Zia Ul Shah
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Zia Ul Shah is a citizen of Pakistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba. [list of prisoners (.pdf)], US Department of Defense, April 20 2006 His detainee ID number is 015.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
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.
Shah chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Zia Ul Shah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 25-41
Allegations against Zia Ul Shah
- ''a. Detainee is a member of the Taliban.
- #''Prior to September 11, 2001, detainee traveled to Afghanistan for employment and worked as a driver for the Taliban for six to eight months.
- #''Detainee transported personnel and material for the Taliban, included (sic) cooking oil, ammunition, heavy coats and blankets.
- ''b Detainee engaged in hostilities against the US or its coalition partners.
- #''Detainee admits transporting Taliban members that were armed with weapons. Their mission was to search for members of the Northern Alliance.
- #''Detainee was ordered to surrender to Northern Alliance forces. Detainee was instructed to drive himself and approximately 60 fighters and their Kalashnikov weapons to Mazar-E-Sharif.
Zia Ul Shah's testimony
- Shah denied being a member of the Taliban, and denied engaging in hostilites against the USA or its allies.
- Shah acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan to work as a driver. He acknowledged working as a driver for the Taliban. But he explained that his choice of his employer had nothing to do with a religious or political commitment. He pointed out that he worked for the Taliban before the USA engaged in hostilities against them. Further, he was never in any of the areas where the civil war with the Northern Alliance was active.
- Shah acknowledged that he had, occassionally also transported people carrying AK-47s. But this was not his usual cargo because the vehicle he would be assigned was not very reliable. His main cargo was food.
- Shah denied engaging in hostilities. He said when the USA attacked the roads were closed, and he tried to leave Afghanistan.
- Shah denied transporting anyone looking for the Northern Alliance, or any other kind of fight. He wasn’t near the front lines, and he never drove anyone to the front lines.
- Shah acknowledged driving Taliban who wanted to surrender. He said he saw it as his only opportunity to go home. He saw himself as a civilian, not a contractor. He thought that once he had delivered the surrending fighters he would be allowed to go home.
- Shah said that the Taliban never put any pressure on him to join up, although they did forcibly conscript many people, but they never tried to conscript drivers, because they needed drivers, and they knew that if they tried to conscript them they could just drive away and not return on their next trip.
Administrative Review Board hearing
Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".
They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.
Shah chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[Summarized transcript (.pdf)], from Zia Ul Shah's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 1
''The following factors favor continued detention:
- ''a. Commitment
- #''After Eid 2000, the end of Ramadan, the detainee traveled from Karachi to Quetta, Pakistan then to Kandahar and Kabul, Afghanistan, changing buses in each city.
- #''The detainee says that he had four other brothers that were also drivers for the Taliban. He claims that these are actual brothers, not just Muslim brothers.
- #''The detainee transported personnel, weapons, food and supplies.
- #''Additional materials the detainee transported consisted of cooking oil, bullets, heavy coats and blankets.
- #''The detainee was identified as being a member of the Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami.
- #''The detainee admits to interacting with possible Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence Directorate (ISID) spies working for Taliban and Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami forces that reported to their leader Sajjad.
- ''b. Connections/Associations
- #''Shams Afghani is a friend of the detainee who sold irons in Karachi, Pakistan and told him that Afghanistan needed drivers.
- #''Shams Al Afghani is originally from the Tora Bora region and was identified as being in charge of military operations and various fighters located in the valley of the Tora Bora region.
- #''The detainee stated that while employed as a driver with the Taliban, he received his pay from either Kari Saleem or [Mugheera] Bhai.
- #''Quari Saleem is the head of a madrassa used by Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islammi member Sajjad, who would frequently attend and hold meetings at the madrassa.
- #''Sajjad is a member of the Taliban and a team leader in the Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami. Sajjad held regular meetings in Qari Saleem’s madrassa with about twenty or thirty people from the Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami.
- #''The Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islami is a Sunni extremist group founded to fight in the jihad against the Soviets. It’s made up primarily of Pakistanis and foreign Islamists.
- #''The Lashkar-e Tayibais the armed wing og the Pakistan-based organization, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-irshad, an anti-U.S. missionary organization formed in 1989. It was added to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Officer of Foreign Asset Control’s List, which included organizations that are believed to support terrorist groups.
- #''The detainee admits to hearing about Baba Shams, a local administrator of the Taliban.
- #''The detainee provided additional information regarding other senior Taliban leaders. He described Juma Bahai, an Uzbek and the leader of the Taliban in Khawajghar. Juma was in charge of all Arabs and foreigners such as Pakistanis and Afghanis
- ''c. Other Relevant Data
- #''Two of the detainee’s superiors were Qari Saleem and Mugheera Bhai.
- #''Qari Saleem was commander of the Punjabi troops in the Konduz region. He coordinated troops and supply movements from the school to forward areas in Tangi, Bangi Taqar and Khawajaghaar. He also controlled all finances for the operation.
- #''The Taliban forces used a school in Konduz as a headquarters and transition point for troops deployed in the Konduz region. Recruits, weapons, ammunition and food supplies were delivered from the school to forward areas north and east of Konduz.
- #''The detainee surrendered to the Northern Alliance in Konduz on the tenth day of Ramadan. He drove his truck to Mazar-e-Sharif to surrender.
- #''The detainee escaped his captors shortly after surrendering and hid in a warehouse in some nearby woods until he was recaptured.
- #''Besides the Harakat Ul-Jihad-I-Islam, the detainee was able to identify other Islamic groups known to him, the Jaish-e Muhammed Harakat-Ul-Mujahedin and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.
- #''The Harakat ul Mujahidin is a Pakistan-based Islamic militant organization.
''The following primary factors favor release or transfer:
- *''The detainee claims he was never introduced to anyone higher than Qari Saleem.
- *''The detainee denied ever receiving training from the Taliban and he claims he was not aware of any training camps for Taliban or al Qaida fighter nearby
- *''The detainee states he has never met Usama Bin Laden and doesn’t know where he’s located.
References
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