his uncle several times when he came to visit. According to a short biography written by the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after the Taliban was initially driven from power after the 9/11 attack, al-Balouchi assisted KSM in organizing the movement of al-Qaeda operatives and their families to safehouses in Pakistan. * According to US government information, KSM had Balouchi be the "communications intermediary" between al-Qaeda and "shoe bombers" Richard Reid and
Saajid Badat Saajid Muhammad Badat (born 28 March 1979) is a British terrorist who was sentenced to a 13-year prison term for planning to blow up an aircraft with a bomb hidden in his shoe. Badat did not go through with the plot. His co-conspirator Richard ...
. In early 2002 Balouchi helped his uncle "prepare operatives" for travel from Pakistan to the United States, "ostensibly to carry out attacks". * Another plan was to hijack airliners and crash them into London's
Heathrow airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, but this plan was set aside in order to focus on a plan to bomb the US Consulate and other Western targets in Karachi. Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.252 * He also worked with his uncle to prepare Majid Khan and others for travel to the United States to conduct terrorist operations. * Balouchi reportedly sent Majid Khan to Thailand in late 2002 to deliver $50,000 to finance a plan by Jemaah Islamiya leader
Hambali Riduan Isamuddin also transliterated as Riduan Isamudin, Riduan Isomuddin, and Riduan Isomudin, better known by the ''nom de guerre'' Hambali, born as Encep Nurjaman (April 4, 1964) is the former military leader of the Indonesian terrorist orga ...
(Riduan Isamuddin) to attack US and Israeli targets in Southeast Asia. He later told investigators he helped his uncle arrange travel visas for people, but didn't know whether any of them were militants or not. In August 2002, the FBI questioned Abdul Samad Din Mohammed, the brother-in-law of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He reported that Baluchi was often in the company of his uncle, and would pick people up from the airport. His uncle KSM was arrested in
Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...
on 1 March 2003. Baluchi spent the next two months with
Walid bin 'Attash Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash ( ar, وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978) is a Yemeni prisoner held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp and is suspected of play ...
. According to US reports, following his uncle's arrest Baluchi took charge of some of the new attacks being planned.


Marriage

Baluchi also married
Aafia Siddiqui Aafia Siddiqui ( ur, ; born 2 March 1972) is a Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, United States for attempted murder and other felonies. Siddiqui was born in Paki ...
. She was accused of being an al-Qaeda member and in February 2010 was convicted of assaulting with a deadly weapon and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents who were seeking to interrogate her while she was in custody, claimed to be married to Baluchi.Al-Qaeda Woman? Putting Aafia Siddiqui on Trial
'' TIME'', 18 January 2010
The marriage was confirmed by Pakistani and US intelligence,The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui
'' The Guardian'', 24 November 2009
a defense psychologist, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family. (Siddiqui's family denies she was married to Baluchi.) According to the FBI, after her arrest, Aafia Siddiqui told them that after she learned she was wanted by the US government she had gone into hiding around late March 2003 with the al-Baluchi clan. Divorced at the time, she stated she married Baluchi out of religious piety, since she "could not live in the same house with an unmarried male" (namely Baluchi) she married him. Their marriage was held in Hub Chowki outside of Karachi in the inner courtyard of Balouchi's house, with female al-Baluchi family members present. Siddiqui describes Balouchi as very kind to her, "a good man who is wrongly accused". (Siddiqui later repudiated all statements given to the FBI.) Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.245–6 The marriage lasted only a couple of months. According to one of KSM's uncles, Mohammed Hussein, Baluchi became alienated with Aafia's "liberal way of life". Aafia told the FBI that Baluchi divorced her after he was arrested. Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.253


