Abdu Ali al Haji Sharqawi

Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj
Born	(1974-05-26) May 26, 1974 Taiz, Yemen
Other names	Riyadh the Facilitator
Known for	Alleged high-ranking al-Qaeda facilitator; Guantanamo detainee

Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj (born May 26, 1974, in Taiz, Yemen), also identified as Riyadh the Facilitator, is a Yemeni individual alleged to have connections with Al-Qaeda and was detained at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps located in Cuba. He faced accusations of acting as a "high-ranking al-Qaida facilitator who pledged loyalty to Osama Bin Laden and personally recruited his bodyguards".

Al-Hajj was transferred to Guantanamo on September 20, 2004, where he remained in custody for two decades.

Transfer to Guantanamo Bay

The human rights organization Reprieve disclosed flight logs indicating that two detainees, named Al-Sharqawi and Hassan bin Attash, were transported from Kabul in September 2002 aboard aircraft N379P, associated with the CIA’s covert fleet. This journey began in Diego Garcia, included stops in Morocco and Portugal before reaching Kabul, and concluded at Guantanamo Bay.

According to The Guardian, one of these individuals has since been released from US detention.

Contrasting accounts report that al-Hajj was apprehended by the CIA in Karachi, Pakistan, during February 2002 and subsequently rendered to Jordan. In January 2004, he was moved to Afghanistan where he was held at the CIA-operated Dark Prison and later at Bagram Air Base before his arrival at Guantanamo in September 2004.

Extraordinary rendition

Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj has stated that following his February 2002 capture in Pakistan, he was held for two years within CIA-operated foreign interrogation facilities prior to being transferred to Guantanamo in February 2004. He recounted spending nineteen months detained by Jordan’s General Intelligence Department in Amman, followed by an additional five months in a clandestine interrogation site. Al-Hajj described abduction and continuous torture along with interrogation over a two-year period, during which he was threatened with irreversible mental and physical harm if he failed to cooperate.

Formal status evaluations

During the Bush Administration, it was initially claimed that detainees captured during the "war on terror" were not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions and could be detained indefinitely without formal charges or transparent legal review. However, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush that detainees held at Guantanamo must be informed of the accusations against them and granted the opportunity to contest their detention.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

In response to a Supreme Court decision, the United States Department of Defense created the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants to oversee reviews determining detainee statuses.

In December 2008, researchers at the Brookings Institution, under the leadership of Benjamin Wittes, organized Guantanamo detainees according to the accusations supporting their detention:

• Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj was identified as affiliated with Al Qaeda.
• He was accused of being present at Tora Bora.
• Reports indicated he was part of Osama Bin Laden’s security detail.
• He was categorized within the al Qaeda leadership group.
• He was among 82 detainees who either did not make statements or whose statements failed to address military allegations during Combatant Status Review Tribunals or Administrative Review Boards.

Habeas Corpus

In June 2011, a federal court judge determined that the Obama administration could not rely on certain statements made by al-Hajj to justify his continued detention due to the government’s inability to disprove allegations of torture in Jordan and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the judge denied a defense motion seeking to exclude an incriminating statement al-Hajj gave prior to reporting torture.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower platform WikiLeaks released previously classified evaluations prepared by analysts from Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Al-Hajj’s assessment, an 11-page document dated July 20, 2008 and signed by camp commander Rear Admiral David M Thomas Jr., recommended that his detention be continued.

Joint Review Task Force

After assuming office in January 2009, President Barack Obama committed to overhauling the detainee review procedure at Guantanamo. He introduced a new review mechanism involving representatives from six government departments, replacing the earlier Department of Defense–exclusive OARDEC process. One year later, the Joint Review Task Force designated some detainees as too dangerous for release despite lacking sufficient evidence for formal charges. On April 9, 2013, these determinations were disclosed publicly following a FOIA request.

Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj was among 71 individuals classified as neither chargeable nor safe for release. He received approval for transfer on June 8, 2021.

Release

On January 6, 2025, al-Hajj along with ten other detainees were relocated to Oman.

External links

• Judge Rules Yemeni’s Detention at Guantánamo Based Solely on Torture Andy Worthington
• Human Rights Watch, Double Jeopardy: CIA Renditions to Jordan (2008)
• UN Secret Detention Report (Part Three): Proxy Detention, Other Countries’ Complicity, and Obama’s Record Andy Worthington
• Gitmo Detainee Seals Up Torture Confessions 8 June 2011