Ahmed Muhammed Haza Al Darbi
Encyclopedia
Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia
currently held in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
s, in Cuba
.
Al-Darbi was born on January 9, 1975, in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia. As of early 2010, al-Darbi has been confined at the Guantanamo camps for almost seven years.
, al-Darbi was captured in Azerbaijan
and was renditioned
into Afghanistan.
There he was held in the Bagram Collection Point, while it was still under control of Alpha Company of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion
who routinely beat their captives, resulting in the deaths of two prisoners on December 4, 2001 and December 10, 2001. Al-Darbi identified Damien M. Corsetti
, a soldier nicknamed "the King of Torture" by his fellow GIs, as one of his abusers.
Corsetti's lawyer asserts that al-Darbi's claims of abuse are not credible.
Corsetti's lawyers claim
al Darbi repeats the meme
al Qaeda training manuals instruct captives to lie about abuse, and asserts
that Al Darbi is following those instructions.
Department of Defense
spokesmen have announced that al-Darbi will not be allowed to testify at Corsetti's court martial.
On December 21, 2007 charges against Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi were referred to the convening authority
for the Office of Military Commissions.
In April 2008 he announced that he refused to participate in the tribunal as he believed it lacked legitimacy, and dismissed his military lawyer Brian Broyles who called the refusal a "reasonable decision".
According to the Associated Press
, at a hearing in December 2008 he had
"held up a photo of President Barack Obama as a sign of hope."
According to the Associated Press
, a note he wrote to his lawyer about Obama said he could: ""earn back the legitimacy the United States has lost in the eyes of the world,"
Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that Commission President James Pohl scheduled a hearing for May 27, 2009, to rule on how much of the evidence against Al Darbi was coerced through torture.
At a hearing on September 23, 2009 his Presiding Officer of his military commission agreed to a further sixty day delay.
His lawyer Ramzi Kassem told reporters after the hearing that Al Darbi had written a brief note, addressed to President Obama, that he had hoped to read aloud at the hearing. Kassem read the note aloud to reporters.
The Associated Press quoted passages from the note.
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
currently held 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...
.
Al-Darbi was born on January 9, 1975, in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia. As of early 2010, al-Darbi has been confined at the Guantanamo camps for almost seven years.
Background
The brother-in-law of Khalid al-MihdharKhalid al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
, al-Darbi was captured in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and was renditioned
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
into Afghanistan.
There he was held in the Bagram Collection Point, while it was still under control of Alpha Company of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion
519th Military Intelligence Battalion
The 519th Military Intelligence Battalion is a unit of the United States Army.Personnel of the 519th MI Battalion were alleged to have killed the Afghan detainee Dilawar in custody at Bagram Theater Internment Facility in December 2002....
who routinely beat their captives, resulting in the deaths of two prisoners on December 4, 2001 and December 10, 2001. Al-Darbi identified Damien M. Corsetti
Damien M. Corsetti
Damien M. Corsetti was a soldier in the United States Army.As part of the Army's investigation into prisoner abuse at Bagram, Corsetti was charged with dereliction of duty, maltreatment, assault and performing an indecent act with another person...
, a soldier nicknamed "the King of Torture" by his fellow GIs, as one of his abusers.
Corsetti's lawyer asserts that al-Darbi's claims of abuse are not credible.
Corsetti's lawyers claim
al Darbi repeats the meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
al Qaeda training manuals instruct captives to lie about abuse, and asserts
that Al Darbi is following those instructions.
Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
spokesmen have announced that al-Darbi will not be allowed to testify at Corsetti's court martial.
On December 21, 2007 charges against Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi were referred to the convening authority
Convening Authority
The term convening authority is used in United States military law to refer to an individual whose job includes appointing officers to play a role in a court-martial, or similar military tribunal or military commission...
for the Office of Military Commissions.
United States v. Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi
On December 21, 2007 charges against Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi were referred to Susan Crawford, who approved them to continue to trial.- he had trained at the Jihad Wahl training campJihad Wahl training campThe Jihad Wahl training camp was an alleged al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.Prior to 1996, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Mohammed Atef and Yaseen al-Iraqi aided Enaam Arnaout in purchasing AK-47s and mortar rounds from a Pashtun tribesman named Hajjji Ayoub, and they were subsequently delivered in...
; - he transferred funds to finance the plot to attack shipping;
- he purchased a vessel, registered in Sao TomeSão Tomé-Transport:São Tomé is served by São Tomé International Airport with regular flights to Europe and other African Countries.-Climate:São Tomé features a tropical wet and dry climate with a relatively lengthy wet season and a short dry season. The wet season runs from October through May while the...
, to use in the attacks.
In April 2008 he announced that he refused to participate in the tribunal as he believed it lacked legitimacy, and dismissed his military lawyer Brian Broyles who called the refusal a "reasonable decision".
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...
, at a hearing in December 2008 he had
"held up a photo of President Barack Obama as a sign of hope."
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...
, a note he wrote to his lawyer about Obama said he could: ""earn back the legitimacy the United States has lost in the eyes of the world,"
Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that Commission President James Pohl scheduled a hearing for May 27, 2009, to rule on how much of the evidence against Al Darbi was coerced through torture.
At a hearing on September 23, 2009 his Presiding Officer of his military commission agreed to a further sixty day delay.
His lawyer Ramzi Kassem told reporters after the hearing that Al Darbi had written a brief note, addressed to President Obama, that he had hoped to read aloud at the hearing. Kassem read the note aloud to reporters.
The Associated Press quoted passages from the note.