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Dr. Abdul Salam Abdul Razak Al Sweidan wals.org.uk | Aleya Salam, Minimally Invasive Spine Care, Musculoskeletal Injuries,... hunterdonortho.com | Department of Oncology - Abdul Khaliq Library oncology.med.ualberta.ca | Comments on: Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Uses His Cancer to Help Others pathology.org |
For other uses, see Abdul Salam.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (born 1968 in Kandahar) was the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan. He was detained in Pakistan in the spring of 2002 and became an "unlawful combatant" in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, where he was held until 2005.
[edit] BackgroundAfter the Taliban took power in 1996, Zaeef was a minister of transportation until he became the Taliban's envoy to Pakistan. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Zaeef was seen around the world when he held news conferences for the regime. While he condemned the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he said that Osama bin Laden was not responsible and he would not be given up. He also reportedly consulted with Taliban leader Mullah Omar on ways to avert war. [edit] Capture and detentionSome time after the U.S. invasion, Zaeef was forced to end his news conferences, seized by Pakistani authorities despite his diplomatic immunity as an Ambassador, and handed over to American operatives. He spent his time in detention on an American warship, bases in Afghanistan, and finally in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[1] The Pajhwok Afghan News has reported that Zaeef has been freed from Guantanamo Bay.[2] He was Captive 306, and was inconsistently identified on official Department of Defense documents as Abdul Salam Zaeef (on the first official lists of captives' names published in 2006)[1][3] and as Abdul Salam Deiff (on the official list of captives whose habeas corpus petitions should be dismissed following their transfer from US custody).[4] 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.[5] 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.”[6] 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". Abdul Salam Zaeef was among the one-third of prisoners for whom there was no indication they chose to participate in their tribunals.[7] 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.[8] The Court also found that "there is considerable risk of error in the tribunal’s findings of fact."[9] 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:
[edit] Letter for Wali MohammedZaeef wrote a letter on behalf of Wali Mohammed, an Afghan businessman whose case he considered when he sat on the Economic Council of Afghanistan.[11] Zaeef didn't meet Mohammed until they were both sent to Afghanistan. [edit] Habeas corpusA writ of habeas corpus was submitted on his behalf.[4] It was amalgamated with Mohammon v. Bush. Unlike other captives who had habeas corpus petitions submitted on their behalf the dossier of unclassified documents produced by his Combatant Status Review Tribunal has not been published.[12] [edit] RepatriationZaeef was released from Guantanamo in the summer of 2005.[13] An article in the 18 September 2005 Daily Times Zaeef is quoted as saying that his release was "due to the effort of some friends".[14] He did not attribute his release to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal or his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing. He described the actions of these two bodies as illegal. [edit] Abuse claimsZaeef claims he was chained in illegal "stress positions" and subjected to sleep deprivation and extremes of temperature while held in the USA's Bagram Theater Detention Facility.[15] Further information: Bagram torture and prisoner abuse [edit] Recent work[edit] Call for a unity governmentOn 12 April 2007 Zaeef stirred controversy by calling for a unity-government in Afghanistan.[15] On Friday 6 June 2008 The Guardian published excerpts from an interview with Zaeef. It reported he claimed negotiations with the Taliban was the key to peace. And it reported he argued that the presence of foreign troops eroded the authority of the central government[16]:
[edit] Move to KabulAn article in Der Spiegel on 12 April 2007, reported that Zaeef had moved into a "...handsome guest house, located in the dusty modern neighborhood Khosh Hal Khan."[15] The Der Spiegel article goes on to state that the new home Karzai's government has provided Zaeef is around the corner from one occupied by former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. Der Spiegel described Zaeef's home as being guarded, inside and out, by a heavily armed security detail. Der Spiefel described both Zaeef and Muttawakil as regarded as among the more moderate former members of the Taliban. Zaeff told the Chicago Tribune that Afghan security officials would not allow him to attend the mosque near his Kabul home.[17]
The Associated Press reports that although the Taliban had shunned new technology Zaeef is a fan of the Apple iphone.[18]
[edit] McClatchy interviewOn 15 June 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Abdul Salam Zaeef.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The McClatchy reports states that guards told him he was the "King of the prison". The McClatchy reports states that he took a lead role in the Guantanamo hunger strikes. The McClatchy reports states that guards in the Kandahar detention facility made him pointlessly move human excrement back and forth. [edit] Saudi peace talksZaeef acknowledged being invited by Saudi King Abdullah to unofficially meet with other leading Afghan figures, from the Karzai government, the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami and other former members of the Taliban.[29][30] Zaeef denied this meeting should be characterized as "peace talks". He stated that none of the individuals at this meeting had been authorized to conduct negotiations. Zaeef denied anyone discussed Afghanistan at this meeting. According to The Age other figures who attended the meeting included former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari. [edit] PublicationsZaeef released a book in the Pashto language, "A Picture of Guantanamo," detailing his claims of mistreatment at Guantanamo.[31] In October 2008, Abdul Salam Zaeef edited in Paris with the French journalist Jean-Michel Caradec'h, a recent book: "Prisonnier à Guantanamo". EGDV/Documents. 2008.[32] In January 2010, Abdul Salam Zaeef will publish a new book: "My Life With the Taliban". Hurst Publishers and Columbia University Press. 2010.[33] [edit] LawsuitIn October 2008, Zaeef said he would sue Pakistan for his arrest there in 2002.[34] [edit] References
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