Abdul Aziz Adbullah Ali Al Suadi is a Yemeni citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from May 3, 2002, to January 21, 2016.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 578. The Department of Defense reports that Al Suadi was born on June 16, 1974, in Milhan, Yemen.
He was the first captive to be sent to Montenegro.[2] According to his lawyer David Remes, al-Suadi was one of the most westernized captives in Guantanamo. He mastered English there, and was getting high marks in the college courses in Mathematics he was taking by correspondence.
Al Suadi's name was spelled inconsistently on the official documents the DoD has released.
Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[6] In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
xxxOffice for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatantsxxx
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[6][9]
Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[10]
Although Al Suadi didn't attend his 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal, the brief handwritten notes his Personal Representative prepared were part of his dossier:[11]
- Detainee will attend tribunal, to what degree is unclear.
- No lawyer/legal representation
- Circuitous interview
- In final interview, detainee changed to non-participation.
Al Suadi chose to participate in his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing.[12] In early 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a fifteen-page summarized transcript from his 2005 hearing.[13]
A two-page Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing.[5]
Al Suadi said he would not attend his 2006 administrative review, unless he could hear and respond to the classified evidence against him.[14] He drafted a statement to be read instead.
A three-page Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his third annual Administrative Review Board hearing.[15]
A writ of habeas corpus, Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi v. United States, was submitted on Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's behalf.[16] In response, on October 1, 2004 the Department of Defense released sixteen pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's enemy combatant status was confirmed by Tribunal panel 5.
Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi's dossier contained a Recorder Exhibit List
isn | Title | Support | Classification |
---|---|---|---|
R1 | Unclassified Summary | N/A | Unclassified |
R2 | FBI Request for Redaction of National Security Information | 3.a.1. | Unclassified |
R3 | FBI 302 27-MAY-02 | 3.a.1. 3.a.2. |
FOUO//LES |
R4 | 000274 KB 08-JUN-02 | 3.a.1. 3.a.2. |
SECRET |
R5 | IIR 6 034 1208 03 | 3.a.3. | SECRET//NOFORN |
R6 | CITF Memorandum 26-MAY-04 | Summary | SECRET//NOFORN |
R7 | Terrorist-Related Locations and Facilities (Feb 24, 98) | 3.a.3. | SECRET//NOFORN |
R8 | EC Review Checklist | FYI | SECRET//NOFORN |
R9 | JTF GTMO Baseball Card | FYI | SECRET//NOFORN |
R10 | DOD JTF GTMO (unsigned-8-October-2004) | Summary | SECRET//NOFORN |
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[17][18] His ten-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on June 9, 2008.[19] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M. Thomas Jr. He recommended continued detention.