Abdel Hadi Mohammed Badan Al Sebaii Sebaii is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 64. The Department of Defense reports Sebaii was born on August 23, 1971, in El Kharg, Saudi Arabia.

Abdel Hadi Mohammed Badan al Sebaii Sebaii was transferred to Saudi Arabia on May 18, 2006.^[2]

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.^[3] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[4]

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdel Hadi Mohammed Badan Al Sebaii Sebaii's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 25 September 2004.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida:

1. The detainee was captured in Pakistan as he crossed the border shortly after Ramadan in December 2001.
2. The detainee worked as a volunteer for al Haramain, an Islamic charity.
3. Al Haramain is a non-governmental organization with known ties to al Qaida and Usama Bin Laden.
4. Detainee is suspected of being a Bosnian Mujahadin fighter that was previously captured in 1996.

[edit] Transcript

Abdel Hadi Mohammed Badan Al Sebaii Sebaii chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] The Department of Defense released an eleven page summarized transcript on March 3, 2006.

[edit] Confusion over the difference between a Tribunal and a Court of law

Sebaii expressed confusion over the difference between a Tribunal and a court of law. And continued to express confusion over the Tribunal procedure throughout the session.

[edit] Witness requests

Sebaii requested two witnesses.

Sebaii requested a statement from the Saudi Minister of the Interior confirming that he was a Saudi Police Officer, and he requested a statement from the Saudi ambassador to Sudan, confirming he was working there as a humanitarian volunteer. The Tribunal's President had ruled that these witnesses were not relevant. He ruled that Sebaii's previous employment was not relevant. Sebaii asked, if his activities in 1996 were not relevant, why was the fourth allegation against him that he was suspected of fighting in Bosnia in 1996.

The Tribunal's President admitted they couldn't explain the presence of the allegation of his activities in 1996, and the Tribunal would ignore it.

[edit] Testimony

Al Sebai disputed the allegation that he was captured while he crossed the border. He had fled to Pakistan to escape anti-Arab retribution. He had already crossed into Pakistan, and was seeking help contacting the Saudi embassy. When Pakistani soldiers appeared in the village where he had spent the night, he prompty turned himself in to them.

Al Sebai denied working for al Haramain. He said he donated twenty days volunteering for them. So far as he knew they were a legitimate charity, that worked on legitimate humanitarian purposes. Al Sebai pointed out to the Tribunal that he had requested documentation to confirm that the twenty days he volunteered helping refugees after a flood, in Sudan, was a purely humanitarian activity, and this documentation was part of what his Tribunal’s President had ruled “irrelevant”.

Al Sebai’s Personal Representative pointed out that during 1996/1997, when Al Sebai volunteered his twenty days aiding flood victims, al Haramain had not yet fallen under any suspicion of being subverted by terrorist sympathizers.

Although the Tribunal’s President decided to rule out the allegation that he was captured in Bosnia, Al Sebai’s Personal Representative pointed out that Al Sebai was serving as a Police officer in Saudi Arabia, at the time he was alleged to have been captured in Bosnia, and that this could be document through his Police personnel records.

Al Sebai pointed out that he was a decorated veteran of the Gulf War.

Al Sebai said that he had seen his passport a year prior to his Tribunal. Al Sebai’s Personal Representative drew the Tribunal’s attention to Exhibit D-B, a report from the evidence room confirming that his ticket and passport confirmed Al Sebai’s account of his travel.

[edit] Administrative Review Board

Captives whose CSRT labelled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to judge whether the captive still posed a threat if repatriated to their home country.^[7]

