GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba, 9 October 2004 — A Saudi prisoner accused of attending a terrorist training camp to fight in Chechnya and Kashmir appeared before a US military review tribunal Thursday, rejecting most accusations against him.
Appearing dazed and unkempt with unruly hair and beard, the Guantanamo prisoner was the 140th to have his case reviewed by a three-member panel.
The United States accuses the man of being recruited in Saudi Arabia to fight in Chechnya and Kashmir and of training at the Al-Farouk terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. The military says he joined Afghanistan’s Taleban regime after a fatwa, or religious edict, from a sheikh at the Imam Muhammad Bin Saud College in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia.
One of his aliases was also allegedly found on a list of Al-Qaeda members who had reportedly been captured. The military said the list was found on the hard drive of a senior Al-Qaeda member.
“The words that you said are not true,” said the 23-year-old man, who journalists are prohibited from naming. “I did not go to Chechnya or Kashmir. I never met that sheikh who was mentioned and I never fought with the Taleban or Al-Qaeda.”
Five review tribunals were scheduled for Thursday, although two prisoners refused to participate. There have been 56 prisoners who have refused to attend. No reasons were given.
The reviews, or so-called Combat Status Review Tribunals, are meant to determine whether some 550 prisoners at the outpost in eastern Cuba should be freed or have been held properly as enemy combatants, a distinction that affords fewer legal protections than prisoners of war.
Although the Saudi detainee denied training to fight in Chechnya and Kashmir on Thursday, he said he received physical and handgun training at a camp in Afghanistan but did not know its name. None of the panel members asked him why he sought out the training.
The Saudi man was in Tora Bora and captured in Pakistan shortly after crossing the border. He said he was trying to make it to the Saudi Embassy after being in Afghanistan for about two months. He was then put into US custody.
