Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi

ISN: 54
Born: July 3, 1960, Atbara, SUDAN
Nationality: Sudanese
Arrested: November 30, 2001, Afghanistan-Pakistan Border

Background:

(cageprisoners)

Ibrahim Ahmad Masoud al-Qosi was born in 1960 in Atbara, 215 miles north of Khartoum.

He has at least two brothers, Mahmoud, and Abdullah, who is younger than him.

He completed his high school education in 1982. A friend remembers him as spontaneous, straightforward and generous.

While he was a devout adherent to his faith, a regular attendee at his local mosque and exerting himself in the memorization of the Qur’an, his friends and family say he was never a member of an organized Islamic group and shunned politics. His family describe him as “calm and aloof”.

The Pentagon alleged that he joined the al-Qaeda network in 1989 and remained a member until his capture in December 2001.

It is reported that his association with Bin Laden dates back to the latter’s time in Sudan, and he has allegedly traveled with him as well as served as his driver in Sudan between 1991 and 1996. The Pentagon also allege that he attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.

His family last heard of him in 1996, the same year that Usama bin Laden left Sudan, and were shocked to see him on the television amongst the Guantanamo detainees. Recognizing his son immediately, his father hugged the television and cried as the whole family wept.

Ibrahim al Qosi is to be tried again. Please read the article. Take action at the end, please.

US military charges two more Guantanamo captives

Previous Trial Details

(wiki)

al-Qosi, whom the Pentagon allege is a bodyguard and aide of Bin Laden, is amongst the first of the Guantanamo inmates to be charged, on counts of with conspiracy to attack civilians, murder, destruction of property and terrorism. The indictment alleges that Mr Qosi Was a key al-Qaeda accountant, weapons-smuggler and a treasurer for a business intended to provide income and cover for al-Qaeda terror operations. As part of such activities it is also alleged he signed checks on behalf of the al- Qaeda leader, exchanged money on the black market and couriered money on behalf of al-Qaeda.

Charged before military commissions

On February 24, 2004, he was named in documents for the first military commissions to be held for detainees.[3] The U. S. alleges that he joined al-Qaida in 1989 and worked as a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, as well as working as a quartermaster for al-Qaida. He is also alleged to have been the treasurer of a business which was an al-Qaida front.

He was indicted along with Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul. The indictment should allow them access to defense lawyers to prepare their defenses. He is charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, including attacking civilians, murder, destruction of property and terrorism.

Lieutenant Colonel Sharon Shaffer USAF was appointed Qosi’s lawyer on February 6, 2004.

On August 27, 2004 Shaffer complained that she was not being provided with information she needed for her defense of Qosi, that Qosi had informed her that the quality of translation at his military commission was insufficient for him to understand what was happening. She told the Tribunal that she had to resign as Qosi’s attorney.

According to the Voice of America, Chief Prosecutor Colonel Robert Swann assured the commission that:

On November 9, 2004 legal action against Qosi was suspended, US District Court Justice James Robertson of the US District Court’s had ruled, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, that the military commissions violated International agreements to which the United States was a signatory. This ruling applied to all four of the detainees who had been charged by the military commission.

On July 15, 2005 a three judge appeal panel over-turned Robertson’s ruling, setting the commissions back in motion.

On November 7, 2005 the US Supreme Court announced that they would be reviewing Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Qosi’s case was stayed, pending the outcome of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in July 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Bush Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to set up the military commissions. Only Congress had the authority to set up military commissions. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. But,

On February 9, 2008 Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi and Ali Hamza Suleiman Al Bahlul were charged before the Congressionally authorized Guantanamo military commissions authorized by the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Combatant Status Review

Tribunal Combatant Status Review

Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an “enemy combatant”. Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals. Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an “enemy combatant”. Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.

Initially the Bush administration 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 administration’s definition of an enemy combatant.

Allegations

The Summary of Evidence memo presented to his Tribunal listed the following allegations[9]:

a. The detainee is a member of al Qaeda:

The detainee admitted he traveled from Sudan to Afghanistan to train for and fight the Jihad in 1990.
The detainee attended Al Farouq training camp and trained on the following weapons: Makarov 9mm pistol, Seminov, AK-47, AKSU-74, RGD-5 [sic] Offensive Hand Grenade, F-1 Antipersonnel Grenade, and M-43 120mm Mortar.
Tge detaubee was deployed to the Mujahidin front line in Afghanistan in 1990.
The detainee was asked to work as an accountant for Usama Bin Ladin in Khartoum, Sudan in December 1991.
The detainee met Usama Bin Ladin at a guest house in Khartoum, Sudan and worked for Bin Ladin’s Taba Commercial Company in 1992, as the treasurer- accountant.
The detainee wrote to Usama Bin Ladin requesting to go to [[Chechnya to fight the Jihad in 1995, where he used the M-43 120mm Mortar.
The detainee joined Usama Bin Ladin in the [[Tora Bora Mountains in September or October of 1996.
The detainee resided at the Star of Jihad compound with Usama Bin Ladin from 1996 through part of 1997, where he was in charge of the kitchen.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

The detainee traveled back and forth between the front lines of Kabul and Kandahar, Afghanistan around the time of the 1998 U. S. Embassy bombings, and 2001.
The detainee fought the Jihad in Kabul because Massoud’s forces threatened the city.
The detainee fled to Tora Bora after September 2001.
The detainee fled Tora Bora with his Kalashnikov rifle for the Pakistani Border, where he was captured by Pakistani tribes and turned over to Pakistani officials.

References