Jamal Udeen Al-Harith
Encyclopedia
Jamal Udeen Al-Harith is a British
citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention
as a suspected terrorist in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
s, in Cuba
for two and a half years.
Al-Harith's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 490.
The Department of Defense
reports he was born on 20 November 1966, in Manchester
, United Kingdom.
Al-Harith paid a truck driver to take him from Pakistan
to Iran
. The truck was stopped when he passed near the Afghan
border. Taliban guards, seeing his British passport, arrested him as a British spy.
His family tell of a happy phone call, while under the Red Cross
in a compound after being released from jail where he was a prisoner under the Taliban. He told them that he would be allowed to fly home soon. The Red Cross had arranged with the British embassy to fly him out from the American Airbase to Kabul to meet the British representative but he wasn't allowed to go free. The Americans prevented him from flying out because they were suspicious. Al-Harith spent the next two and a half years in Cuba.
In Rasul v. Rumsfeld
, plaintiffs Shafiq Rasul
, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed
, and Jamal Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, sued former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command.
pointed out had gone from Taliban custody to American custody.
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...
citizen who 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...
as a suspected terrorist 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...
for two and a half years.
Al-Harith's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 490.
The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
reports he was born on 20 November 1966, in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, United Kingdom.
Al-Harith paid a truck driver to take him from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The truck was stopped when he passed near the Afghan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
border. Taliban guards, seeing his British passport, arrested him as a British spy.
His family tell of a happy phone call, while under the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
in a compound after being released from jail where he was a prisoner under the Taliban. He told them that he would be allowed to fly home soon. The Red Cross had arranged with the British embassy to fly him out from the American Airbase to Kabul to meet the British representative but he wasn't allowed to go free. The Americans prevented him from flying out because they were suspicious. Al-Harith spent the next two and a half years in Cuba.
In Rasul v. Rumsfeld
Rasul v. Rumsfeld
Plaintiffs Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, are suing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of...
, plaintiffs Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86....
, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed
Ruhal Ahmed
Ruhal Ahmed is a British citizen. He was detained without trial for over two years by the United States government, first in Afghanistan, and then in Camp Delta, the United States prison for people it describes as suspects in its "War on Terror", at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, Cuba...
, and Jamal Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, sued former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command.
Al-Harith and other former Taliban prisoners
Al-Harith was one of nine former Taliban prisoners the Associated PressAssociated 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...
pointed out had gone from Taliban custody to American custody.
External links
- Five of nine Britons released from Guantanamo Bay, 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...
, 9 March 2004 - The most hapless tourist in the world: It's no holiday when the Taliban deem you a spy and the US labels you a terrorist, The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, 13 March 2004 - Statement of Jamal al-Harith at blink.org.uk, 6 January 2005