Capture and treatment in US custody

Siddiqui was arrested 29 April 2003 in Karachi along with al-Attash. Scroggins, ''Wanted Women'', 2012: p.251 Baluchi had a copy of a letter to
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
from Saudi scholars in his pocket, a computer disk containing a draft of a letter to bin Laden, two images of the September 11 attacks, and a perfume bottle containing low-concentration
cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a ...
used to bleach and perfume clothes. Baluchi was also accused of discussing the possibility of exporting explosives to the United States through textile companies, but claims to have no knowledge of what conversation is being referenced. The arrests led to the arrests of Jawad al-Bashar and Farzand Shah. On 7 November 2003, a detainee was interrogated and said that Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al-Shibh spoke briefly in August 2000 about a "Losh" who had asked Atta if he could travel to the United States to help with any potential plots, having already asked Mohammed three months earlier. Authorities allege this is a reference to Baluchi. Baluchi was extensively tortured by the CIA after his arrest, while being held at a CIA black site north of Kabul, Afghanistan. The extent of his torture was detailed in a 2008 report by the CIA's inspector general, declassified in March 2022. According to the inspector general, Baluchi was held there "extra-legally" as he was a Pakistani citizen who no longer presented a terrorist threat, and it was not clear to him whether Baluchi's torture was even intended to elicit information; the inspector general concluded that Baluchi's torture ultimately yielded no useful intelligence. While in CIA custody, Baluchi served as a "training prop" to teach torture techniques to trainee CIA interrogators. One torture technique, known as " walling", was often practiced on Baluchi. In it, trainees would line up and take turns "shoving" a naked and tied-up Baluchi head-first into a
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
wall behind him, with sessions typically lasting for a few hours each. One of the instructors identified the goal being to "bounce" Baluchi's head off the wall. Analysis carried out by a neuropsychologist in 2018 found "abnormalities indicating moderate to severe
brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...
" consistent with traumatic brain injury in Baluchi's brain. In addition, the inspector general said that interrogators in the black site also carried out torture that went beyond the CIA's guidelines, including dousing him with ice water and forcing him to kneel backwards with a stick behind his knees in a stress position. In a senate report from 2014, officials noted: "al-Baluchi was tortured and forcibly dunked into a tub filled with ice water. CIA interrogators forcibly kept his head under water while he struggled to breathe and beat him repeatedly with a truncheon-like object hitting him and smashing his head against a wall." In December 2005, Human Rights Watch listed him as a "
ghost detainee Ghost detainee is a term used in the executive branch of the United States government to designate a person held in a detention center, whose identity has been hidden by keeping them unregistered and therefore anonymous.CIA prison system CIA black sites refer to the black sites that are controlled by the CIA and used by the U.S. government in its War on Terror to detain enemy combatants. US President George W. Bush acknowledged the existence of secret prisons operated by the CI ...
. Baluchi was kept in CIA custody until 6 September 2006, when he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba. ;Other plots to attack civilian targets According to US investigators, Baluchi told them that al-Qaeda had set up a biological weapons lab and he asked
Aafia Siddiqui Aafia Siddiqui ( ur, ; born 2 March 1972) is a Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, United States for attempted murder and other felonies. Siddiqui was born in Paki ...
(who has a biology degree from MIT) advice on how long it would take to develop such weapons and whether the man in charge was capable of developing the weapons. Siddiqui replied that she "was willing to participate in a biological weapons (BW) project if al-Qaida tasked her to do so". Another plot involving Baluchi alleged by US investigators involved
Heathrow airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
.
According to Balochi's file, he told interrogators that he became aware of a plan to attack Heathrow airport in January 2003 and had intended to seek help from a more senior al-Qaida operative,
Walid bin Attash Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash ( ar, وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978) is a Yemeni prisoner held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp and is suspected of pla ...
, to carry it out. An "analyst note" in the files notes that the plot called for "crashing numerous airplanes into Heathrow, with a secondary explosion immediately outside of the airport as a diversion". It collapsed after KSM was arrested in March 2003.


Guantanamo Bay

On 6 September 2006, Baluchi was transferred from a black site location to
Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
. He was given the
Internment Serial Number An Internment Serial Number (ISN) is an identification number assigned to captives who come under control of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) during armed conflicts. History On March 3, 2006, in compliance with a court order from D ...
10018 and is currently detained at a top-secret site at the Guantanamo base that allegedly houses approximately 15 "high-value" prisoners. Its location and the conditions inside are withheld from public knowledge and there are suspected grave human rights concerns regarding its conditions. Al-Baluchi's attorney James G. Connell, III visited him there in August 2013 under an order issued by the military commission.


