UNCLASSIFIED
Department of Defense
Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy
Combatants at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
25 April 2007
TO: Personal Representative
FROM: OIC, CSRT (25 Apr 07)
SUBJECT: SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE FOR COMBATANT STATUS REVIEW
TRIBUNAL – GULEED HASSAN AHMED
1. Under the provisions of the Deputy Secretary of Defense Memorandum, dated 14 July 2006, Implementation of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Procedures for Enemy Combatants Detained at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Tribunal has been appointed to determine if the detainee is an enemy combatant.
2. An enemy combatant has been defined as “an individual who was part of or supporting Taliban or al Qaida forces, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. This includes any person who committed a belligerent act or has directly supported hostilities in aid of enemy armed forces.”
3. The following facts support the determination that the detainee is an enemy combatant.
a. The detainee was recruited by a senior al Qaida operative who participated in the 1998 bombing of the United States embassy in Kenya and the 2002 Mombasa, Kenya, attacks. This senior al Qaida operative considered himself the senior al Qaida officer for the Horn of Africa.
b. The detainee was identified as a prominent Al-Ittihad al-Islami jihadist faction member.
c. The United States Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide placed Al-Ittihad al-Islami on the Terrorist Exclusion List. An organization placed on the Terrorist Exclusion List is known to commit or incite to commit acts which can cause death or serious bodily injury, prepares or plans a terrorist activity, gathers information on potential targets for terrorist activity, or provides material support to further terrorist activity.
d. The Al-Ittihad al-Islami jihadist faction suffered significant blows and setbacks with the arrest of the detainee and three other individuals.
e. As of 2004, the Al-Ittihad al-Islami jihadist faction in the Horn of Africa was affiliated with al Qaida and were in direct contact with Pakistan-based al Qaida operatives.
f. The detainee was a well-trained fighter, who trained in guerilla warfare tactics, explosives, and marksmanship in the tribal border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s. The detainee later trained at the Al-Ittihad al-Islami training camp in Lugh, Somalia.
g. In 2002, the detainee participated in Al-Ittihad al-Islami operations in Mogadishu, Somalia, which involved killing Ethiopian nationals and individuals believed cooperating with the Ethiopians.
h. The detainee was named an al Qaida Djibouti cell leader and senior facilitator.
4. The detainee has the opportunity to contest his designation as an enemy combatant. The Tribunal will endeavor to arrange for the presence of any reasonably available witnesses or evidence that the detainee desires to call or introduce to prove that he is not an enemy combatant and that is deemed relevant to that issue. The Tribunal President will determine the reasonable availability and relevance of evidence or witnesses.