Ali al-Bahlul

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Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul
AP Ali Al-Bahlul - Fair Use.jpg
Courtroom sketch of al-Bahlul
Born 1969 (age 40–41)
, Yemen
Detained at Guantanamo
ISN 39
Charge(s) One of the original ten captives who faced charges before the Presidentially authorized military commissions.

Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul (also transliterated as Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman Ismail) is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] Although he started a wide-reaching Boycott of Guantanamo Military Commissions, arguing that there was no legal basis for the military tribunals, he was convicted in November 2008 of performing media relations for Osama bin Laden and sentenced to life imprisonment after a jury of 9 military officers deliberated for less than an hour.[2]

His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 39. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate captive 39 was born in 1969, in , Yemen.

Contents

Background

Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts describe al-Bahlul as al Qaida's public relations director. He is alleged to have created propaganda videos glorifying attacks against the United States, and to have set up a satellite receiver for Osama bin Laden to listen to live radio coverage of the September 11th attacks.[2]

He faced charges before the first Guantanamo military commissions, before they were over-turned by the United States Supreme Court.

In 2004 he was held in solitary confinement.[3]

Identity

Attorney David Frakt.

Captive 39 was named inconsistently on official Department of Defense documents:

  • Captive 39 was named Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul on the official list released on April 20, 2006, and on the Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 7 September 2004.[4][5]
  • Captive 39 was named Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman Ismail on the list from May 15, 2006.[1]
  • Captive 39 was named Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul on the document from the Office of Military Commissions.[6][7][8][9][10]

Combatant Status Review

Initially the Bush administration asserted they could withhold the protections of the Geneva Conventions from captives in the War on Terror, while critics argued the Conventions obligated the United States to conduct competent tribunals to determine the status of prisoners.[11] Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".

Detainees do not have the right to a lawyer before the CSRTs or to access the evidence against them. The CSRTs are not bound by the rules of evidence that would apply in court, and the government’s evidence is presumed to be “genuine and accurate.” However, unclassified summaries of relevant evidence may be provided to the detainee and each detainee has an opportunity to present “reasonably available” evidence and witnesses.[12]

From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Ali al-Bahlul was among the one-third of prisoners for whom there was no indication they chose to participate in their tribunals.[13]

In the landmark case Boumediene v. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court found that CSRTs are not an adequate substitute for the constitutional right to challenge one's detention in court, in part because they do not have the power to order detainees released.[14] The Court also found that "there is considerable risk of error in the tribunal’s findings of fact."[15]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. His memo accused him of the following:

[5]

a. Detainee is a and .
  1. Detainee admits being a member of al Qaida and swearing an oath of allegiance to Usama Bin Laden.
  2. Detainee traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 to aid the Taliban in their struggle against the Northern Alliance. The detainee stayed at several Taliban guesthouses in Pakistan while in transit to Afghanistan.
  3. Detainee trained at a military training clinic in Afghanistan for five weeks. He received basic tactics and navigation training and instruction in the use of Russian weapons, light and heavy machine guns, and 75mm and 82mm Howitzers. Detainee also attended two months of advanced training at an al Qaida training camp.
  4. Usama Bin Laden appointed detainee as his media office director and public relations secretary. Detainee was responsible for producing all al-Qaida propaganda, including the video commemorating the USS Cole attack. In his capacity as public relations secretary, detainee regularly escorted Usama Bin Laden and often provided computer assistance to the Taliban. When with Bin Laden, the detainee carried a Kalashnikov rifle, two loaded magazines, a Makarov pistol, and a suicide belt equipped with explosives to protect Bin Laden.
  5. Detainee was a roommate with two of the 9/11 hijackers while living in an al Qaida facility in Kandahar.
  6. Detainee stated that he would kill Americans at the first opportunity upon his release from prison.
  7. Detainee evacuated Kandahar with Usama Bin Laden several days before the 9/11 attacks. Detainee was tasked with establishing a video feed in order for Bin Laden to watch the 9/11 attacks.
b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States.
  1. Detainee engaged in combat on the front lines in Kabul from 1999 to 2001. While on the front lines, the detainee witnessed a speech by Usama Bin Laden praising the USS Cole bombing.

Charged before a military commission

Ali Hamza Ahmed Suleiman Al Bahlul held up this boycott sign during a January 11, 2006 hearing before his military commission.[16]
The original ten Presidentially authorized Military Commissions were convened in the former terminal building in the discontinued airfield on the Naval Base's Eastern Peninsula.
The Bush Presidency plans to hold up to 80 of the new Congressionally authorized Military Commissions in a $12 million tent city.

