Khalid al-Asmr

Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr
Born	(1963-12-16) December 16, 1963 Irbid, Jordan
Occupation	Former detainee
Known for	Detention at Guantanamo Bay

Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr (born December 16, 1963) is a citizen of Jordan who was subjected to extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention center located in Cuba.

Captured in Pakistan in January 2002, Al Asmr was later transferred back to Jordan on July 19, 2005.

Life

Originally from Irbid, Al Asmr relocated to Pakistan in 1985, where he entered into marriage with two Afghan women. The subsequent year, he briefly attended the Sheik Sanif camp, explaining that his purpose was to acquire survival skills to assist in humanitarian missions heading north.

In 1987, he observed Osama bin Laden from afar without direct interaction, identifying bin Laden as a financier opposing Soviet forces. Affiliated with Jamat al-Tabligh, Al Asmr collaborated with the widow of Abdullah Azzam to establish hospitals in Northern Afghanistan until January 1992.

Press reports

Mother Jones published an article featuring interviews with Fatima Abdulbagi, Al Asmr’s wife. She recounted that her husband journeyed from Jordan to Afghanistan to combat foreign invaders during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. She also described escaping American airstrikes alongside their seven children and arriving in Pakistan, where Pakistani officials detained Al Asmr before his eventual return to Jordan.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

According to the Washington Post, Al Asmr was among 38 detainees classified as not being enemy combatants during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. He has since been released. The Department of Defense categorizes such individuals as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008, the McClatchy News Service published interviews with 66 former Guantanamo detainees, including Khaled al Asmr. Al Asmr recounted that his initial captors in Pakistan negotiated a $5,000 bounty for him and six others, after which American forces subjected him to physical abuse while he was hooded and restrained.

He reported experiencing beatings by U.S. interrogators at both the Kandahar detention facility and Bagram Theater Internment Facility. More troubling than the physical assaults were instances when interrogators conducted inappropriate genital examinations under the guise of medical checkups:

"They once told me they would perform a medical examination. They took me to a clinic, but instead of an actual checkup, a female soldier touched my sexual organs. During this, I prayed for strength and my penis remained still."

Al Asmr admitted to having met Osama bin Laden during the 1980s and engaging in conversations with him but denied any contact following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also acknowledged a closer association with Abdullah Azzam than previously revealed but stated he had no involvement with Azzam's group since 1992.

External links

• McClatchy News Service - video