Amrit Singh, Matthew Alexander, and Susanna Moore Read from a Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Amrit Singh, Matthew Alexander, and Susanna Moore, author and recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award, read excerpts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunal of Guantánamo detainee Mustafa Ait Idr, as part of the 2009 PEN event Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from the “War on Terror”. Read the transcript below.
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Excerpts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunal of Guantánamo Detainee Mustafa Ait Idr
Tribunal President: Is it your plan to go through each allegation?
Detainee: Yes….
Tribunal President: Recorder, read each one aloud and then allow the detainee to respond to each allegation.
Recorder: [Item 2.a.1.] The detainee is Algerian, but acquired Bosnian citizenship by serving in the Bosnian army in 1995.
Detainee: Is this the first accusation?
Recorder: Yes.
Detainee: As I said to my Personal Representative earlier, I have some papers that were with me when I was transferred over here. They could not find those papers. The papers proved I was not living in Bosnia in 1995. I acquired the citizenship while living in Croatia in February 1995. I entered Bosnia, if I remember correctly, in July or August, about two or three months before the war ended. I am going to give you proof I was living in Croatia. In the year 1995, Croatia divided into two parts; Jupania and Dalmatia. I was the [martial arts] champ in Dalmatia in 1995.…The certificate that says I won the championship is probably still in my house. It even has the date on it….
Tribunal President: Can we move on to the second point?
Recorder: The Detainee is associated with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
Detainee: I don’t want to ask you about the evidence because you said the evidence was classified. If you have any evidence, you can tell me. It is no problem. I am going to tell you and if you have any evidence, you can tell that to me.
Tribunal President: Are you responding to that with either a yes or no?
Detainee: Of course, no. What proves that is if I was with the Algerian Armed Group, I would not have been able to go to the Algerian Embassy….[W]hen my Algerian passport had expired, I had to go to the embassy to renew it…. I had to hand in registration papers, which they take and send to the Interior Ministry in Algeria. The Interior Ministry sends those papers to the area where I lived in Algeria to verify all the information. So if I had any relationship with an armed group or drugs or weapons or anything, the response to the Algerian Embassy would be not to register me….I can tell you that I am not a member of this group. You can contact Algeria and ask them.
Tribunal President: Let’s respond to the next one, 3-a-3.
Recorder: [Item 3.a.3.] GIA is a recognized extremist organization with ties to Al Qaida.
Detainee: How can I respond to this? It is not a question and it is not an accusation.
Tribunal President: You are right. Let’s move on to the next one.
Recorder: [Item 3.a.4.] While living in Bosnia, the Detainee associated with a known Al Qaida operative.
Detainee: Give me his name.
Tribunal President: I do not know.
Detainee: How can I respond to this?
Tribunal President: Did you know of anybody that was a member of Al Qaida?
Detainee: No, no.
Tribunal President: No?
Detaineee: No. This is something the interrogators told me a long while ago. I asked the interrogators to tell me who this person was. Then I could tell you if I might have known this person, but not if the person is a terrorist. Maybe I knew this person as a friend. Maybe it was a person that worked with me. Maybe it was a person that was on my [martial arts] team. But I do not know if this person is Bosnia, Indian, or whatever. If you tell me the name, then I can respond and defend myself against this accusation.
Tribunal President: We are asking you the questions and we need you to respond to what is on the unclassified summary. If you say you did not know or you did know anyone that was a part of Al Qaida, that is the information we need to know.
Detainee: I have only heard of Al Qaida after the attacks in the United States. Before that, I had never heard of Al Qaida. Even after I heard of Al Qaida, I felt that Al Qaida was the Taliban and the Taliban was Al Qaida. Then after watching the news, I knew Al Qaida was associated with Bin Laden and the Taliban was associated with the Afghans.
Recorder: [Item 3.a.5.] At the time of his capture, the detainee had planned to travel to Afghanistan once his Al Qaida contact arrived there and had made the necessary arrangements.
Detainee: I can respond to this accusation with a question. May I?
Tribunal President: Please do.
Detainee: Did they find any stamps or visas on my passport to any countries close to Afghanistan? Did they catch me with a suitcase on the plane? Was I seen going to an embassy for one of the countries close to Afghanistan? Was I seen sitting and talking with anyone known to be a part of Al Qaida? How can they know that I planned? I do not know how they can know this. Do you have anything that is clear or proves clearly that I planned these things?... The answer that I am able to give you is just to tell you that I did not plan these things. But I do not have any papers or anything to prove that….
Recorder: [Item 3.b.1.] The detainee was arrested by Bosnian authorities on 18 October 2001.
Detainee: Yes, but this phrase “arrested by,” I just want to make very clear that I was not arrested. I was in my house and they told me to come with them so they could ask me some questions….
Recorder: [Item 3.b.2.] The detainee was arrested because of his involvement with a plan to attack the U.S. Embassy located in Sarajevo.
Detainee: The same answer as before. The only thing I can tell you is I did not plan or even think of that. Did you find any explosives with me? Any weapons? Did you find me in front of the embassy?... Did I threaten anyone? I am prepared now to tell you, if you have anything or any evidence, even if it is just very little, that proves I went to the embassy and looked like that [Detainee made a gesture with his head and neck as if her were looking into a building or a window] at the embassy, then I am ready to be punished. I can just tell you that I did not plan anything….
These accusations, my answer to all of them is I did not do these things. But I do not have anything to prove this….
Tribunal President: Mustafa, does that conclude your statement?
Detainee: That is it, but I was hoping you had evidence that you can give me. If I was in your place – and I apologize in advance for these words – but if a supervisor came to me and showed me accusations like these, I would take the accusations and I would hit him in the face with them. Sorry about that. [Everyone in the Tribunal room laughs.]
Tribunal President: We had to laugh, but it is okay.
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