Salah Abdul Rasool Al Blooshi

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Initially the Bush Presidency asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants—rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Salah Abdul Rasul Ali Abdul Rahman Al Balushi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 23 September 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him:

Transcript

There is no record that captive 227 participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Habeas corpus

A writ of habeas corpus, Salah Abdul Rasul Ali Abdul Rahman Al Balushi v. George W. Bush, was submitted on captive 227's behalf. In response, on 12 October 2004 the Department of Defense released 16 pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

The Legal Advisor's declaration was drafted by Commander James R. Crisfield Jr., a JAG officer. His enemy combatant status was confirmed by Tribunal panel 6 on 28 September 2004.

The Detainee election form prepared by his Personal Representative on 27 September 2004 stated:

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 Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards were not authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, nor were they 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.

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Salah Abdul Rasul Ali Abdul Al Balushi's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 28 January 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

b. Connection

1. Upon arriving in Kandahar, the detainee spent two weeks in a guesthouse.
2. The detainee's host while staying in Kandahar is a suspect al Qaida recruiter.
3. At the suggestion of the suspected recruiter, the detainee gave his passport to a scholar at a local institute.
4. The scholar to whom the detainee gave his passport is an Qaida recruiter.
5. An alias used by the detainee, and the name of the person to whom he gave his passport, were found on lists discovered during searches of suspected al Qaida safe houses in Afghanistan during November 2001.
6. While in a Jalalabad hospital, the detainee met an Egyptian, and then traveled with him to a small village.
7. The Egyptian has been identified as an al Qaida commander and trainer.
8. The Egyptian fought in the front lines with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance.
9. The detainee was captured by Pakistani authorities in December 2001, as he fled Afghanistan.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

Letter from Mark S. Sullivan

The Department of Defense did not publish the transcript from captive 227's Board hearing. It did publish a redacted version of a two-page letter from Mark S. Sullivan, one of the lawyers helping him access the US justice system, dated January 19, 2005, entitled: "Administrative Review Board Submission for Salah Abdul Rasul Al Bloushi, ISN # 227." They also published an unsigned note.

Sullivan's letter stated, in part:

The unsigned note said:

Second annual Administrative Review Board

The Gulf Daily News reported, on July 2, 2006, that Colangelo-Bryan summarized the allegations against al Blooshi from his second Administrative Review Board.

1. Specifically, the military asserts that Salah went to Afghanistan long before September 11, 2001, when he heard about Buddhist statues being destroyed at Bamyan.
2. According to the military, Salah went there to make sure that Afghans were Salafi Muslims.
3. The military also says that Salah had 300 Bahraini dinars with him and that he stayed with a friend for two weeks in Kandahar.
4. According to the military, this friend suggested that Salah give his passport to a man who is said to be associated in some way with Al Qaeda.
5. Finally, the military said that Salah became sick for a month in Jalabad and then travelled to Afghan/Pakistani border.

Colangelo-Bryan asked how, even if the allegations were true, they showed that Al Blooshi had ever represented a threat to the USA.

Summary of Evidence

In September 2007 the DoD released a Summary of Evidence memo prepared for Salah Abdul Rasul Ali Abdul Rahman Al Balushi's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 30 January 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

b. Connections/Associations

1. Upon arriving in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the detainee spent two weeks in the house of an acquaintance.
2. At the suggestion of the acquaintaince who he lived with in Kandahar, the detainee gave his passport to a scholar at a local institute.
3. The scholar was identified as an initial al Qaida screener. He was particularly known for talking a lot about jihad. The scholar was a helper, a coordinator, and he was the one responsible for travel.
4. The detainee's name was found on a list of captured Mujahidin on a computer, which was associated with an operative and was seized during raids with a foreign governmental agency on 1 March 2003.
5. The detainee's name was found on a document listing 324 Arabic names, aliases, and nationalities recovered from safe house raids associated with suspected al Qaida members.

c. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee claims he became sick in Jalalabad and spent a month in a hospital. After being released from this hospital, the detainee traveled with a man to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2. The detainee claims to have a learning disability, which makes it very difficult for him to remember details or events.
3. On 18 August 2005, the detainee was not willing to cooperate and refused to discuss his case.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

b. The detainee denied having any knowledge of planning of internal uprisings at the Guantanamo Detention Facility. c. The detainee denied using any type of Taliban communication equipment. d. An individual asked the detainee to join the Taliban. The detainee stated he did not wish to join the Talivan and told the individual the same. e. The detainee was confronted concerning an unknown number that he had in his Casio watch. The detainee stated his watch was incapable of number storage and, as a result, did not have any information on the number.

Board recommendations

In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon R. England, the Designated Civilian Official. The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his transfer on 15 June 2006.

His Board concluded that he "...continues to be a threat to the United States and its allies."

Al Blooshi's last interrogation

On July 23, 2006 Colangelo-Bryan described Al Blooshi's last interrogation. He said that the camp authorities acknowledge that 75% of the detainees are no longer interrogated. He estimated that even fewer detainees are currently being interrogated than US spokesment acknowledged.

Al Blooshi has not been interrogated at all in 2006. Colangelo-Bryan said that during his last interrogation Al Blooshi was asked about his activities in the war in Bosnia in 1995.

Salah responded that he had been aged 14 in 1995 and wasn't anywhere near Bosnia.

When Salah refused to get into a long discussion in response to such a silly question, his interrogator said that he didn't want Salah to stay at Guantanamo until his hair turned white.

Release

Salah has been released.

On Thursday August 23, 2007 the Gulf Daily News reported that Bahraini Member of Parliament Mohammed Khalid had called for the Bahrain government to provide financial compensation to the released men.