Shawali Khan

Shawali Khan
Born	1963 Kandahar, Afghanistan
Occupation	Detainee
Known for	Detention at Guantanamo Bay without formal charges

Shawali Khan is an Afghan national who was held without formal charges at the United States' detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was assigned the Internment Serial Number 899. Intelligence sources approximate his birth year as 1963 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

After examining Shawali's classified dossier, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates observed that the accusations against him relied on "multiple layers of hearsay," potentially all derived from a single unidentified informant. Leonard C. Goodman, Shawali’s defense attorney who also reviewed the case file, contended that Shawali was simply a trader wrongly implicated due to a bounty incentive.

Shawali Khan was transferred to Guantanamo on February 7, 2003, and subsequently returned to Afghanistan on December 20, 2014.

Official status reviews

The Bush Administration initially maintained that detainees captured in the "war on terror" were exempt from protections under the Geneva Conventions and could be detained indefinitely without formal charges or transparent legal proceedings. However, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush that individuals held at Guantanamo must be informed of the allegations against them and given an opportunity to challenge those claims.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

In response to the Supreme Court decision, the Department of Defense created the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. Between 2004 and 2007, the DoD released Summary of Evidence documents and transcripts from detainee status hearings.

A December 2008 analysis by researchers at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, categorized detainees according to shared allegations:

• Shawali Khan was accused of links to both Al Qaeda and Taliban organizations.
• He was alleged to have undergone military or terrorist training within Afghanistan.
• Accusations included participation as a combatant for the Taliban.
• His capture circumstances suggested involvement in hostile activities.
• He was identified as a Taliban fighter or operative.
• Among 34 detainees admitting minor associations such as lodging in Taliban or Al Qaeda guesthouses or attending training camps.
• He acknowledged engaging in combat on behalf of Al Qaeda or Taliban forces.

Khan took part in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. On March 3, 2006, pursuant to a court order issued by Jed Rakoff, the DoD released an eight-page summary transcript of his tribunal proceedings.

Witness request

Khan sought testimony from two witnesses; however, after diplomatic efforts failed to secure their presence, they were deemed "not reasonably available."

He appeared at his initial annual Administrative Review Board (ARB) hearing in 2005 and again for his third review in 2007.

2007 recommendation memos

In January 2009, eleven pages of heavily redacted documents from his third ARB were published. The board convened on June 27, 2007, and the final recommendation memo was dated September 18, 2007. The decision regarding Khan’s transfer was approved by Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official authorized to sanction detainee transfers or releases, who initialed the memo on September 20, 2007.

Previously confidential Joint Task Force Guantanamo evaluation

On April 25, 2011, the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks released classified evaluations prepared by analysts from the Joint Task Force Guantanamo. These documents contained recommendations advocating for the continued detention of certain individuals under the authority of the Department of Defense.

Guantanamo Review Task Force

President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders concerning Guantanamo detainees on January 21, 2009, which led to the creation of a task force charged with reassessing all detainees still held. Unlike earlier reviews conducted solely by military personnel through OARDEC, this task force was composed of representatives from the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security. After a year-long review, the group advised that Shawali Khan and 54 additional detainees be released.

Repatriation and mistaken identity

Shawali Khan returned to Afghanistan on December 20, 2014. On February 9, 2015, U.S. officials announced the death of an Afghan militant leader known as Mullah Abdul Rauf, who had been widely reported as a former detainee at Guantanamo. However, on February 16, the New York Times disclosed that a Defense Department photograph used to identify the deceased was actually an image of Shawali Khan.

On October 25, 2016, Judge John D. Bates dismissed Khan's habeas corpus petition on grounds of mootness. Khan contested the dismissal, asserting that without an official ruling declaring his detention unlawful, Afghan authorities would persist in confiscating his property, denying him a passport, and obstructing medical care for hearing impairment he attributed to CIA interrogation techniques. Although dismissing the petition, Judge Bates acknowledged and expressed understanding of Khan’s circumstances.