Bisher Al Rawi
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Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi (, Bišr Amīn Ḫalīl ar-Rawī) (born 23 December 1960) is an Iraqi citizen, who became a resident of the United Kingdom in the 1980s.documents (.pdf)
from Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi's
Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...
Arrested in Gambia on a business trip in November 2002, he was transferred to United States military custody and held until 30 March 2007, in
extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...
at its naval base in
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 906. The
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
reports that Al Rawi was born on 23 December 1960, in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, Iraq. Bisher contends that he was on a business trip to
Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
with his friend and business associate,
Jamil al-Banna Jamil Abdul Latif el-Banna (, Ǧamīl ʿAbdu 'l-Laṭīf al-Bannāʾ), born 28 May 1962, is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, with refugee status in the United Kingdom, who had been living in north-west London. He was abducted in November 20 ...
, when he was arrested by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency on arrival at Banjul airport on 8 November 2002. He was turned over to US authorities, who transported him to Bagram Airbase. In detention, he helped
Moazzam Begg Moazzam Begg (; born 5 July 1968 in Sparkhill, Birmingham) is a British Pakistani who was held in extrajudicial detention by the US government in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, for ...
, another British citizen, prepare meals for detainees. Begg, Moazzam, "Enemy Combatant", 2006 From there, they were shipped to Guantanamo Bay. The US contends that Bisher was held under suspicion of links with
al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
. He was ultimately released without charges.


Early life

Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi was born in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, Iraq. He emigrated to the United Kingdom and was given legal resident status. He lived in West London, married and had a family.


Cooperation with MI5 in London

Following the 11 September 2001, attacks in the United States, Bisher was contacted by MI5 officers. He decided to cooperate with them in answering questions about the Muslim community in London, in the belief that he could help provide insight and ease tensions between the Muslims and other Britons.


Arrest in Gambia

Bisher al-Rawi and
Jamil al-Banna Jamil Abdul Latif el-Banna (, Ǧamīl ʿAbdu 'l-Laṭīf al-Bannāʾ), born 28 May 1962, is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, with refugee status in the United Kingdom, who had been living in north-west London. He was abducted in November 20 ...
flew to
Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
to meet a shipment of machine parts to be used to set up an edible oil factory, which was owned by Bisher's brother. The two men, along with two others, were taken into custody by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency on their arrival at Banjul airport in Gambia on 8 November 2002, purportedly on suspicion of alleged links to
al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
and advice from British security authorities. At first the two men were under a kind of unofficial
house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
. They were not formally charged with any crimes under Gambian law. They were told that they would be released when their machinery had been checked to make sure it was not something that could be used for
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
. They were not detained in a Gambian jail, but rather in a
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
"snatch team" safe house, which was provided by American security officials. They were guarded by Gambians and interrogated by American agents. In late December 2002, the CIA decided to transport them from Gambia. The "black team" that arrived to escort them wore black uniforms, and their faces were covered by black balaclavas. They cut the clothes from the detainees' bodies and bound them for transportation. The two men were illegally " rendered" to
Bagram Air Base Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient town of Bagram at an elevation of a ...
in Afghanistan where they were imprisoned underground in total darkness for weeks. In March 2003, Jamil al-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi were transferred to United States military custody at
Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...
.


Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Following the United States Supreme Court decision in ''
Rasul v. Bush ''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corp ...
'' (2004) that detainees had the right to ''
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
'' challenge of their detention before an impartial tribunal, the Bush administration quickly set up a system of
Combatant Status Review Tribunals The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establish ...
to review each detainee's case, to be followed when warranted by military commissions to try prisoners on charges. These were intended to replace detainees' going to federal court for habeas corpus reviews. Most of the CSRTs took place from the fall of 2004 through early 2005. They did not follow the rules for the use of hearsay and other evidence from the federal or military justice systems. Al Rawi was among the 60% of prisoners who participated in the tribunal hearings. A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee. The allegations were sometimes based on hearsay or classified evidence which the detainee was not allowed to see. Detainees had no legal counsel, only military-assigned Personal Representatives. Al Rawi's Summary of Evidence made the following allegations as justification for his detention as an enemy combatant:documents (.pdf)
from Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi's
Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...
br>– mirror – pages 2–84
/ref> * The detainee is associated with
al Qaida {{Infobox war faction , name = Al-Qaeda , native_name = {{Script, Arabic, القاعدة , native_name_lang = ar , war = {{Collapsible list , title={{Nbsp , {{Plainlist, * War on Terror * Afghanistan conf ...
: * The detainee provided harbour in London, United Kingdom to a known al-Qaeda fugitive named Abu Qatada. * The detainee assisted Abu Qatada by locating an apartment where the fugitive hid from British authorities. * Abu Qatada has strong links to senior al-Qaeda operatives and facilitated the travel of individuals to an al Qaida guesthouse located in Pakistan. * Abu Qatada is a known al-Qaeda operative who was arrested in the United Kingdom as a danger to national security. * In addition to helping Abu Qatada evade British authorities, al-Rawi transferred funds between branches of the Arab Bank at Abu Qatada's direction in 1999 or 2000. * In November 2002, the detainee was arrested in Gambia after arriving from the United Kingdom and was later transferred to US custody at its airbase in
Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...
, Afghanistan.