Combatant Status Review Tribunal

US District Court Justice
Joyce Hens Green Joyce Hens Green (born November 13, 1928) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Green was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on March 6, 1979, to a seat vacated by Howard F. C ...
ruled that the Combatant Status Review Tribunals were unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the Department of Defense scheduled Tribunals for the 14 high-value captives who were transferred from covert
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
custody, on 6 September 2006, for early winter of 2007. The Summary of Evidence memo for Baluchi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal was drafted on 8 February 2007.Summary of Evidence (.pdf)
prepared for Ammar al-Baluchi's '' Combatant Status Review Tribunal'' – 8 February 2007
Baluchi cooperated with his tribunal. Although he was not able to call Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,
Saifullah Paracha Saifullah Abdullah Paracha is a citizen of Pakistan who was held, without any charge, in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba for over 18 years. He was released on October 29, 2022. As of 18 May 2021, Saifullah Paracha was ...
or Ramzi bin al-Shibh to testify about his lack of connection to al-Qaeda, he was permitted to have his legal representative field statements they had made. He chose to put forward the statements by Mohammed and bin al-Shibh as evidence, but not the statement by Paracha.Summary of Evidence (.pdf)
prepared for Ammar al-Baluchi's '' Combatant Status Review Tribunal''
Baluchi requested statements be garnered from ''Modern Electronics Corporation'' personnel, including Samir Sharin, Mohammed Mayer, Asraf Mayer, Ammar al-Tesqui and Sayed Tesqui that would testify he had no connections to militant forces, and that his employee records would show that he left several days before the attacks because his work permit had expired when MEC closed its Dubai branch. The tribunal judge ruled that although Baluchi's leaving Dubai a few days prior to the attacks was among the reasons for his capture, it was not relevant to seek records from his employer. Since the tribunal did not locate the individuals, Baluchi submit two statements he had written himself as what he believed his co-workers would say, and what he believed his Israeli roommates would say. In his defence, Baluchi argued that he often acted as a "businessman" to supplement his income, and thus his signature, telephone number and similar details were easily obtained in Dubai. He admitted dealing with
Marwan al-Shehhi Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi ( ar, مروان يوسف محمد رشيد لكراب الشحي, , also transliterated as Alshehhi; 9 May 1978 – 11 September 2001) was an Emirati al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist who served as ...
, but said that "when eapproached me, he never declared himself as 'hijacker Marwan al Shehhi'. He approached me the same way he approached other individuals and companies in the U.S., a man wanting to do business". The Department of Defense announced on August 9, 2007 that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to Guantanamo from the CIA's black sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants".mirror
/ref> Although judges
Peter Brownback Peter E. Brownback III is a retired military officer and lawyer. He was appointed in 2004 by general John D. Altenburg as a Presiding Officer on the Guantanamo military commissions. The Washington Post reported: "...that Brownback and Altenburg h ...
and
Keith J. Allred Keith J. Allred is an American lawyer and retired Naval officer.. He is best known for being the trial court judge for Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Early life and career Keith Johns Allred was born on January 4, 1955, and died September 11, 2018. Jud ...
had ruled two months earlier that only "''illegal'' enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.


First military commission

In February 2008, Baluchi was committed to a joint trial, charged with conspiracy, attacking civilians and civilian objects, causing serious bodily injury, murder, destruction of property, hijacking, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. Al Baluchi,
Walid Bin Attash Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash ( ar, وليد محمد صالح بن مبارك بن عتش; born 1978) is a Yemeni prisoner held in extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp and is suspected of pla ...
, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed chose to serve as their own attorney. They requested laptops, and internet access, in order to prepare their defences. In October 2008,
Ralph Kohlmann Ralph Harold Kohlmann is an American lawyer and retired United States Marine Corps officer. Education Raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, Kohlmann is a 1976 graduate of Ramapo High School. Military career For his first seven years as an officer, ...
ruled that the men be provided with the computers, but not the internet access. Al Baluchi's request said he was a Microsoft Certified software engineer. On 8 December 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after mental competency hearings for Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh. Mohammed said, "We want everyone to plead together."


January 2009 Executive Order to Close Guantanamo

On 22 January 2009, United States President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13492, ordering a halt to the Guantanamo military commission as part of the overall closure of
Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
. On 21 April 2009, United States Senate minority leader
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...
cited "Ali Abd al-Azeez Ali" as an example of the kind of captive United States President Barack Obama might free in the United States when he closes the camp in January 2010, because he didn't know what else to do with him.


