Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi
Encyclopedia
Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi is an Iraq
i citizen, who became a resident of the United Kingdom
in the 1980s.
Until March 30, 2007 he was held in extrajudicial detention
in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
s, in Cuba
.
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 906.
The Department of Defense
reports that Al Rawi was born on December 23, 1960, in Baghdad
, Iraq.
Bisher contends that he was on a business trip to Gambia with his friend and business associate, Jamil al-Banna
, when he was arrested by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency on arrival at Banjul airport on November 8, 2002. He was turned over to US authorities, who transported him to Bagram Airbase, where he helped Moazzam Begg
prepare meals and taught an Afghan detainee how to use a toothbrush
., and from there to Guantanamo Bay
. The US contends that Bisher is being held under the suspicion that he has links with al-Qaeda
.
was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.
Al Rawi's memo accused him of the following:
The Tribunal's President had initially ruled that all the witnesses were irrelevant.
During the course of Al Rawi's testimony he decided that the testimony of Alex, Matthew and Martin was relevant after all.
He directed the Tribunal's Recorder to locate them.
The Tribunal's Recorder was unable to locate them.
The reason the President changed his mind is redacted.
to release documents from detainees' Combatant Status Review Tribunals many newspapers repeated that Al-Rawi was an informant for Britain's counter-intelligence
agency, MI5
.
were withheld from Al Rawi.
Al Rawi toilet paper ration was fifteen sheets a day. However, when he tried using sheets of toilet paper to block out the 24 hours of light in his cell, his toilet paper ration was withheld.
When Al Rawi was subject to extremes of temperature, and was kept in a very cold cell, his prayer rug was confiscated when he tried to use it as a blanket.
On October 3, 2006 The Times reported that the United States had agreed, in confidential talks in June 2006, to return all nine of the British residents held in Guantanamo—but only under stringent conditions.
The conditions the US stipulated included round the clock surveillance, and the UK government considered the condition too expensive.
According to The Times:
The Times reports that the UK government was only interested in the return of Al Rawi, because of his cooperation with MI5
.
announced that the UK Government had negotiated al-Rawi's return from Guantanamo.
According to the Associated Press
Beckett issued a statement to Parliament
which said:
Beckett's announcement didn't say anything about al-Rawi's traveling companion Jamil al-Banna, or the other remaining former UK residents who remain held in Guantanamo.
Nor did she announce an exact return date.
Al-Rawi's home, in Britain, is in Beckett's constituency.
Al-Rawi had been released by April 3, 2007.
According to the New Zealand Herald he said:
, with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union
.
Al Rawi was joined with four other men,
Abou Elkassim Britel
Binyam Mohamed, Ahmed Agiza
and Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah.
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i citizen, who became a resident of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the 1980s.
Until March 30, 2007 he was held in extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
s, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 906.
The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
reports that Al Rawi was born on December 23, 1960, in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq.
Bisher contends that he was on a business trip to Gambia with his friend and business associate, Jamil al-Banna
Jamil al-Banna
Jamil el-Banna is a Jordanian with refugee status in the United Kingdom who had been living in north-west London. He is currently on bailed release in the United Kingdom following his release from extrajudicial detention in the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.The ...
, when he was arrested by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency on arrival at Banjul airport on November 8, 2002. He was turned over to US authorities, who transported him to Bagram Airbase, where he helped Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
prepare meals and taught an Afghan detainee how to use a toothbrush
Toothbrush
The toothbrush is an oral hygiene instrument used to clean the teeth and gums that consists of a head of tightly clustered bristles mounted on a handle, which facilitates the cleansing of hard-to-reach areas of the mouth. Toothpaste, which often contains fluoride, is commonly used in conjunction...
., and from there to Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
. The US contends that Bisher is being held under the suspicion that he has links with al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
Combatant Status Review
Al Rawi was among the 60% of prisoners who participated in the tribunal hearings. A Summary of Evidence memoSummary of Evidence (CSRT)
Counter-terrorism analysts prepared a Summary of Evidence memo for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of the 558 captives who remained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba in the fall of 2004.-The 2005 release:...
was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.
Al Rawi's memo accused him of the following:
- The detainee is associated with al Qaida:
- The detainee provided harbor in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom to a known al Qaida fugitive named Abu Qatada. - The detainee assisted Abu Qatada by locating an apartment where Abu Qatada hid from British authorities.
- Abu Qatada has strong links to senior al Qaida operatives and facilitated the travel of individuals to an al Qaida guesthouse located in Pakistan.
- Abu Qatada is a known al Qaida operative who was arrested in the United Kingdom as a danger to national security.
- In addition to helping Abu Qatada evade British authorities, the detainee transferred funds between branches of the Arab Bank at Abu Qatada’s direction in 1999 or 2000.