Bahlul faced charges before a Guantanamo military commission, prior to the United States Supreme Court ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the Bush Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to create military commissions.[6][7][8][9][10] He was indicted along with Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi.

Lieutenant Commander , his first military defense attorney, described difficulty getting a security clearance for a translator to talk to his client.[17] Consequently, six months after al Bahlul had been charged, he still had not had a real opportunity to discuss his case with him when he and other defense attorneys challenged the lack of fundamental justice of the commissions.

Sundel told CBS News: "There's virtually no chance he can get a fair trial."[18]

Al Bahlul asked Peter Brownback, the President of the commissions, if he could represent himself.[7]

Some press reports have explained that Al Bahlul's case is going forward, while the proceedings against the other three detainees to have been charged have been postponed, pending the result of the Supreme Court's consideration of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, due to Al Bahlul's insistence that he represent himself.

Al Bahlul and the question whether detainees should be able to represent themselves were featured in the October 2007 issue of the Yale Law Journal in an article by Matthew Bloom entitled: "'I Did Not Come Here To Defend Myself': Responding to War on Terror Detainees' Attempts To Dismiss Counsel and Boycott the Trial".

Al Bahlul's most recent military lawyer is Major Thomas Fleener.[19] Fleener has called the commissions a "wholly illegitimate process".

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in July 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Bush Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to set up the military commissions. Only Congress had the authority to set up military commissions. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

On 2008-02-09 Ali Hamza Suleiman Al Bahlul and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi were charged before the Congressionally authorized Guantanamo military commissions authorized by the Military Commissions Act of 2006.[20]

Carol Rosenberg, reporting in the Miami Herald, reported that captive 39 will be allowed to represent himself before the commissions authorized by the United States Congress's Military Commissions Act of 2006, while he was not allowed to represent himself before the Presidentially authorized commissions.[16]

He is considered one of the architects of the on-going Boycott of Guantanamo Military Commissions.

David McFadden of the Associated Press reported that only three reporters covered Al Bahlul's trial. one from the Miami Herald, one from the Associated Press, and one from Reuters.[21]

Testimony of members of the Buffalo Six

Three members of the Buffalo Six testified at Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul's Guantanamo military commission that they were shown an al Qaeda produced video of the USS Cole bombing that Al-Bahlul was responsible for.

In late October 2008 Three of the six men identified as the "Buffalo Six" testified at Al Bahlul's Guantanamo military commissions about being shown a two hour video Al Bahlul had produced.[22] Yassein Taher, Sahim Alwan and a third member of the group testified about being shown the two hour jihadist video, which celebrated the attack on the USS Cole, while they were in al Qaeda guest houses in Afghanistan, and when they attended the al Farouq training camp.

The Buffalo men testified that they were terrified and appalled by the video[22] According to the Miami Herald Taher and Alwan expected their testimony would be rewarded by being placed in the witness protection program, like the third man whose name was withheld from the Press.

Conviction

On November 3, 2008, Bahlul was convicted for conspiring with al Qaeda, soliciting murder and providing material support for terrorism.[23] At his sentencing he admitted he was a member of Al-Qaeda, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[2] Through a translator Bahlul said "We will fight government that governs America, We are the only ones on Earth who stand against you."[24]

Appeal

Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that Al Bahlul's military defense attorneys filed a fifty page appeal of his sentence on free speech grounds.[25][26] They claimed his production of al Qaeda propaganda material was protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution.

"Mr. al Bahlul is not a sympathetic defendant. He embraces an ideology that glorifies violence, justifies terrorism and opposes constitutional democracy. As offensive as it may be, [Bahlul's film work] is speech that falls within the core protections of the First Amendment, which forbids the prosecution of `the thoughts, the beliefs, the ideals of the accused."

The appeal was the second filed with the Court for Military Commission Review.[25] The first appeal had been filed by Prosecution attorneys following the rulings by Colonel Peter Brownback and Captain Keith Allred that they lacked the jurisdiction under the Military Commissions Act to try men who had only been determined to be "enemy combatants".

Al Bahlul had boycotted his military commission, so no defense was mounted. He has declined to be involved in the appeal.[25]

Rosenberg reported that the Obama Presidency has proposed a change in where appeals of the rulings and verdicts of military commissions would be heard.[25] The proposed changes would have them first heard by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, which Rosenberg noted was a 58-year-old institution. In the current set-up there is no appeal to rulings of the Court of Military Commission Review. Under the proposed changes appeals could be taken to the United States Supreme Court.

