The
Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the
suspectIn the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word the suspect when referring to the actor, or perpetrator of the offense . The perpetrator is the robber, assailant, counterfeiter, etc. -the person who...
s held by the United States in
Camp DeltaCamp Delta, situated at , composed of detention camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana, the Guantanamo psychiatric ward, and Camp Echo, is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray...
in the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
base at Guantanamo Bay,
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
.
The purpose of the Board is to review whether the suspects still represent a threat. American President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
initially called the suspects "illegal combatants."
But, without a formal announcement of the policy change, the Bush Presidency changed their description to "
enemy combatantEnemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
".
The
Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the
suspectIn the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a known person suspected of committing a crime.Police and reporters often incorrectly use the word the suspect when referring to the actor, or perpetrator of the offense . The perpetrator is the robber, assailant, counterfeiter, etc. -the person who...
s held by the United States in
Camp DeltaCamp Delta, situated at , composed of detention camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana, the Guantanamo psychiatric ward, and Camp Echo, is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray...
in the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
base at Guantanamo Bay,
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the 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. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
.
The purpose of the Board is to review whether the suspects still represent a threat. American President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
initially called the suspects "illegal combatants."
But, without a formal announcement of the policy change, the Bush Presidency changed their description to "
enemy combatantEnemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
". From July, 2004 through March, 2005 military authorities conducted a one-time
Combatant Status Review TribunalThe Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for determining whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp were still designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul...
for each suspect, to confirm whether they had been properly been classified as an "enemy combatant".
The Combatant Status Reviews were criticized by human rights workers because the suspects were not entitled to legal counsel, and did not know what allegations they had to defend themselves against, and the suspects had no presumption of innocence. The ARB was created in an attempt to mitigate the harsh results of potentially
indefinite detentionIndefinite detention is the incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency without a trial It is a controversial practice on the part of any government or agency that is in violation of many national and international laws, including human rights laws...
by allowing an annual review to determine whether the
enemy combatantEnemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
should still be detained.
The Combatant Status Reviews determined that 38 suspects were not illegal combatants after all. They determined that the rest of the suspects had been correctly classified as "enemy combatants" during their original, secret, classifications.
As of September 2005 there were approximately 500 suspects in Camp Delta.
The first set of Administrative Reviews took place between December 14, 2004 and December 23, 2005. The Boards met to consider the cases of al 463 eligible detainees. They recommended the release of 14 detainees, and the
repatriationRepatriation The process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
of 120 detainees to the custody of the authorities in their home countries.
The
United States Department of DefenseThe United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
(DoD) was under a
court orderA 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...
from
United States District CourtThe 94 United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
Judge Jed Rakoff to release the names of all the detainees by 6:00 p.m. EST on March 3, 2006. The Department of Defense ("DOD") did not meet this deadline. They delivered a CDROM with approximately 5,000 pages of documents at 6:20 pm. DoD had to take that CDROM back and issue a second copy that with redacted files that DoD decided not to release.
Factors for and against continued detention
As part of this release of documents the DoD released three
portable document formatPortable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system....
files containing summaries of the factors for and against the release of some of the detainees.
These documents summarized the factors for and against the continued detention of 120 detainees. These documents contain the detainee's names. The DoD has not explained why they did not comply with Rakoff's court order and release the factors for and against the other 343 detainees.
Some of the factors listed in favour of continued detention for some detainees were repetitions of allegations that had already been refuted during the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals.
Summarized Transcripts of Administrative Review Board hearings
The DoD also released an incomplete set of four portable document format files containing summarized transcripts from administrative review board hearings.
Over the next six weeks the DoD released 15 more portable document format files containing transcripts.
Most of these transcripts do not contain the detainees names. However, almost all the transcripts bear the detainee's Guantanamo ID number on the lower right hand corner of each page, and on April 20 2006, and on May 15 2006, the DoD released lists of the detainees, with their associated detainee IDs.
In early September 2007 the Department of Defense published additional documents from the second set of Review Board hearings convened in 2006.
The Department published ten portable document format files. Less than twenty percent of the remaining captives participated in their hearings. The Department only published transcripts of the hearings for which captives chose to participate.
Releases
According to an article from the
International Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English-language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 35 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 180 countries...
from April 22, 2006 the ARB had determined three detainees could be released and 107 detainees could be repatriated to the custody of their home country, yet they still remained in Guantanamo.
U.S. officials said their continued detention was due to concerns the detainees might be tortured or killed if they were returned or repatriated.
Observers
Very few of the Review Board hearings were observed by the members Press.
Adam Brookes of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
wrote, on April 8 2005, about being allowed to sit in on the first Administrative Review Board hearing where observers were permitted.
He wrote that over sixty Review Board hearings had been convened with no Press attendance.
External links
- Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed, US Department of Defense, February 9 2006
- I Have Not Seen An Ounce Of Democracy Here, Says Detainee, Bernama
BERNAMA is a press agency of the government of Malaysia. It was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1967 and started work on 26 May 1968.BERNAMA has branches in every state in Malaysia. It also has correspondents in Jakarta and Singapore; as well as stringers in Washington D.C., Dhaka, New Delhi,...
, October 14, 2005
- Inmates including Kuwaitis to be subject to certain procedures -- US, Kuwait News Agency
The Kuwait News Agency is a news agency centered in Kuwait. It was established on October 6 1979 according to an Amiri Decree to gather news and information and distributing it to media institutions and individuals. The news agency currently holds offices in most Arab countries, along with...
, September 20, 2005
- transcripts released under court order, US Department of Defense, March 3 2006