- In November 2002, the detainee was arrested in Gambia after arriving from the United Kingdom and was later transferred to US custody in Bagram, Afghanistan.
Witnesses
Al Rawi requested seven witnesses.| Alex, Matthew, Martin |
|
| detainee redacted |
|
| his brother (name redacted) |
|
| Abdula Janudi |
|
| Gareth Peirce Gareth Peirce Gareth Peirce is an English solicitor, educated at the Cheltenham Ladies' College, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics. She is known for her work in high profile cases representing people with Irish and Muslim backgrounds accused of terrorism.-Personal life:Born with the... |
|
The Tribunal's President had initially ruled that all the witnesses were irrelevant.
During the course of Al Rawi's testimony he decided that the testimony of Alex, Matthew and Martin was relevant after all.
He directed the Tribunal's Recorder to locate them.
The Tribunal's Recorder was unable to locate them.
The reason the President changed his mind is redacted.
MI5 informant
Following the partial compliance of the Department of Defense with Justice Jed Rakoff's court orderCourt order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...
to release documents from detainees' Combatant Status Review Tribunals many newspapers repeated that Al-Rawi was an informant for Britain's counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
agency, MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
.
Comfort items
One of Al Rawi's lawyer's Brent Mickum, described how comfort itemsComfort items
"Comfort items" is the term used at the American prison for secret detainees in the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Psychological experts suggested that the withdrawal of toiletries and other basic items of personal hygiene could be used to discipline the detainees without being blamed for...
were withheld from Al Rawi.
Al Rawi toilet paper ration was fifteen sheets a day. However, when he tried using sheets of toilet paper to block out the 24 hours of light in his cell, his toilet paper ration was withheld.
When Al Rawi was subject to extremes of temperature, and was kept in a very cold cell, his prayer rug was confiscated when he tried to use it as a blanket.
Repatriation request
The Guardian reported, on April 20, 2006, that the British Foreign Office formally requested that Al Rawi be freed to return to Britain.On October 3, 2006 The Times reported that the United States had agreed, in confidential talks in June 2006, to return all nine of the British residents held in Guantanamo—but only under stringent conditions.
The conditions the US stipulated included round the clock surveillance, and the UK government considered the condition too expensive.
According to The Times:
The Times reports that the UK government was only interested in the return of Al Rawi, because of his cooperation with MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
.
Release
On Thursday March 29, 2007 UK Foreign Secretary Margaret BeckettMargaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
announced that the UK Government had negotiated al-Rawi's return from Guantanamo.
According to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Beckett issued a statement to Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
which said:
- ""We have now agreed with the U.S. authorities that Mr. al-Rawi will be returned to the U.K. shortly, as soon as the practical arrangements have been made, This decision follows extensive discussions to address the security implications of Mr. Al-Rawi's return."
Beckett's announcement didn't say anything about al-Rawi's traveling companion Jamil al-Banna, or the other remaining former UK residents who remain held in Guantanamo.
Nor did she announce an exact return date.
Al-Rawi's home, in Britain, is in Beckett's constituency.
Al-Rawi had been released by April 3, 2007.
According to the New Zealand Herald he said:
Civil suit
On August 1, 2007 Bisher al Rawi joined a civil suit filed under the United States' Alien Tort StatuteAlien Tort Statute
The Alien Tort Statute ) is a section of the United States Code that reads: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." This statute is notable for allowing...
, with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
.
Al Rawi was joined with four other men,
Abou Elkassim Britel
Abou Elkassim Britel
Abou Elkassim Britel is a citizen of Italy who is reported to have been transported through the United States' controversial extraordinary rendition program.Abou was first apprehended in Pakistan, in February 2002, who handed him over to American authorities....
Binyam Mohamed, Ahmed Agiza
Ahmed Agiza
Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad Alzery were two Egyptian asylum-seekers who were deported to Egypt from Sweden on December 18, 2001, apparently following a request from the United States Central Intelligence Agency...
and Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah.
External links
- 'I helped MI5. My reward: brutality and prison' The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 29 July 2007 - UN Secret Detention Report (Part Two): CIA Prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq Andy Worthington, June 16, 2010
- A letter to the Times regarding Moazzam Begg and Amnesty by Bisher al-Rawi Andy Worthington, February 11, 2010
- How MI5 had me kidnapped and thrown into CIA's Dark Prison Mail OnlineMail OnlineMail Online is the name of the website of the Daily Mail, a newspaper in the United Kingdom. It contains almost all the stories from the Daily Mail and includes a large archive of main stories...
July 28, 2007 - Tortured, humiliated and crying out for some justice, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, January 12, 2005 - UK's 'forgotten' Cuba detainees, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 25 January 2005