Ghassan al-Sharbi
Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi al-Sharbi | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 28, 1974 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Occupation | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention facility |
| Known for | Detention at Guantanamo Bay; affiliation with al-Qaeda; military commission proceedings |
Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi al-Sharbi (born December 28, 1974) is a Saudi national who was subjected to extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention facility located in Cuba. His assigned Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 682.
Apprehended in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March 2002, al-Sharbi was subsequently transferred to Guantanamo later that same year. In 2006, during a military commission proceeding, he acknowledged his affiliation with al-Qaeda and expressed pride in his actions against the United States. However, serious war crimes charges were dismissed in October 2008 after it was determined that the evidence relied upon was derived through the torture of Abu Zubaydah. Al-Sharbi’s habeas corpus petition, filed by his father, was withdrawn at his own request in March 2009.
Al-Sharbi remained detained at Guantanamo for two decades.
Early life and education
According to the US Department of Defense, Ghassan al-Sharbi was born on December 28, 1974, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He completed his high school education in the United States and earned a degree in electrical engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
Afghanistan
In 2000, al-Sharbi departed from the United States to Afghanistan, leaving behind his wife and daughter. He was captured during a Pakistani military raid in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March 2002 and detained for two months in Islamabad before being handed over to U.S. authorities. At Bagram Air Base in June 2002, he was assigned prisoner number 237. Lead interrogator Chris Mackey described al-Sharbi as fluent in English and exhibiting a "dismissive and aloof" demeanor. Al-Sharbi offered names of American contacts who could attest to his character and expressed support for Taliban rule, citing improvements such as lower crime rates and increased educational opportunities.
During interrogation sessions, al-Sharbi challenged the interrogators’ knowledge of T. E. Lawrence and disparaged a Fordham University alumnus as having attended a "third-tier school." The interrogator observed al-Sharbi’s inclination to assert superiority and noted his fixation on death. Prior to his transfer to Guantanamo, al-Sharbi indicated he would eventually provide whatever answers were necessary to end questioning and secure isolation.
Transfer to Guantanamo Bay
In 2002, al-Sharbi was relocated to the United States’ Guantanamo Bay detention camp situated in Cuba.
During his Combatant Status Review Tribunal held between late 2004 and early 2005, al-Sharbi accepted the designation of "enemy combatant" along with all fifteen allegations leveled against him. Following the tribunal, he proclaimed, "May God help me fight the infidels or the unfaithful ones."
On November 7, 2005, the United States formally charged al-Sharbi and four other detainees with war crimes, anticipating their trial before a military commission. Al-Sharbi, alongside Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Sufyian Barhoumi faced conspiracy charges related to their alleged involvement in an al-Qaeda bomb-making operation. At that time, Omar Khadr, aged eighteen, faced separate murder and conspiracy accusations.
Initially refusing legal counsel, al-Sharbi was later provided with a pro bono attorney, Bob Rachlin, through arrangements made by the Center for Constitutional Rights. In 2006, Rachlin sought to establish phone communication between al-Sharbi and his parents to encourage acceptance of legal representation.
At a military commission hearing on April 27, 2006, al-Sharbi confessed to being an al-Qaeda member involved in bomb construction. He declared:
- "I came here to tell you I did what I did and I'm willing to pay the price."
- "Even if I spend hundreds of years in jail, that would be a matter of honor to me."
- "I fought the United States... I'm proud of what I did."
He rejected the appointed military attorneys and insisted on self-representation.
The Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) found that the existing military commissions were unconstitutional. In response, Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which created a revised system for prosecuting enemy combatants while limiting detainees’ access to habeas corpus protections and federal courts.
Subsequently, on May 29, 2008, al-Sharbi along with Sufyian Barhoumi and Jabran al-Qahtani were charged under provisions of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
Nonetheless, on October 21, 2008, Susan J. Crawford—the head of the Office of Military Commissions—announced that charges against al-Sharbi and four others (Jabran al Qahtani, Sufyian Barhoumi, Binyam Mohamed, and Noor Uthman Muhammed) were dropped. Their cases had been linked through testimony from Abu Zubaydah—a high-value detainee subjected to CIA interrogation methods including "waterboarding," widely recognized as torture—rendering such evidence inadmissible.
Defense counsel anticipated that new charges would be filed within thirty days; prosecutors characterized the dismissal as procedural following Prosecutor Darrel Vandeveld’s resignation over ethical objections. Clive Stafford Smith of Reprieve suggested this action aimed at preventing Vandeveld from testifying about withheld exculpatory evidence in these proceedings.
Sleep deprivation
On August 7, 2008, the Washington Post disclosed that Guantanamo personnel persisted in the unlawful practice of relocating detainees multiple times each day to induce sleep deprivation, despite a prohibition enacted in March 2004. The article uncovered that detainees, including al-Sharbi, endured this so-called frequent flyer tactic from November 2003 through February 2004, with the method being extensively employed even months following the official ban.
Al-Sharbi’s attorney, Robert Rachlin, remarked:
"It must be assumed that the frequent flyer program... was not intended to enhance the prisoner’s comfort or resolve. Sleep deprivation is a form of coercion. Naturally, this concerns me."
The United States Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush (2008) invalidated the Military Commissions Act of 2006, reaffirming detainees’ entitlement to habeas corpus and direct access to US courts, thereby reinstating numerous cases including that of al-Sharbi.
Dropped habeas petition
On March 10, 2009, US District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan dismissed al-Sharbi’s habeas corpus petition following his own request. The petition had originally been filed by his father with support from the Center for Constitutional Rights prior to the appointment of military defense counsel. Attorney Robert Rachlin confirmed that al-Sharbi consistently refused legal representation, expressing contempt for US legal procedures and identifying himself as "an aspiring martyr."
Joint Review Task Force
Upon assuming office in January 2009, President Barack Obama committed to ending torture at Guantanamo and establishing a new detainee review mechanism. Unlike the former OARDEC process managed solely by the Department of Defense, this new review incorporated officials from six different departments. One year later, the Joint Review Task Force designated certain detainees as too dangerous to release despite lacking sufficient evidence for formal charges. On April 9, 2013, this classification was made public following a FOIA request.
Among the 71 detainees categorized as too risky to free yet too innocent for charges was Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi al-Sharbi. Although President Obama promised regular evaluations for such individuals through a Periodic Review Board, fewer than one-quarter have undergone these reviews. Al-Sharbi was ultimately cleared for transfer on February 4, 2022.
Release
Al-Sharbi was repatriated to Saudi Arabia on March 8, 2023.
See also
External links
- Commissions Transcripts, Exhibits, and Allied Papers
- Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Six: Captured in Pakistan (2 of 3) Andy Worthington, October 6, 2010