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdel Hadi Mohamme Badan Al Sebaii Sebaii's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 18 July 2005.^[8] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment The detainee said that Afghanistan had an Islamic government and he wanted to go help build a Mosque. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan after hearing Saudi Imams say that Afghanistan was in need of support and the people of Saudi Arabia should do all that was possible to assist. The detainee took leave to go to Afghanistan in late August 2001. He arrived there with 2,700 dollars. The detainee flew from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Karachi, Pakistan via Qatar and Bahrain. He then traveled by bus to Quetta, Pakistan and then by taxi to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The detainee said that he walked the whole month of Ramadan to the Pakistan border and he and two other men submitted themselves to the Pakistani authorities. The detainee was held by Pakistani authorities and told there was a problem with his papers, meaning his passport and visas. A foreign government service placed the detainee on a watch list in February 2002. They also designated the detainee as a high priority target. b. Training The detainee trained in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for his job with the police department. He trained with firearms (revolver), American weapons and a Saudi Arabian rifel called the G-3. He also received training in crime scene investigation. c. Connections/Associations The detainee's pocket literature included documents containing the name Arsala Khan. Two recovered letters written by Usama Bin Ladin express thanks to Arsala Khan for his financial support and protection. d. Other Relevant Data The detainee stated that in 1997 he was asked by an Al-Haramayn official to travel to Sudan to assist in a major flood. Al Haramain has been connected with violent Islamic groups and possible financial support of militant groups. They'r known to support Islamic extremist elements in 17 countries or regions. The detainee states he did not build the mosque because of the war. He had given 900 dollars to Mohammed (last name unknown) in advance to build the mosque. The detainee could not account for 1,500 dollars of the money he took to Afghanistan The detainee has a past history of aggressive behavior towards military personnel.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer

The detainee states, "He never thought America would attack Afghanistan".

[edit] Transcript

His Board convened on August 11, 2005. He did not participate in the hearing. But he had answered question when he met with his Assisting Military Officer. Although his Assisting Military Officer's presentation would have occurred during the unclassified session the DoD did not release a transcript of that session.

[edit] Board recommendations

In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.^[9][10] The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. Page 1 of the six pages of his Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendations wasn't redacted, it was simply missing. England authorized his transfer on November 4, 2005.

[edit] Press reports

Canadian journalist, and former special assistant to US President George W. Bush, David Frum, published an article based on his own reading of the transcripts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, on November 11, 2006.^[11] It was Frum who coined the term "Axis of evil" for use in a speech he wrote for Bush. Al Sebaii's transcript was one of the nine Frum briefly summarized. His comment on Al Sebaii was:

“A Saudi detainee, confronted with evidence that he had traveled to Bosnia in the mid-1990s, then to Sudan, then to Afghanistan, explained that he had devoted himself exclusively to construction of mosques. But had his travel not been paid by al Haramain, a well-known front group for al Qaida? He knew nothing about that, 'If al Haramain is a terrorist organization, why is it my problem? Am I guilty if they are terrorists?'”

Frum came to the conclusion that all nine of the men whose transcript he summarized had obviously lied.^[11] He did not, however, state how he came to the conclusion they lied. His article concluded with the comment:

"But what’s the excuse of those in the West who succumb so easily to the deceptions of terrorists who cannot invent even half-way plausible lies?"

[edit] Thomas P. Sullivan's testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee

Wikisource has original text related to this article: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Materials for testimony of Thomas P. Sullivan concerning pending efforts to strip federal courts of habeas corpus jurisdiction relating to Guantanamo Prisoners

Thomas P. Sullivan volunteered to serve as a pro bono attorney for several Guantanamo captives, including Al Sebaii.^[12] On September 26, 2006 he testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, expressing his concerns about the bill that was to become the Military Commissions Act. Sullivan testified, at length about his experiences with his Guantanamo clients, including Al Sebaii. Sullivan quoted from the transcript from Al Sebaii's Combatant Status Review Tribunal during his testimony.

During his statement Sullivan testified:^[12]

"There is a shameful inconsistency involved here. It is difficult to believe the members of Congress intend to enact a law in which the few prisoners who are deemed by the government to be truly the "worst of the worst" will be charged and tried by the commissions, and accorded the full panoply of rights specified in the legislation creating the military commissions. Yet those rights have not been - and will not be - made available to any of the hundreds of other prisoners, including many whom we believe to have been innocent bystanders, captured and sold five years ago by the Northern Alliance to our government."

[edit] Repatriation

According to The Saudi Repatriates Report Al Sebai was repatriated on May 19, 2006.^[13]

[edit] References