Wali Mohammed (ISN 560)
Wali Mohammed | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 15, 1966 Wazirabad, Puli Khumri District, Baghlan Province, Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp |
| Known for | Detention at Guantanamo Bay for over fourteen and a half years |
Wali Mohammed is an Afghan national who endured over fourteen and a half years of extrajudicial detention at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp located in Cuba. Analysts familiar with Guantanamo estimate his birthdate as February 15, 1966, in Wazirabad, situated within the Puli Khumri District of Baghlan Province, Afghanistan.
Official status reviews
At the outset, the Bush administration maintained that individuals captured in the context of the "war on terror" were not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions, allowing for indefinite detention without formal charges or transparent review processes. However, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court decided in Rasul v. Bush that detainees held at Guantanamo must be informed of the accusations against them and afforded an opportunity to challenge their confinement.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
In response to this ruling, the United States Department of Defense created the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants to oversee detainee status evaluations.
By December 2008, researchers at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, classified Guantanamo detainees according to military allegations. Wali Mohammed was listed among those who allegedly "fought for the Taliban," were part of Taliban leadership, and acknowledged "some form of associational conduct" with Taliban forces.
Ali Shah Mousouvi v. George W. Bush
In 2005, a habeas corpus petition (05-cv-1124) was submitted on behalf of Wali Mohammed.
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On April 25, 2011, WikiLeaks disclosed confidential assessments prepared by Joint Task Force Guantanamo personnel. These documents detailed information about detainees, including admissions to terrorist conspiracies and cases lacking supporting evidence.
Wali Mohammed’s assessment, a ten-page report dated October 23, 2008, was endorsed by camp commander Rear Admiral David M. Thomas Jr., who advised that Mohammed remain in detention.
Repatriation or transfer
According to Spencer Ackerman from The Guardian, the non-governmental organization Afghanistan Analyst's Network criticized the evaluations of Mohammed’s status at Guantanamo as demonstrating "gross incompetence".
Mohammed was relocated to the United Arab Emirates on January 19, 2017, coinciding with the final day of President Barack Obama’s administration.
On May 29, 2018, Missy Ryan of The Washington Post reported on the stringent conditions faced by Mohammed and other former detainees at a UAE rehabilitation facility. Similar to Guantanamo, family contact was heavily restricted—phone conversations were limited to five minutes and frequently interrupted by staff. Unlike Guantanamo, detainees had no access to legal counsel visits and the rehabilitation center’s whereabouts were kept confidential. Mohammed’s son, Abdul Musawer, conveyed that his father had become "very hopeless".