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About the Dead Guantánamo Detainees
CAROL ROSENBERG
Miami Herald
June 16, 2006
The Department of Defense late Sunday released the following identification information on the three captives who killed themselves over the weekend at Guantánamo Bay Navy Base, Cuba:
. Ali Abdullah Ahmed, who according to Pentagon documents was born in Yemen in 1977. A Pentagon statement cast him as a ''mid- to high-level al Qaeda operative'' who allegedly had links to al Qaeda ''facilitators and senior membership,'' and was described as a ''close associate'' of an al Qaeda deputy now in U.S. custody called Abu Zubaydeh. It said Ahmed had been uncooperative and hostile to the guard force at Guantánamo and ``was a long-term hunger striker from late 2005 to May 2006.''
The Defense Department acknowledged Wednesday that Ahmed had a lawyer, a Washington, D.C., law firm. But the attorneys said they had not yet gotten all the necessary clearances to get a translator and go down and meet him. At his death, he did not know about his attorneys.
. Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi, also spelled Al Tabi, who according to Pentagon documents was born in al Qarara, Saudi Arabia, in 1976. A Pentagon statement described him as a member of a ''militant missionary/recruitment group'' for al Qaeda and ''other jihadist terrorist groups.'' He had been recommended for transfer for detention in ''another country,'' said the Pentagon statement, presumably Saudi Arabia.
Charlotte , N.C. , attorney Jeff Davis said his firm represented Utaybi, but had yet to meet him. Davis said Thursday that it had been notified more than a month ago, under a secret court filing, of the government's intent to transfer him, but Utaybi himself had not been notified.
. Yassar Talal al Zahrani, who according to Pentagon documents was born in Yenbo, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 22, 1984. The Pentagon alleged he was an ''actual front-line fighter for the Taliban'' in Afghanistan. He allegedly facilitated weapons purchases for Taliban offensives against U.S. and Coalition forces. The Pentagon said he was captured by Afghan anti-Taliban forces, presumably the Northern Alliance, and allegedly participated in the prison uprising near Mazar i Sharif, Afghanistan, in which CIA officer Johnny Michael Spann was killed.
The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York maintains that Zahrani, who would have arrived at Guantánamo as a teenager, was party to a group lawsuit of unnamed habeas corpus petitions in federal court. The U.S. military said Zahrani had no attorney.
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