Said Salih Said Nashir

Said Salih Said Nashir
Born	(1969-09-29) September 29, 1969 Yemen
Other names	Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah
Known for	Detained at Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Said Salih Said Nashir (also referred to as Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah; born September 29, 1969) is a Yemeni national who was held without formal charges at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention facility located in Cuba. His assigned Internment Serial Number was 841.

Nashir remained in custody at Guantanamo for a period exceeding two decades.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The Bush administration initially asserted that individuals detained during the war on terror were not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions. This position was contested in courts, which underscored the necessity for proper tribunals to evaluate detainees' statuses.

As a result, the Department of Defense implemented Combatant Status Review Tribunals. These proceedings did not establish lawful combatant status but rather assessed whether detainees met the administration's criteria for enemy combatants.

Allegations

The accusations presented against Nashir included:

a Connections with al Qaida and the Taliban:

1. Originating from Lahaj, Yemen, Nashir traveled through San’aa, Dubai, Karachi, and Quetta before reaching Kandahar, Afghanistan.
2. He was recruited by an al Qaida facilitator in Al Baraida, Yemen.
3. While en route to Afghanistan in June 2001, he resided in a Taliban guesthouse located in Quetta.
4. From July until September 2001, he underwent weapons and explosives training at the al Farouq camp.
5. During his training, he attended two addresses delivered by Usama Bin Laden.
6. He acted as an armed guard at Kandahar airport on behalf of al Qaida.
7. The al Qaida security personnel stationed at Kandahar airport were armed with Anti-Aircraft weaponry, SA-7 missiles, RPGs, and AK-47 rifles.
8. An al Qaida operative provided him $1,000 for his return journey to Yemen.
9. He was apprehended following a firefight lasting approximately two and a half hours during raids on al Qaida safe houses in Karachi on September 11, 2002.
10. During these raids, passports belonging to members of Usama Bin Laden's family were discovered at the Karachi residence.

b Participation in hostilities against U.S. or coalition forces:

1. According to an al Qaida associate, Nashir engaged in combat north of Kabul.

Transcript

Nashir took part in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. On March 3, 2006, pursuant to a court order issued by Jed Rakoff, the United States Department of Defense released a summarized three-page transcript of his tribunal proceedings.

First annual Administrative Review Board hearing

A Summary of Evidence memorandum prepared for Nashir's annual Administrative Review Board hearing on November 23, 2005 cited twenty-two factors supporting continued detention and three factors favoring release or transfer. Notable details included:

• Allegedly motivated to travel to Afghanistan by a neighbor advocating jihadism, who also provided him with $300.
• Stayed at a "Taliban guesthouse in Quetta, Pakistan and the Nebras guesthouse in Kandahar" while traveling toward al Farouq training camp.
• Received instruction in handling Kalashnikov rifles, pistols, RPGs, hand grenades, land mines, C-3 and C-4 explosives, as well as map reading skills.
• Attended speeches delivered by Usama bin Laden at al Farouq.
• Served as a guard at Kandahar airport from September 11 until late November or early December 2001; his commander was Khan Ghulam Bashah, who was associated with a Kabul guest house under suspicion.
• Spent nine weeks moving covertly from Afghanistan to Karachi; no specific allegations addressed his activities during the six months preceding his capture.

Second Annual Administrative Review Board Hearing

A Summary of Evidence memorandum prepared for Said Salih Said Nashir's annual Administrative Review Board session on October 20, 2006, identified nineteen key factors supporting continued detention and three factors favoring release or transfer. These considerations largely reflected those from the previous year, with the exception that the individual alleged to have led Nashir's ten-man squad at Kandahar airport was now described as al Qaeda’s Northern Front commander in Kabul during 2000.

Boumediene v. Bush

On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court delivered its decision in Boumediene v. Bush, determining that the Military Commissions Act could not prevent Guantanamo detainees from seeking access to U.S. federal courts. This ruling reinstated all habeas corpus petitions that had previously been dismissed.

Subsequently, on July 18, 2008, his legal representatives, Charles H. Carpenter and Stephen M. Truitt, submitted a status report outlining renewed petitions filed on Nashir’s behalf.

Periodic Review

The Guantanamo Review Task Force overseeing Nashir’s case concurred with prior administrative boards in recommending continued detention, citing him as too dangerous for release despite the absence of formal charges. According to journalist Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, the Periodic Review Board determined that senior al-Qaida leaders likely intended for Nashir to return to Yemen to facilitate future attacks in Saudi Arabia, although he might not have been aware of these plans.

At the time of his capture alongside five others in Karachi, Nashir was grouped with what became known as the "Karachi Six", alleged to be an al Qaeda sleeper cell. Nonetheless, intelligence analysts later viewed their simultaneous arrests as coincidental rather than indicative of coordinated operations.

On October 29, 2020, Nashir received approval for transfer.

Release

On January 6, 2025, Nashir was among eleven detainees transferred to Oman to begin new lives outside Guantanamo.

External links

• Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Seven: Captured in Pakistan (3 of 3) Andy Worthington, October 13, 2010
• The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six "Ghost Prisoners Andy Worthington