In the summer of 2001 Fayiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari, the eldest son of a large family, left Kuwait to travel to Afghanistan. His stated purpose was to do charitable work, assisting with the reconstruction of two wells and the repair of a mosque.
His trip was for the sake of his mother, who had cancer, so there would be "more blessings from God on her behalf," according to a member of the Al Kandari family. He had traveled to Afghanistan before on charitable work in 1997 -- and to Bosnia in 1994.
But this visit would end up with a much longer and unintended journey -- to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Nearly 10 years later, Al Kandari remains incarcerated at the U.S. detention facility. And his case illustrates the difficulties of establishing who may have had links with al Qaeda and similar groups in the chaotic aftermath of 9/11, the strength of evidence against them, and whether they might remain or become a threat today if freed from detention.
According to his passport, Al Kandari left Kuwait at the end of June 2001. He traveled to Pakistan, where he stayed for two months and then he traveled on to Afghanistan, according to legal transcripts.
Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is defending Al Kandari before the military commission that is hearing his case at Guantanamo Bay. He says that after the 9/11 attacks, Al Kandari remembers leaflets falling all around him. On the leaflet there was a picture of an Afghan man, who was holding a bag of money. The leaflet read: "You turn in your Arabs and we will give you money."
Local Afghan officials advised Al Kandari to leave, according to Wingard. But in October 2001, he was captured by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance -- along with many other Arabs -- and "sold" to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Wingard said.
Prosecutors say the story about Al Kandari's charitable work is not true. Al Kandari is accused of giving material support to terrorism and conspiracy to materially support terrorism.
"The detainee [Al Kandari] recruited personnel to participate in jihad in Afghanistan... traveled into Afghanistan and received weapons training at the Khaldan training camp. Usama Bin Laden personally provided religious instruction and trainee [sic] at this camp," according to a September 2004 Combatant Status Review Board. The Board concluded Al Kandari was a member of al Qaeda and "the detainee was in the Tora Bora mountain region in October or November 2001."
Al Kandari, now 36, has always denied the accusations. According to legal transcripts, he said: "I looked at all the unclassified accusations [against me and] I was laughing so hard. I was accused [of being] with the Taliban, [at] another time I was accused [of being] with the al Qaeda and third, I was train[ing] [at the] Khaldan camp." He also said that he was accused of teaching Taliban fighters, and fighting on the front lines against the Northern Alliance.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق