Sabar Lal Melma
Encyclopedia
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 BoardAdministrative Review Board
The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....
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.
Sabar Lal Melma chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.
Factors for continued detention
- The detainee is a Brigadier General in the Afghan military. He is suspected of assisting al Qaeda members to escape from Tora BoraTora BoraTora Bora , known locally as Spīn Ghar , is a cave complex situated in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan, in the Pachir Wa Agam District of Nangarhar province, approximately west of the Khyber Pass and north of the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan...
into Pakistan. He was a commander of 600 border security troops in Konar, Afghanistan. - The detainee is a member of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al-Qurani Wasouna (JDQ).
- The detainee has met with Haji RohullahRohullahRuhullah, also spelled Ruhollah, Rohullah and in other ways , is a male Muslim given name composed of the elements Ruh and Allah. It means spirit of God. It may refer to...
, leader of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al Qurani Wasouna , and Loya JirgaLoya jirgaA loya jirga is a type of jirga regarded as "grand assembly," a phrase in the Pashto language meaning "grand council." A loya jirga is a mass meeting usually prepared for major events such as choosing a new king, adopting a constitution, or discussing important national political or emergency...
, representative for the Konar region, on numerous occasions. - Jamiat-ul-Dawa-ul-Qurani , an Islamic extremist group with ties to the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate, consisted of Afghan refugees from camps in the PeshawarPeshawarPeshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
area. This organization supported the continued war in KashmirKashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
. - The detainee’s military service includes being appointed the title of Brigadier General due to his experience fighting against the Soviet Union and the Taliban.
- During the fight against the Taliban, the detainee was Nasruldeen’s commander. Nasruldeen was allegedly responsible for attacks on government and coalition entities.
- The detainee knew Faquirullah. He knew Faquirullah was possibly involved with the Jam’ at Islami, was a high level commander for the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and a dedicated MujahideenMujahideenMujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
. - HIG has long-established ties with Osama bin Ladin. In the early 1990s, it ran several terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and pioneered sending mercenary fighters to other Islamic conflicts. It offered shelter to Osama bin Ladin after the latter fled SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
in 1996. - The detainee met Ali (NFT) twice in the Konar region, and twice in JalalabadJalalabadJalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
, Afghanistan. The detainee confirmed Ali was a member of the Hezb-e-Islami Khalis under Yunis Khalis. - Around 15–16 November 2001, nine Arabs, two of whom were wounded, fled Tora BoraTora BoraTora Bora , known locally as Spīn Ghar , is a cave complex situated in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan, in the Pachir Wa Agam District of Nangarhar province, approximately west of the Khyber Pass and north of the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan...
for Konar Province, Afghanistan. The detainee assigned one of his leaders to personally handle the security for the Arabs. - The detainee arranged for the nine men to be transferred to his fort, where they awaited the arrival of Haji Rohullah. When he arrived, Rohullah provided the detainee with an unspecified amount of money and instructions to smuggle the Arabs in Pakistan. The Arabs’ weapons and the truck were given to the detainee as a reward.
Factors against continued detention
- The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11 and also denied having knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States.
Repatriation
Sabar Lal Melma was repatraited on September 28, 2007, along with five other Afghans,a Libyan captive
Libyan captives in Guantanamo
The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding Libyan detainees in Guantanamo.A total of 778 detainees have been held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002. The camp population peaked in 2004 at...
and a Yemeni captive
Yemeni captives in Guantanamo
The United States were holding a total of 112 Yemeni citizen at Guantanamo Bay.By January 2008 the Yemenis in Guantanamo represented the largest group of detainees....
.
The Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison
Pul-e-Charkhi prison
Pul-e-Charkhi , also known as Afghan National Detention Facility, is the largest prison in Afghanistan east of Kabul. Construction of the jail began in the 1970s by order of former president Mohammed Daoud Khan and was completed during the 1980s...
near Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
.
McClatchy interview
On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Sabar Lal.Sabar Lal said he had been an anti-Taliban fighter during their administration, that he suffered a gun-shot wound during his opposition to the Taliban, and that he had helped oust the Taliban during the American invasion.
Lal reported being subjected to sleep deprivation in Bagram.
The McClatchy report quoted an Afghan official named Mohammed Roze, who acknowledged Lal had served as the commander of a border patrol, but that he nevertheless belonged in Guantanamo, because he had bombarded settlements full of civilians during regional disputes. The report quoted Mateullah Khan, the chief of police of Konar Province who asserted Sabar Lal had helped militants escape.
But the report also quoted Jonathan Horowitz
Jonathan Horowitz
Jonathan Horowitz is a New York based artist working in video, sculpture, sound installation, and photography. Horowitz critically examines the cultures of politics, celebrity, cinema, war, and consumerism...
, an investigator with a human rights group, who had secured access to Lal's confidential file. He said it contained practically no evidence to back up the allegations against him.
Sabar was killed by Afghan and NATO security forces in Kabul, Afghanistan on 9/3/11. As of September 4, 2011 Sabar Lal Melma could no longer be located on the McClatchy Guantanamo Inmate Database.
Accounts of his death on Friday September 3
NATO officials reported that an individual named Sabar Lal Melma was shot dead during a night raid on his home in JalalabadJalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
on September 3, 2011. According to those officials he emerged from his home carrying an AK47. The officials went on to say Mr. Lal Melma had been organizing attacks and financing al Qaeda operations. However, in a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
interview with Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil
Sahib Rohullah Wakil
HajjiSahib Rohullah Wakil is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 798....
, a tribal leader who had been captured with Sabar in 2002, Mr. Wakil asserted Lal Melma "chose a civilian life" after his release from Guantanamo.
Ray Riviera, writing in the New York Times on September 4, 2011, reported that Sabar's killing came just two days after coalition forces had promised the Afghanistan High Peace Council that they would quit harrassing him.
Riviera reported that Sabar had been apprehended by NATO forces as recently as one month earlier. However NATO forces denied both promising to stop harrassing Sabar, or that they had recently taken him into custody.
Riviera of the New York Times quoted Haji Deen Muhammad of the Peace Council about how the killing of Sabar would affect efforts to get members of the Taliban to defect.
“It really hurts the prestige of the Peace Council among the people of Afghanistan. More importantly, those Taliban members who were released through our process are going to have big concerns that this will happen to them.”
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) issued a press release stating they had knowledge that Lal Melma was “in contact with several senior al Qaeda members throughout Kunar and Pakistan”