ISN 669
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Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair (born 1965) is a citizen of
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
formerly held 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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
's
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 ...
s, 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 ...
. On August 13, 2008, it was reported that Ahmed Zaid Zuhair had been on a
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...
since June 2005. Two other long-term hunger strikers died under mysterious circumstances in June 2006. On March 18, 2009, camp authorities declined to agree to moving Zuhair to Camp 4 from Camp 6 in return for his ending his hunger strike.
mirror
In December 2008, an Administrative Review Board cleared Zuhair for release from Guantanamo. On May 22, 2009, Zuhair was cleared for transfer once again by the Inter-Agency Review process established by President Obama. He was repatriated to Saudi Arabia on June 12, 2009.


Habeas corpus petition

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 ...
, writing in the ''
Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...
'', reported that Zuhair's June 12, 2009, repatriation came shortly before the Department of Justice would be called upon to defend his continued detention during consideration of his
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 ...
petition. Zuhair's lawyers have filed an extensive refutation of the government's allegations in
court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
. They argue that the allegations against Zuhair are baseless:
The Government rests its case against Mr. Zuhair mainly upon two types of evidence: raw intelligence that lacks any indicia of reliability and statements extracted under torture that are not only inherently unreliable but so repugnant to Constitutional protections of dignity and fairness as to require them to be struck. As a matter of law, this Court can accord neither sort of evidence any persuasive weight.
Zuhair's lawyers point out that the type of intelligence document extensively relied upon to justify his detention almost always carry the legend "WARNING: INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE" and are used to circulate possible leads, rather than verified information. Although most of the tortured-based evidence in the case remained classified, Zuhair's attorneys also produced an unclassified declaration from Sa'd Iqbal Madani, a victim of rendition and torture in Egypt and Afghanistan. In it, Madani described how, in order to avoid further mistreatment, he made false statements at
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 ...
that interrogators used to link Zuhair to the Cole bombing. Other detainees who were held at Bagram, including
Mamdouh Habib Mamdouh Habib (born 3 June 1955) is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and ...
and
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 ...
, also attested to the torture that Madani experienced. Zuhair's attorneys also attacked the government's allegations directly. Most importantly they demonstrate that despite investigations of the murder of William Jefferson by Bosnian police, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, and the FBI, Zuhair was never charged as a suspect. Moreover, Bosnian authorities issued an arrest warrant for another man, Fa'iz al-Shanbari, for the murder in 1998. A comprehensive 200-page investigation by the UN did not even mention Zuhair. Zuhair's attorneys conclude:
It has been thirteen years since William Jefferson was murdered, in a country U.S. investigators would have had no problems accessing, and Ahmed Zuhair has spent over half of that time in American custody. Under such circumstances, the lack of an indictment against Mr. Zuhair for this crime from either jurisdiction should speak for itself.


Hunger strike

In May 2008, the ''
Gulf News ''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. First launched in 1978, it is distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf countries. Its online edition was launched in 1996. Thro ...
'' reported that Zuhair and
Abdul Rahman Shalabi Abdul Rahman Shalabi (born December 4, 1975) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 42. Shalabi arrived on Janua ...
are the two remaining captives who have been on the hunger strike that started in August 2005. On October 25, 2008, 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 ...
'' reported that new documents, documenting Guantanamo guards' struggles to force-feed Zuhair, had recently been filed in court. According to the report:
...according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press, guards have struggled with him repeatedly, at least once using pepper spray, shackles and brute force to drag him to a restraint chair for his twice-daily dose of a liquid nutrition mix force-fed through his nose.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ...
guard force commander
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Bruce Vargo Colonel Bruce Vargo is a Military Police officer in the United States Army. He was appointed the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Joint Detention Group—its guard force from 2008 to 2009. Vargo was one of the officers interviewed fo ...
offering the justification for the use of force, stated:
ISN 669 has a very long history of disciplinary violations and noncompliant, resistant and combative behavior.
According to an
affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...
filed by
Ramzi Kassem Ramzi or Ramzy () is a masculine given name and surname of Arabic origin. It may refer to: Given name ;Ramzi * Ramzi Abed (born 1973), American film director, founder of "Bloodshot Pictures" and founding member of the electronic group, Elektracity ...
, one of his attorneys, official records document that between August and October Zuhair lost over 16 kilograms, dropping to under 45 kilograms. Kassem's affidavit stated that when he last visited Zuhair, in mid November, he kept vomiting uncontrollably, because he was allergic to the liquid food substitute used during his force-feedings.
Mr. Zuhair lifted his orange shirt and showed me his chest. It was skeletal. Mr. Zuhair's legs looked like bones with skin wrapped tight around them.
Pauline Storum, a
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ...
spokesmen, stated that camp authorities monitored the captives' health closely.
US District Court Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
Emmet Sullivan ordered an independent medical examination for Zuhair. On March 17, 2009, Ben Fox, writing for 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 ...
'' quoted a court statement filed by
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Bruce Vargo Colonel Bruce Vargo is a Military Police officer in the United States Army. He was appointed the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Joint Detention Group—its guard force from 2008 to 2009. Vargo was one of the officers interviewed fo ...
, commander of the camp's guard force, who explained that camp authorities could not agree to move Zuhair to the Camp 4, due to his history of infractions of the camp rules. He stated it would set a bad precedent, and that other captives held in camp 6 might follow his example, so that they too could be moved to camp 4. Vargo's statement acknowledged that the camp's riot squad was routinely called upon to extract Zuhair from his cell for his twice-daily force-feedings. His statement said Zuhair had committed 80 infractions of the camp rules in the last four months. Vargo stated that Zuhair currently weighed 114 pounds, down from 137 pounds in August 2008. After his repatriation to Saudi Arabia on June 12, 2009,
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 ...
, writing in the ''
Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...
'', reported that Zuhair had been the longest lasting hunger striker, whose hunger strike had lasted 1450 days.


Death threats

Zuhair wrote a letter to his attorneys on July 18, 2008, stating that Guantanamo guards had searched his cell, confiscated some of his correspondence with his attorneys, and threatened to kill him if he did not drop his habeas petition. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the guards involved to submit sworn declarations to the court detailing their responses to the allegations, the first time a judge had done so in a Guantanamo-related case.


Repatriation

Zuhair and two other Saudis,
Abdelaziz Kareem Salim al-Noofayee A total of 134 Saudi citizens have been held in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps at its naval base in Cuba since January 2002. Most had been swept up in Afghanistan following the US invasion in the fall of 2001, and they were clas ...
and Khalid Saad Mohammed, were repatriated to Saudi Arabia on June 12, 2009. ''
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
'' reported that Zuhair: "had been implicated in the murder of an American." Saudi security officials have stated that the three men were allowed to meet with their families, shortly after their repatriation. Security officials said the three men were then taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The three men would go through the same Saudi jihadist rehabilitation program as other repatriated captives, even though some former captives have back-slid to supporting
jihadism Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...
following their release.


Admission of insufficient evidence

During a hearing of the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
on June 17, 2009,
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Holder was the first African Ameri ...
publicly admitted that Zuhair had been cleared for transfer from Guantanamo by both administrations because "there was no sufficient proof to bring a case" against him.


See also

*
Hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuhair, Ahmed Zaid Salim 1965 births Living people Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Hunger strikers People from Jeddah Saudi Arabian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States