Requested witnesses

Al Rawi requested seven witnesses for his tribunal:Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi, Legal Sufficiency Review, Combatant Status Review Tribunal
, p. 6
The Tribunal's president had initially ruled that witnesses were irrelevant.Unclassified Summary of Basis for Tribunal decision (.pdf)
Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi's
Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...
, p. 12
During the course of Al Rawi's testimony, the President decided that the testimony of Alex, Matthew and Martin was relevant after all. He directed the Tribunal's Recorder to locate them. The Tribunal's Recorder was unable to locate them. The reason the President changed his mind is redacted.


Testimony

Al Rawi's testimony contained many redacted sections.


MI5 informant

In 2006, the Justice Jed Rakoff of the US District Court for the District of Columbia filed a court order forcing the
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
to release documents from detainees' Combatant Status Review Tribunals. Based on this, media reported that Bisher and some other detainees who were legal residents of Britain had served as informants for Britain's
counter-intelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...
agency,
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
, but were being held at Guantanamo Bay. By this time, all but one of the British citizens at Guantanamo had been repatriated. The British government started to press the United States for release of British legal residents as well.


Comfort items

One of Al Rawi's lawyer's, Brent Mickum, described how comfort items were withheld from Al Rawi. Al Rawi's toilet paper ration was fifteen sheets a day. However, when he tried using sheets of toilet paper to block out the 24 hours of light in his cell, his toilet paper ration was withheld. When Al Rawi was subject to extreme temperatures and was kept in a very cold cell, his prayer rug was confiscated when he tried to use it as a blanket.


Repatriation request

''The Guardian'' reported, on 20 April 2006, that the British Foreign Office had formally requested that Bisher al-Rawi be released to return to Britain.Straw demands release of man with MI5 links from Guantánamo
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 20 April 2006
"UK appeals for release of 'informer' from Guantanamo"
, ''
Islamic Republic News Agency The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA; , ''Xabargozâri-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi'' or ), is the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Founded in November 1934 as Pars News Agency during the time of Reza Shah, it is government-fu ...
'', 20 April 2006
On 3 October 2006, ''The Times'' reported that the United States had agreed, in confidential talks in June 2006, to return all nine of the British residents held in Guantanamo—but only under stringent conditions.Britain refused US offer to return Guantanamo detainees
''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 3 October 2006
The US stipulated that Britain should undertake round-the-clock surveillance of the detainees, which it considered too expensive to undertake, as well as unnecessary.UK, US at odds on threat from Guantanamo inmates
''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', 3 October 2006
According to ''The Times,'' "Although the men are accused of terrorist involvement, British officials say that there is not enough evidence to justify the level of surveillance demanded by the US and that the strict conditions stipulated are unworkable and unnecessary." ''The Times'' reported that the UK government was most interested in the return of Bisher, since he had cooperated with
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
.


Release

On 29 March 2007, UK Foreign Secretary
Margaret Beckett Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett, (; born 15 January 1943), is a British politician. She was a member of Parliament (MP) for more than 45 years, first from 1974 to 1979 and then from 1983 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was ...
announced that the UK Government had negotiated al-Rawi's return from Guantanamo. According to the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, Beckett issued a statement to
Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
which said:
We have now agreed with the U.S. authorities that Mr. al-Rawi will be returned to the U.K. shortly, as soon as the practical arrangements have been made. This decision follows extensive discussions to address the security implications of Mr. Al-Rawi's return.
Beckett's announcement didn't say anything about al-Rawi's travelling companion Jamil al-Banna, or the other remaining former UK residents who remain held in Guantanamo. Nor did she announce an exact return date. Al-Rawi's home, in Britain, is in Beckett's
constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
. Al-Rawi had been released by 3 April 2007. According to the ''
New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...
'' he said:
I am delighted to be back in England, with my family. After four years in Guantanamo Bay, my nightmare is finally at an end. As happy as I am to be home though, leaving my best friend, Jamil el-Banna, behind in Guantanamo Bay makes my freedom bitter-sweet. Jamil was arrested with me in the Gambia on exactly the same unfounded allegations, yet he is still a prisoner...


Civil suit

On 1 August 2007, Bisher al Rawi joined a
civil suit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...
filed under the United States'
Alien Tort Statute The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in vio ...
, with the assistance of the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
(ACLU). Al Rawi was joined with four other men, Abou Elkassim Britel,
Binyam Mohamed Binyam Ahmed Mohamed (, , born 24 July 1978), also referred to as Benjamin Mohammed, Benyam Mohammed or Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, is an Ethiopian national and United Kingdom resident, who was detained as a suspected enemy combatant by the US Go ...
, Ahmed Agiza, and Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, in suing Jeppesen Dataplan, a
Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
subsidiary which had arranged the
extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism, euphemistically-named policy of state-sponsored abduction in a foreign jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The best-known use of extraordinary rendition is in a United States-led program during th ...
flights by which the men had been illegally transported.


References


External links


"UN Secret Detention Report (Part Two): CIA Prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq"
Andy Worthington, 16 June 2010
A letter to the Times re: Moazzam Begg and Amnesty by Bisher al-Rawi
Andy Worthington, 11 February 2010

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 12 January 2005
"UK's 'forgotten' Cuba detainees"
''
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
'', 25 January 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawi, Bisher Amin Khalil Al- 1960 births Living people Iraqi extrajudicial prisoners of the United States British people of Iraqi descent People from Baghdad Iraqi emigrants to the United Kingdom Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Iraqi Sunni Muslims