Obaidullah (detainee)

Obaidullah (born c. 1980) is a citizen of Afghanistan and one of many Afghan detainees currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba. He was captured as an Enemy combatant on July 20, 2002 and as of April 18, 2013, he has been held at Guantánamo for 10 years six months. Obaidullah's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 762. American intelligence analysts estimate that Obaidullah was born in 1980 in Khowst, Afghanistan.

Capture and Detention
On July 20, 2002, two dozen American Special Armed Forces soldiers, acting on an anonymous tip, captured Obaidullah during their search for an individual alleged to be hiding anti-tank mines for an "insurgent's cell". At the time, Obaidullah was carrying a notebook which the U.S alleges contained diagrams for improvised explosive devices.

Obaidullah reported abusive interrogation while held in Bagram, during a period of time when the officers in charge have acknowledged directing the use of the proscribed technique of chaining a detainees hands above his head in order to impose sleep deprivation.

He was transferred to Guantanamo on 28 October 2002.

In September 2004, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether Obaidullah had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Obaidullah was not allowed access to legal counsel or government evidence at these hearings, and was not allowed to present evidence beyond his own testimony. The CSRT determined that Obaidullah had appropriately been classified as an enemy combatant.

First annual Administrative Review Board hearing
The Following Factors Favor Continued Detention

The Following Primary Factors Favor Release Of Transfer

Transcript
Obaidullah chose to participate in his first annual Administrative Review Board hearing.

Second annual Administrative Review Board
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Baidullah Bertola Obaydullah's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 11 August 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

Charges
On September 10, 2008 charges were filed against Obaidullah. According to Reuters:
 * {| class="wikitable" border="1"


 * The charges allege he hid mines and other explosives in the Khost area of Afghanistan from October 2001 to July 2002 and carried a notebook describing "how to wire and detonate explosive devices in preparation for acts of terrorism."
 * The charges allege he hid mines and other explosives in the Khost area of Afghanistan from October 2001 to July 2002 and carried a notebook describing "how to wire and detonate explosive devices in preparation for acts of terrorism."


 * }

On June 7, 2011 the charges were dismissed without prejudice. There are currently no charges pending against him.

Habeas Petition
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Boumediene v. Bush that Guantanamo detainees are entitled to habeas corpus proceedings, Obaidullah filed a petition for habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in July 2008. Shortly after, military commission charges were filed against him. A stay was issued in the case which halted Obaidullah’s habeas petition during military commission proceedings.

The stay was lifted and habeas proceedings were resumed in 2010. On October 19, 2010, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S District Court of the District of Columbia ruled that Obaidullah's detention was lawful. Judge Leon denied Obaidullah’s petition for writ of habeas corpus after finding he was "more likely than not" an insurgent.

Appeal
Obaidullah appealed the decision, and In August 2012, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the appeal, affirming the lower court’s ruling. The court held that the lower court had correctly determined that it was “more likely than not” that Obaidullah was a member of al Qaeda, relying on the secret source whose tip to the U.S. military led to the raid on Obaidullah’s family compound. The identity of this source and the information received have not been revealed to Obaidullah or his attorneys.

Motion to Reopen
On Feb 8, 2012, Obaidullah’s lawyers moved to reopen the record. This would allow Obaidullah a new trial in the district court on the grounds that new evidence had been uncovered. This evidence was attested to in a declaration by Lieutenant Commander Richard Pandis, an NCIS investigator assigned to the case. Pandis stated: "[m]y investigation has given me no reason to believe that Obaidullah or any other particular person was actually visually identified at the time of the report about injured persons being ferried in a vehicle. Instead, my investigation leads me to believe that the intelligence was unintentionally mischaracterized by individuals and documents describing it to the District Court." Pandis also discovered that blood found in a taxicab on Obaidullah’s compound – which the U.S. had alleged was the result of ferrying wounded insurgents to a hospital - was from the birth of his daughter instead.

The motion was denied on January 30, 2013.

Supreme Court
On February 26, 2013, Obaidullah filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court.

Current Status
Obaidullah is participating in a hunger strike along with half of the other Guantanamo detainees as of April 23, 2013.