Isolation from the other captives

Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reported that, following his conviction, Al Bahlul was separated from the other captives.[25] She reported that the Department of Defense justified this isolation because the "Geneva Conventions ... forbids convicts from being held with war prisoners."

References

  1. ^ a b OARDEC (May 15, 2006). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  2. ^ a b c The Guardian, Guantanamo Jury jails bin laden media chief for life, November 4, 2008
  3. ^ , Joe Stephens, (May 2, 2004). "Guantanamo -- A Holding Cell In War on Terror: Prison Represents a Problem That's Tough to Get Out Of". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2004/05/02/AR2005040206715_pf.html. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  4. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
  5. ^ a b OARDEC (7 September 2004). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 42–43. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000001-000100.pdf#42. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  6. ^ a b (August 26, 2004). "Yemeni Detainee Asks to Represent Self, Admits to Being al Qaeda". American Forces Press Service. https://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2004/n08262004_2004082603.html. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  7. ^ a b c (Public Affairs) (August 26, 2004). "Third Military Commission Interrupted by Yemeni Detainee Request". U.S. Department of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=7677. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  8. ^ a b Office of Military Commissions (December 2, 2004). "al Bahlul Court Motions". U.S. Department of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2004/commissions_motions_albahlul.html. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  9. ^ a b Office of Military Commissions (March 30, 2006). "al Bahlul -- Commission Transcripts, Exhibits, and Allied Papers". U.S. Department of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/commissions_exhibits_bahlul.html. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  10. ^ a b Office of Military Commissions (July 27, 2004). "USA v. Ali Hamza Sulayman Al Bahlul". U.S. Department of Defense. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2004/d20040915docketing.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  11. ^ "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1773140.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-24.  mirror
  12. ^ (July 20, 2005). "Detainees at Guantanamo Bay: Report for Congress" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22173.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-10. 
  13. ^ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
  14. ^ "Boumediene v. Bush". June 12, 2008. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-1195.ZO.html. "... the procedural protections afforded to the detainees in the CSRT hearings ... fall well short of the procedures and adversarial mechanisms that would eliminate the need for habeas corpus review." 
  15. ^ "Boumediene v. Bush". June 12, 2008. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/06-1195.ZO.html. 
  16. ^ a b Carol Rosenberg (2008-04-15). "Terrorist trials get thornier with boycott". Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/495992.html. Retrieved 2008-04-18. "The boycott tactic is not new. A Yemeni man accused of making al Qaeda recruiting videos as Osama bin Laden's media secretary employed it in earlier trials since shut down by the U.S. Supreme Court. He was Ali Hamza al Bahlul, who in January 2006 waved a sign with a single Arabic word -- , boycott." 
  17. ^ "Gitmo Detainee: I Am Al Qaeda". CBS News. 2004-08-26. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/27/terror/main632081.shtml. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  18. ^ "Osama Driver Arraigned At Gitmo". CBS News. 2004-08-25. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/25/terror/main638262.shtml. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  19. ^ Guantanamo trials to start, Special Broadcasting Service, January 11, 2006
  20. ^ (2008-02-09). "US military charges two more Guantanamo captives". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN08524780. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  21. ^ David McFadden (2008-11-01). "With US election, sun setting on Guantanamo trials". Associated Press. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iK5XYqrJPUGX-9b3z_zyw7K76ojwD9468LFO0. Retrieved 2008-11-01.  mirror
  22. ^ a b Carol Rosenberg (2008-10-30). "Ex-U.S. jihadists testify at Guantánamo terror trial". Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/748638.html. Retrieved 2008-10-30.  mirror
  23. ^ "Guantanamo jury convicts bin Laden's media man". Reuters. 2008-11-03. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49R5OZ20081103. Retrieved 2008-11-03. 
  24. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7706539.stm
  25. ^ a b c d e Carol Rosenberg (2009-09-02). "Bin Laden aide's Gitmo conviction appealed". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2009-09-02. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miamiherald.com%2Fnews%2Fnation%2Fstory%2F1214739.html&date=2009-09-02. 
  26. ^ Michel Paradis, Todd E. Pierce, Katherine Doxakis, Scott Medlyn (2009-09-01). "Brief on behalf of appellant: CMCR Case no. 09-001". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2009-09-02. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.miamiherald.com%2Fsmedia%2F2009%2F09%2F02%2F14%2FUnited_States_v._al_Bahlul_-_Brief_for_Appellant__1_September_2009_.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf&date=2009-09-02. 
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