Snart granskas Gitmosvensken
Cellgolv på GuantanamoPå fredag inleds granskningen av de fjorton fångar som sist hamnat på Guantanamo för att fastställa om de är att betrakta som stridande fiender. Bland dessa finns Gouled Hassan Dourad, somalier som under sina tre år i Sverige rekryterades till det heliga kriget.
Förhoppningsvis kan förhören med Dourad bringa nya insikter. Det finns massor med frågetecken, eftersom det enda som är känt om honom kommer från den enda korta biografi (pdf) som offentliggjordes när han flyttades till Guantanamo. Vem var imamen som hjälpte honom att komma till Afghanistan? Vem var Qasim Mohamed, och hur lärde han känna honom i Sverige? Träffade han andra svenskar i Khalden? Vad i Sverige gjorde att han radikaliserades?
Tidigare Combatant Status Review Tribunal-processer har avklarats i ganska högt tempo - i princip en fånge om dagen har behandlats. Troligen är Dourads ärende offentligt inom en månad.
American Forces Press Service:
WASHINGTON, March 6, 2007 – The Defense Department announced today that administrative tribunals will begin March 9 for 14 high-value detainees transferred in September to the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.(ps: TT noterar naturligtvis ingen koppling till Sverige i sitt telegram. Det är fortfarande bara på den här bloggen som detta bevakas.)
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals, which determine whether or not a detainee can be qualified as an enemy combatant, will be held at Guantanamo Bay without media coverage, Bryan Whitman, a DoD spokesman, told reporters. There is no time limit for the completion of the tribunals, but all 14 high-value detainees will go through the process, as all other detainees at Guantanamo Bay have, he said.
In an effort to be transparent in dealings with detainees, DoD will provide transcripts of the tribunals as they are completed, Whitman said. He noted that these transcripts will have to be edited to remove information that could be dangerous to national security.
Security concerns exist, “given the nature of these individuals and the information that will be necessary as a part of these combatant status review tribunals,” Whitman said, adding that the proceedings will have to be provided to the “in a redacted form.”
A senior defense official, speaking on background, said that the information presented in the CSRTs is unclassified, but the concern is that the detainees, when given the chance to speak, will reveal information relevant to U.S. concerns and activities. This is the first time CSRT hearings have not been open to media coverage, he acknowledged.
“The goal of the department and the United States government here is to be as transparent as possible,” Whitman said, addressing the same issue. “But I think everybody recognizes that these individuals are unique for the role that they have played in terrorist operations and in combat operations against U.S. forces. So obviously, we’re going to have to look at information that’s presented by them in their combatant status review tribunals to ensure that we’re protecting information that’s important to national security.”
The 14 high-value detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, were transferred Sept. 6, 2006, from CIA custody to Guantanamo Bay. At the time, President Bush said that Mohammed is believed to be the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Abu Zubaydah smuggled al Qaeda leaders out of Afghanistan at the start of the U.S. military action there in late 2001, and bin al-Shibh helped Mohammed plan the Sept. 11 attacks.
