Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel

Background

Moqbel arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and was held at Guantanamo for 14 years.

In the Op-Ed Moqbel described traveling to Afghanistan to look for work, as he only earned $50 USD per month in Yemen. He said he was misled, could not find work in Afghanistan. He denied any association with terrorism.

Historian Andy Worthington noted that Moqbel mocked the extensive justifications offered for his detention, that he had been an Osama bin Laden bodyguard; that he had travelled all over Afghanistan – when he had only arrived in Afghanistan a month prior to his capture.

In his April 2013 Op-ed Moqbel described what it was like to be force-fed at Guantánamo Bay. Glen Greenwald, writing in The Guardian, praised the New York Times for publishing Moqbel's Op-Ed, which he described as one of the most powerful his readers would ever read. The Daily Mail repeated Moqbel's description that the force-feedings he was being made to endure had triggered him pain never experienced before. "I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone." Moqbel wrote: "I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t."

Official status reviews

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. 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.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. Memos containing the allegations that the DoD thought justified his detention were prepared for formal administrative hearings in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. These memos were all published under the Freedom of Information Act. The DoD also published a seven-page transcript from Moqbel's 2004 hearing and a memo Moqbel prepared for his 2006 hearing.

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:

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. The Telegraph published Moqbel's 10 page assessment, which had been drafted in April 2008. His assessment was signed by camp commandant Mark H. Buzby, and recommended Moqbel's continued detention.

The Telegraph quoted from his JTF-GTMO assessment, the claim that Moqbil had acknowledged participating in hostilities. JTF-GTMO assessed him as having served in the 55th Arab Brigade, as well as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard team. JTF-GTMO assessed him as having participated at the Battle of Tora Bora. JTF-GTMO called him as a member of the dirty thirty. They claimed he had trained at the Al Farouq training camp, and that he had staffed al Qaeda guesthouses. They claimed his name was found on a suspicious list. They claimed "he acknowledged he was recruited by known al-Qaida member, Marwan Jawan, who also facilitated his travel to Afghanistan."

Russia Today pointed out that the JTF-GTMO assessment said "Moqbel poses a low threat to prison personnel and is of only medium intelligence value."

Habeas corpus petition

A writ of habeas corpus was filed on Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel's behalf.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.

On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".

On 15 July 2008 Kristine A. Huskey filed a "NOTICE OF PETITIONERS’ REQUEST FOR 30-DAYS NOTICE OF TRANSFER" on behalf of several dozen captives including Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel.

Moqbel's letters published

Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo acquired copies of letters Moqbel had written to his lawyers. They quoted his confusion as to how he could have been cleared for release over five years ago, yet still remain in detention.