Zia Ul Shah
Zia Ul Shah | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 5, 1975 Pakistan |
| Occupation | Delivery driver (former) |
| Known for | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camps (ISN 15) |
Zia Ul Shah (; born 5 January 1975) is a Pakistani national recognized for his confinement at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps located in Cuba. His assigned Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 15.
Ul Shah served as a delivery driver for the Taliban in Afghanistan's Kunduz Province and was apprehended in 2001. He was repatriated to Pakistan on 11 October 2006.
Background
In 2000, Ul Shah journeyed to Afghanistan in search of employment. The Taliban regime required transport drivers, and since Ul Shah owned a truck, he secured a position. He arranged terms to avoid ferrying militants into combat zones and was tasked primarily with supplying a Taliban base in Kunduz by delivering food provisions.
During October 2001, while making a delivery, Ul Shah was intercepted by Northern Alliance forces commanded by Punjabi leader Qari Saleem. He consented to transport surrendered Taliban combatants to a compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, controlled by warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, in exchange for his release—an arrangement frequently extended to detained Taliban drivers. Nevertheless, at Dostum’s facility, the Northern Alliance reneged on the agreement due to Ul Shah’s foreign nationality and seized his vehicle. Subsequently, an Afghan local provided temporary shelter but detained him upon discovering Ul Shah was Pakistani. He was sold twice to other Afghans; one inflicted severe injuries, including a broken nose, before he was ultimately turned over to U.S. military forces in Kandahar on 26 November.
Combatant Status Review
Ul Shah participated in the tribunal hearings, joining approximately 60% of detainees who did so. A Summary of Evidence document prepared for his tribunal outlined the charges against him:
Administrative Review Board
Prisoners designated as "enemy combatants" by the Combatant Status Review Tribunal were subject to annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These sessions evaluated the risks detainees might pose if released or transferred and other relevant detention considerations.
Shah took part in his Administrative Review Board hearing.
Factors supporting continued detention
Factors supporting release or transfer
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On 25 April 2011, the whistleblower group WikiLeaks disclosed previously classified evaluations created by analysts from Joint Task Force Guantanamo. His five-page assessment was endorsed by camp commander Brigadier General Jay W. Hood, who advised transfer to another country for ongoing detention. The document indicated that although an earlier review had suggested release or transfer, newly acquired information raised concerns justifying continued confinement.
McClatchy News Service interview
On 15 June 2008, the McClatchy News Service published reports based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo detainees, including Zia Khalid Najib. The coverage cited Afghanistan’s Attorney General, Abdul Jabar Sabit, who remarked that U.S. decisions regarding releases often hinged more on detainee cooperation during custody than on the offenses attributed to them. He observed that senior Taliban figures were sometimes freed for good conduct, whereas lower-ranking fighters or those mistakenly detained remained incarcerated.
Zia Khalid Najib admitted to having poor self-control and undergoing numerous punishments, such as prolonged solitary confinement. He rejected claims of acting as one of Osama bin Laden’s drivers, affirming only that he transported low-level Taliban personnel. Subsequent interrogations concentrated more on interpersonal conflicts than on serious allegations.
The McClatchy piece emphasized that Najib’s ongoing detention partly rested on his purported familiarity with senior Taliban members—an assertion he attributed to translation inaccuracies, explaining that he recognized these names because of their public profiles in Pakistan rather than through direct personal connections.