Ahmed Adil
Ahmed Adil | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 Kashgar, Xinjiang, China |
| Occupation | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camps |
| Known for | Extrajudicial detention at Guantanamo Bay; Uyghur ethnic minority detainee |
Ahmed Adil (born in 1973) is a Chinese national who was subjected to extrajudicial detention at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps located in Cuba.
Detention
Adil was assigned the Guantanamo Internment Serial Number 260. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate his birth year as 1973 and place his origin in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China.
He is part of a group of roughly two dozen detainees belonging to the Uyghur ethnic minority. Among them, about six Uyghurs underwent Combatant Status Review Tribunals that concluded they were not enemy combatants. Five of these Uyghurs, including Adil, were eventually relocated to Albania. However, some detainees had their initial determinations overturned after subsequent tribunals.
Alleged connection to Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement
Security officials have accused approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees, including Adil, of being members of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an organization classified by China as both terrorist and separatist.
In documents disclosed during the habeas corpus case Hassan Anvar v. George W. Bush, a memorandum dated December 30, 2004, listed 22 Uyghur detainees. Each was alleged by Joint Task Force Guantanamo intelligence personnel to have received training at an ETIM facility. The memo described Ahmed Adil as a 31-year-old ethnic Uighur from Xinjiang suspected of probable ETIM affiliation and training in Afghanistan. He was also referred to as "Ahnad Adil."
Combatant Status Review
Following legal challenges and public scrutiny, the United States Department of Defense created Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) to assess whether detainees at Guantanamo were correctly designated as enemy combatants. This initiative arose after the Bush administration asserted that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to persons outside conventional armed forces. Critics maintained that proper tribunals were necessary to evaluate detainee status.
The Department of Defense defined an enemy combatant as:
"An individual who was part of, or supported, the Taliban or al-Qaeda forces or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners. This includes any person who has committed a belligerent act or directly supported such hostilities."
The CSRTs operated under relaxed evidentiary standards, with government evidence presumed “genuine and accurate.” These tribunals reviewed each detainee’s status between July 2004 and March 2005.
Ahmed Adil’s Tribunal Participation and Charges
Ahmed Adil took part in his tribunal proceedings, joining about 60% of detainees who did so. A Summary of Evidence document detailed the accusations against him.
According to this memo:
- In 2001, he traveled from Pakistan to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for training purposes.
- He resided for approximately 45 days at a Uyghur camp situated in the Tora Bora mountain region.
- He received instruction on disassembling a Kalashnikov rifle.
- He was present during U.S. airstrikes targeting Tora Bora.
- Pakistani forces captured him while he attempted to flee Afghanistan alongside other Uyghur and Arab individuals.
The memo connected Uyghur organizations such as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the East Turkistan Liberation Organization (ETLO) with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified ETIM as an armed group allegedly linked through training and funding channels to al-Qaeda.
On March 3, 2006, following a judicial mandate, the Department of Defense released a six-page summary transcript of Adil’s CSRT proceedings.
Letter to the Secretary of State
On January 19, 2006, Adil addressed a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, highlighting that his Tribunal had cleared him of all charges on May 9, 2005. He emphasized that he was reaching out to Rice directly after having pursued every other available avenue.
Asylum in Albania
On May 5, 2006, the United States Department of Defense relocated five Uyghurs, who had been determined not to be enemy combatants, to Albania. Meanwhile, seventeen additional Uyghurs remained held at Guantanamo Bay following their classification as enemy combatants by their Combatant Status Review Tribunals.
The McClatchy interview
On June 15, 2008, McClatchy News Service released interviews with 66 former detainees from Guantanamo, among them Ahmed Adil. Adil characterized life in the Uyghur construction camp as basic but providing necessities such as food, shelter, and companionship. He also recounted enduring extended solitary confinement in a cell measuring 3 by 6 feet and being restrained by chains on the floor during interrogation sessions.