Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi Explained

Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi
Birth Date:[1] [2]
Birth Place:Ibb, Yemen
Date Of Arrest:December 2001
Place Of Arrest:Pakistan border crossing
Arresting Authority:Pakistani border guards
Date Of Release:June 22, 2016
Place Of Release:Montenegro
Citizenship:Yemen
Detained At:Guantanamo
Id Number:37
Alias:
  • Abd al Malik Abd al Wahab,
  • Abd al Malak Abd al-Wahab al-Rahabi,
  • Abu Muaz,
  • al-Battar al-Yemeni,
  • Abu Aysha,
  • Abu Aisha,
  • Abd al-Malik Al-bu Aisha
Charge:no charge, extrajudicial detention
Status:granted asylum

Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention by the United States from December 2001 to June 22, 2016.He was one of the first twenty captives transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, on January 11, 2002, and was held there until he was transferred to Montenegro, which granted him political asylum.

One of the allegations US intelligence analysts used to justify his detention was that he was captured with a group of thirty Osama bin Laden bodyguards. Historian Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, has criticized this allegation as it required taking at face value the denunciations of captives who lacked credibility.

Al Rahabi was a married man when he was captured. His wife had just given birth to a daughter. Al Rahabi was one of the camp's most determined hunger strikers.

Official status reviews

Originally, the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[3] In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[3] [4]

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[5]

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[6] [7] His eleven-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on April 28, 2008.[8] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby.He recommended continued detention.

Asylum in Montenegro

The government of Montenegro accepted al Rahabi on June 22, 2016.They explicitly went on record saying that he would be entitled to leave Montenegro and said that giving him asylum would not be a financial burden on Montenegro.

Al Wahab initially found Montenegro a "beautiful country". He was able to bring his wife and teenage daughter to join him in Montenegro. But they experienced culture shock. They found the language very difficult to learn. They missed being able to converse with neighbours in Arabic.

Al Wahab was able move to Sudan. Al Wahab was cautious and asked Montenegro officials to confirm that his travel was okay with the USA.

Once in Sudan he and his family found other Yemeni expatriates, who couldn't return due to the civil war.

Role in the controversial Guantanamo art program

During the Obama administration an art program was provided to enrich the lives of well behaved Guantanamo captives. Art supplies were provided. Some of the paintings and models surprised critics by their quality. Many of the captives were not able to take their work with them. During the Trump administration military spokesperson Anna Leanos explained it was now the DoD's position that the captives did not own their own artwork, and the pieces would be destroyed. Gail Helt, formerly a CIA analyst, and currently a Professor, owns a painting sold by Al Rahabi.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Guantanamo Detainee Profile. 14 April 2023. Department of Defense.
  2. Web site: Guantanamo Detainee Profile. 14 April 2023. prs.mil.
  3. News: U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use . . October 11, 2007 . October 23, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071023220558/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-11-guantanamo-combatants_N.htm . live . Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation..
  4. News: Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners? . . January 21, 2002 . November 24, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081123204530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1773140.stm . November 23, 2008 . bot: unknown .
  5. News: The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study . . December 16, 2008 . Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne . February 16, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130601150504/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2008/12/16%20detainees%20wittes/1216_detainees_wittes.pdf . June 1, 2013.
  6. News: WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed -- Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose . . April 27, 2011 . July 13, 2012 . Christopher Hope . Robert Winnett . Holly Watt . Heidi Blake . July 15, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120715015806/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8471907/WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-Bay-terrorist-secrets-revealed.html . live . The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website. .
  7. News: WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database. The Telegraph (UK). April 27, 2011. July 10, 2012. June 26, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150626204100/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8476672/WikiLeaks-The-Guantanamo-files-database.html. dead.
  8. News: Abd Al Malak Abd Al Wahab Al Rahbi: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Abd Al Malak Abd Al Wahab Al Rahbi, US9YM-000037DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks . The Telegraph (UK) . April 27, 2011 . June 23, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160920115645/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8477468/Guantanamo-Bay-detainee-file-on-Abd-Al-Malak-Abd-Al-Wahab-Al-Rahbi-US9YM-000037DP.html . September 20, 2016 . live.

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