Salam Abdullah Said

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Salam Abdullah Said is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Said's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 126. The US Department of Defense reports that Said was born on February 13, 1981, in Tabokh, Saudi Arabia.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 Allegations
- 1.2 Testimony
2 References

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a small trailer, the same width, but shorter, than a mobile home. The Tribunal's President sat in the big chair. The detainee sat with their hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor in the white, plastic garden chair. A one way mirror behind the Tribunal President allowed observers to observe clandestinely. In theory the open sessions of the Tribunals were open to the press. Three chairs were reserved for them. In practice the Tribunal only intermittently told the press that Tribunals were being held. And when they did they kept the detainee's identities secret. In practice almost all Tribunals went unobserved.

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.

Said chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Said faced during his Tribunal were:^[2]

a. Associations

The detainee traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Pakistan in August 2001 to join the Jihad and fight with the Taliban.
The detainee received 10 days of weapons training while in Kandahar.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

The detainee joined the Taliban on the front line following training.
The detainee was given a Kalashnikov when the front lines withdrew to Konduz.
The detainee surrendered between Konduz and Mazar-e-Sharif [sic].
The detainee was sent to the Al-Janki prison [sic] in Mazar-e-Sharif, where he was present for the prison uprisings.