Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal

Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1]

The Department of Defense lists his place of birth as unknown and his date of birth as January 30, 1968.

As of today Abdul al Salam al Hilal has been confined at the Guantanamo camps for 12 years, 2 months and 15 days. He arrived there on September 20, 2004.^[2][3][4]

CIA detention

Al-Hila was captured, in Cairo, on September 19, 2002, while on a business trip.^[5] John Sifton, of Human Rights Watch, says that Al-Hila disappeared, for eighteen months, before surfacing in American detention in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.^[6] According to medical records published on March 16, 2007, his "in process date" at Guantanamo was September 20, 2004.^[7]

Since his arrival in Guantanamo Bay he is one of the approximately 200 detainees who has had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf. In recently declassified discussions with his lawyer Al-Hila says that after his capture he was sent to Baku Azerbaijan for two months, and then spent 16 months in secret bases in Afghanistan, including "the dark prison".^[8]

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.^[9] 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

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.^[10][11]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.^[9][12]

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:^[13]

• Abdul Al-Salam Al Hilal was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of Al Qaeda."^[13]
• Abdul Al-Salam Al Hilal was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative".^[13]

Habeas corpus petition

Abdulsalam Ali Abdulrahman Al Hela v. George W. Bush had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf.^[14][15]

Joint Review Task Force

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.^{[16][17][18][19]} That new review system was composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. When it reported back, a year later, the Joint Review Task Force classified some individuals as too dangerous to be transferred from Guantanamo, even though there was no evidence to justify laying charges against them. On April 9, 2013, that document was made public after a Freedom of Information Act request.^[20] Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release. Obama said those deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release would start to receive reviews from a Periodic Review Board.

Periodic Review Board

The first review wasn't convened until November 20, 2013.^[21] Hilal was denied approval for transfer on June 22, 2016.^[22]

Hunger strike

Al Hila is reported to be participating in a hunger strike that has led to a deterioration in his health.^[23]

Children's death

On April 23, 2009, Yemeni newspapers reported two of the four children of Guantanamo captive "Abdul-Salam al-Hilam" were killed, in his home, by the explosion of a hand grenade.^[25][26][27] The two boys were reported to be nine and eleven years old, and ten and eleven years old. They were reported to have died when playing with the grenade.

In 2008 camp authorities started to allow compliant captives to make an annual phone call home. The Yemen Post reports that Al Hila's sons died just two days after his call.^[27]

Assassination fears

On August 1, 2009 the Saba News reported that in a phone call after his son's death he told his family that he fears he will be assassinated in Guantanamo.^[28] He told his family not to believe accounts that he committed suicide if he should die in Guantanamo.

On May 17, 2010, Saba News reported Abdul's family had recently received a letter where he wrote he believed camp authorities had a new plan to assassinate him.^[29]

See also

• black site
• detainees in CIA custody
• List of Guantanamo Bay detainees

References

External links

• Anger in Yemen Over Halt to Release of Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners Andy Worthington
• UN Secret Detention Report (Part Two): CIA Prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq Andy Worthington

CIA secret prisons and detainees
Suspected black sites	Salt Pit Dark Prison Diego Garcia Temara interrogation centre Ain Aouda Stare Kiejkuty Szczytno-Szymany Mihail Kogălniceanu Camp Nama Camp Eggers Strawberry Fields (Guantanamo) Black Jail
Held in the Salt Pit	Khalid El-Masri Laid Saidi Gul Rahman1
Held in the dark prison	Jamil el Banna Abd al-Salam Ali al-Hila Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi Hassan bin Attash Laid Saidi Binyam Mohamed Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani Walid al Qadasi
See also	Enhanced interrogation techniques Extraordinary rendition Ghost detainees Waterboarding Destruction of interrogation tapes
1 Died in custody.