Second military commission

In October 2011, in an operation called the "baseline review," the prison seized all legal materials belonging to "high-value detainees," starting with Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The prison also announced that it would change its previous policy and begin reviewing legal mail for its content. In response, the
Chief Defense Counsel (United States) The Chief Defense Counsel is a United States Department of Defense military position created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to supervise military and civilian defense attorneys for Guantanamo Bay detention camp prisoners in the Guantanamo m ...
ordered the attorneys under his supervision to stop sending privileged communications to Guantanamo prisoners. Under the
Chief Defense Counsel (United States) The Chief Defense Counsel is a United States Department of Defense military position created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to supervise military and civilian defense attorneys for Guantanamo Bay detention camp prisoners in the Guantanamo m ...
policy, Al-Baluchi could not receive mail from his attorneys until November 2013. On 4 April 2012, the Department of Defense referred Guantanamo military commission charges against al Baluchi and four other men for participation in the conspiracy leading up to the September 11 attacks. On 5 May 2012, Military Judge
James Pohl Colonel James L. Pohl is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Army. He is notable for having been appointed as a judge on a Guantanamo military commission. He is presiding over the Commission of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid ...
arraigned al Baluchi, and appointed attorneys to represent him.


Hearing of 17 September 2019, considers the admissibility of clean team evidence

During a preliminary hearing, held on 17 September 2019, the prosecution released a transcript from a conversation al-Baluchi had with another captive, when they were in two nearby recreation yards. It had not been known, until the release of this transcript, that the recreation yards contained hidden listening devices. According to an article by
Carol Rosenberg Carol Rosenberg is a senior journalist at ''The New York Times.'' Long a military-affairs reporter at the ''Miami Herald'', from January 2002 into 2019 she reported on the operation of the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, at its nav ...
, published in '' The New York Times'',
Camp Seven Camp Seven (also known as Camp Platinum) is the most secure camp known within the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Its existence was kept secret for the first two years of its use. It was constructed to hold the fourteen "high-value deta ...
had at least two recreation yards. Captives got a whole recreation yard to themselves, during their outdoor recreation time. But they could hear other captives in nearby yards, and could communicate with them, by yelling. Prosecutors claimed the transcript's discussion of a confession al Baluchi was considering, drafted for him by fellow captive Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was evidence of al Baluchi's guilt. His defense attorney's argued that his willingness to consider a confession was an after effect of his years of torture. The purpose of the hearing was to help a new judge, W. Shane Cohen, make a decision as to whether confessions given to the ''" clean team"'' were still compromised by al Baluchi's torture.


''Zero Dark Thirty''

A fictionalized account of al-Baluchi's interrogation at black sites is depicted in the 2012 film '' Zero Dark Thirty''. The character Ammar is portrayed by Reda Kateb. Al-Baluchi has complained that the United States has provided more information to the filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal about al-Baluchi's treatment in CIA custody than it has to Baluchi's own attorneys. The CIA acknowledged that the character Ammar is based on al-Baluchi. In the film, CIA interrogator Dan Fuller and other characters repeatedly describe Ammar as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew. Fuller also references the arrest of Ammar and describes his role as the financial facilitator in the 9/11 attacks. "The first 25 minutes of the movie are largely taken up with torture: Ammar is strung up, beaten, water boarded and kept awake for 96 hours straight."


References


Citations


Books and journal articles

*


External links


"Al Qaeda Agent's 9/11 Role Comes Into Focus"
''L.A. Times'', 21 May 2006.
Pentagon charges 6 in 9-11 attacks'Clean team' interrogated 9-11 suspects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baluchi, Ammar Al- 1977 births Living people Baloch people People from Kuwait City People from Karachi Kuwaiti al-Qaeda members Pakistani al-Qaeda members Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Kuwaiti extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Pakistani extrajudicial prisoners of the United States People associated with the September 11 attacks Kuwaiti expatriates in Pakistan Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Kuwaiti people of Pakistani descent Kuwaiti people of Yemeni descent Pakistani people of Yemeni descent Yemeni people of Pakistani descent