Noor Uthman Muhammaed
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Noor Uthman Muhammed (born 1962) is a citizen of
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
who was confined 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
where he also served a sentence for terrorism after being convicted by the
Guantanamo military commission The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush through a military order on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight ...
. 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 Muhammed was born in
Kassala Kassala (, ) is the capital of the state of Kassala (state), Kassala in eastern Sudan. In 2003 its population was recorded to be 530,950. Built on the banks of the Mareb River, Gash River, it is a market city and is famous for its fruit gardens. ...
, Sudan.


Background

Noor Uthman Muhammaed is a citizen of Sudan who described working at the Khalden training camp, in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, from the mid-1990s, until it was shut down in 2000. He first worked as a small-arms instructor, but after a few months of discontent he asked for a transfer. Instead, Noor Uthman Muhammad was assigned as Khalden training camp's quartermaster. He was responsible for the collection and distribution of camp supplies, such as food, water and firewood. He denies membership in al Qaida or the Taliban, and described the Khalden camp as being an independent camp.
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 ...
counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...
analysts describe him as being a senior member of
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 ...
's leadership cadre. Noor Uthman Muhammaed was captured in Abu Zubaydah's house in Faisalabad on 24 March 2002, along with
Abu Zubaydah Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi citizen and alleged terrorist born in Saudi Arabia currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held unde ...
, Sufyian Barhoumi, Ghassan al-Shirbi, Jabran Al Qahtani and several other suspects. Three of the other captives captured in that house were to face charges before the
Guantanamo military commission The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush through a military order on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight ...
s in 2005 and 2006.


Charges

Noor Uthman Muhammed was charged with conspiracy and providing support to terrorists on 23 May 2008. On 21 October 2008, Susan J. Crawford, the official in charge of the Office of Military Commissions announced charges were being dropped against Noor Uthman and four other captives: Jabran al Qahtani, Ghassan al Sharbi, Sufyian Barhoumi, and
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 ...
. Carol J. Williams, writing in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' reports that all five men had been connected by
Abu Zubaydah Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi citizen and alleged terrorist born in Saudi Arabia currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held unde ...
—one of the three captives the CIA has acknowledged was interrogated using the controversial technique known as "
waterboarding Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method of waterboard ...
". Williams quoted the men's attorneys, who anticipated the five men would be re-charged in thirty days. They told Williams that: ''"... prosecutors called the move procedural",'' and attributed it to the resignation of fellow Prosecutor Darrel Vandeveld, who resigned on ethical grounds. Williams reported that
Clive Stafford Smith Clive Adrian Stafford Smith (born 9 July 1959) is a British attorney who specialises in the areas of civil rights and working against capital punishment in the United States. He worked to overturn death sentences for convicts, and helped foun ...
speculated that the Prosecution's dropping of the charges, and plans to subsequently re-file charges later was intended to counter and disarm the testimony Vandeveld was anticipated to offer, that the Prosecution had withheld exculpatory evidence. The current charges against Noor Uthman were instated on 5 December 2008. The
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
was granted a continuance on 21 October 2009. The military commissions for five other captives have been granted continuances, until 16 November 2009. On 13 November 2009, the Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Noor Uthman's case would continue in a military commission. On 8 April 2010, Carol Rosenberg, 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
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
Moira Modzelewski, the Presiding Officer over Noor's military commission, predicted she would require a year to review the secret evidence against Noor. According to Rosenberg the provisions within the Military Commissions Act of 2009 allowed the use of classified evidence, but only after a review by the Presiding Officer. The Prosecution could submit a summary of classified evidence, in lieu of the evidence itself, but the Presiding Officer was required to review every document the summary was based on, to ensure it was a fair summary. On 21 September 2010, Carol Rosenburg, again writing in the Miami Herald, reported that prosecutor Marine Major James Weirick stated that "Noor Uthman Mohammed for a number of years was the principal trainer and in charge of all training at the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan that provided numerous individuals who went on to serve for al Qaida." On 15 February 2011, Noor Uthman Muhammed pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism, and conspiracy to providing material support to an international terrorist organization and terrorism. He was sentenced to 14 years of confinement. On 15 May 2013, Charlie Savage, reporting in the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported that although Noor's plea deal was supposed to see him serve an additional 34 months in Guantanamo, he might not be released, after all. Savage was reporting on an April motion from Noor's lawyer, that requested the Presiding Officer to compel the DoD to release Noor as scheduled. They asserted that Noor had fully complied with the plea deal, but the officials known as the Convening Authority were not doing so. Further, Savage noted the exemption in law Congress had passed barring the release of captives—unless they had been sentenced and completed their terms—was going to expire three months before Noor's scheduled release. An additional complication was that the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned the sentences of two other captives who had pleaded guilty to the same change Noor pleaded to, as the charges barred the fundamental principle that no one should face charges for an act that was legal at the time they committed it, and that Noor too was likely to have his sentence overturned. After serving 34 months of his sentence, Noor was transferred to his native Sudan on 19 December 2013.


Notes


References


External links

*
A Lack of Conviction
Foreign Policy
Human Rights First blog: Military Commissions


* Human Rights First
The Case of Noor Uthman Muhammed, Sudanese


22 September 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammed, Noor Uthman 1962 births Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Living people Sudanese extrajudicial prisoners of the United States People indicted for war crimes People from Kassala State American people of Sudanese descent