Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani
Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 Medina, Saudi Arabia |
| Occupation | Taxi driver (prior to detention) |
| Known for | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp; subjected to CIA black site detention and torture |
Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani is a Pakistani national who was held without formal charges by the United States military at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba from 2004 until 2023. Throughout his detention, he was subjected to enhanced interrogation methods and never faced trial.
According to U.S. intelligence assessments, Rabbani was born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 1969.
He was transferred to Guantanamo on September 19, 2004, where he remained incarcerated for more than eighteen years before being released on February 23, 2023. Prior to his arrival at Guantanamo, he spent approximately two years detained within the CIA’s covert network of secret black sites.
Background
Rabbani’s origins trace back to Saudi Arabia, born into a Pakistani family that relocated from India to Karachi during the 1947 partition. Proficient in Arabic, he worked as a taxi driver in Karachi throughout the 1990s, frequently transporting Arab passengers. He entered into marriage in 2001 and fathered a son, whom he only became aware of several years later during legal proceedings while in custody. Rabbani has stated that his Arabic language skills were a primary reason for his detention by U.S. authorities, who accused him of militant affiliations. He has also chronicled the torture he experienced while imprisoned both in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo.
CIA black site detention
Both Rabbani and his brother, Abdul Al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, were confined at the CIA-operated black site known as "the salt pit" alongside detainee Laid Saidi. The Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture reveals that Rabbani endured two years of CIA-administered torture. The report further alleges that he received militant training in camps located in Khost (1994) and Khaldan, was detained in Pakistan between 1995 and 1996, met Osama bin Laden in 1997, and acted as a travel facilitator for Al Qaeda. His file also asserts direct collaboration with Al Qaeda strategist Khalid Sheikh Mohammad.
Official status reviews
The administration under President Bush initially maintained that individuals captured during the "war on terror" were not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions and could be detained indefinitely without justification. Nevertheless, the 2004 ruling by the United States Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush granted detainees the right to be informed of and contest the reasons for their continued imprisonment.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following Rasul v. Bush, the Department of Defense created the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. Documentation from these administrative hearings was later made public through Freedom of Information Act requests.
A study conducted by the Brookings Institution under Benjamin Wittes categorized detainees held at Guantanamo as of December 2008, listing Rabbani among those accused of:
- Membership in Al Qaeda
- Staying at Al Qaeda, Taliban, or other affiliated safehouses
- Receiving military or terrorist training in Afghanistan
- Being identified as an "al Qaeda operative"
- Being one of 82 detainees who either did not make statements or whose statements failed to meaningfully address military allegations against them
Habeas petition
A habeas corpus petition was submitted on Rabbani’s behalf before U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina. In response, on December 14, 2005, the Department of Defense released an unclassified thirteen-page packet containing documents from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
The Summary of Evidence memo dated November 9, 2004, indicates that a Lieutenant Commander serving as Rabbani’s Personal Representative met with him for eighty minutes on November 13, 2004, to prepare him for his upcoming Tribunal hearing. Records show that Rabbani opted not to attend.
Tribunal Panel 21 convened on November 17, 2004, confirming his designation as an "enemy combatant" based on classified information. The same panel validated his brother’s status on November 23, 2004; however, his brother’s Tribunal hearing did not take place at Guantanamo.
Previously Confidential Joint Task Force Guantanamo Evaluation
The eleven-page document, recommending continued detention, was signed by camp commander David M. Thomas Jr. and dated May 28, 2008.
Joint Review Task Force
When President Barack Obama assumed office in January 2009, he committed to ending torture practices at Guantanamo and establishing a new detainee review framework involving six government agencies, replacing the prior system managed solely by the Department of Defense. One year later, the Joint Review Task Force designated certain detainees as too dangerous to release despite insufficient evidence to formally charge them. This designation became public on April 9, 2013, following a FOIA request.
Among the 71 individuals classified as too innocent to prosecute yet too risky to free was Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani. Although Obama promised regular reviews for these detainees, fewer than 25% have actually undergone such evaluations. Rabbani received clearance for transfer on October 7, 2021.
Hunger strike
Rabbani and his brother participated in the hunger strike initiated on August 8, 2005.[1]
Identified by US Senate as a CIA detainee subjected to unauthorized torture
On December 9, 2014, the United States Senate Intelligence Committee published a 600-page unclassified summary derived from a comprehensive 6,000-page report on CIA interrogation methods.[2] While some prisoners endured torture sanctioned by Washington, Rabbani was singled out as having been tortured without official authorization. The report notes that Rabbani experienced "forced standing, attention grasps, and exposure to cold temperatures without blankets in November 2002."
Los Angeles Times op-ed
On July 25, 2018, Rabbani authored an op-ed published by the Los Angeles Times.[3] He recounted severe torture episodes and asserted that he had worked as a taxi driver.
Rabbani revealed that his weight had fallen to just .[3] He attributed this decline to hunger strikes protesting his detention and difficulties digesting solid food. Despite medical approval for certain dietary items, guards administered forced feeding through a nasal tube while he was restrained.
He described confinement in "the dark prison" and identified himself as the previously unnamed detainee who attempted self-amputation due to agonizing suspension by his wrists.
Release
On February 23, 2023, Rabbani and his brother were repatriated to Pakistan.[4]
External links
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedDenverPost2005-11-13 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNationalJournal2014-12-10 - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedLAtimes2018-07-25 - ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (2023-02-23). "U.S. Sends Home Brothers Held for Nearly 20 Years at Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-03-02.