Castro Posted May 5, 2007 Guantanamo inmate says he only fought Ethiopians By Jane Sutton Reuters Friday, May 4, 2007; 6:59 PM MIAMI (Reuters) - A "high value" Somali prisoner at Guantanamo denied having al Qaeda ties but said he fought Ethiopian soldiers in his homeland and had the right to do so, according to a Pentagon transcript released on Friday. The U.S. military says Guleed Hassan Ahmed, a Somali in his early 30s, was a member of al-Ittihad al-Islami, a militant Islamist group the U.S. government classifies as a terrorist organization. The military has previously given the man's name as Gouled Hassan Dourad. It also says he was an al Qaeda cell leader in Djibouti and was part of a group that killed Ethiopians in the Somali capital of Mogadishu in 2002. Ahmed declined to attend an administrative hearing at the Guantanamo U.S. naval base in Cuba on April 28 to assess whether he had been properly classified as an "enemy combatant." About 380 suspected al Qaeda or Taliban fighters are still being held at the U.S. military prison on the base. But he submitted a written statement to the hearing officers, according to the censored transcript. In it, Ahmed acknowledged receiving paramilitary training in Afghanistan and said he fought alongside al-Ittihad al-Islami but never joined the group and had no links to al Qaeda. "My training was solely for the purpose of fighting in Somalia, but not against Americans," he wrote. "I did fight jihad alongside al-Ittihad against Ethiopians, which is my right to do," Ahmed was quoted as saying. "If Ethiopian ... military members came to Mogadishu, I would defend against them. That is my right to do as a Somali but it is against my religious beliefs to fight against civilians." The transcript did not contain details of the fighting. Somalia has been in chaos since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Ethiopia has sent troops into Somalia to attack radical Islamist groups it suspects could stir up trouble in the ethnically Somali regions on its side of the border. Ahmed is one of 15 "high value" prisoners sent to the Guantanamo base after being held in secret CIA prisons. He said in his note to the hearing officers that he was arrested in 2004, but the circumstances of his capture have not been made public. To classify him as an "enemy combatant" the hearing officers would have to find that he supported al Qaeda or other forces engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners. The Air Force colonel who headed the three-person panel had to ask another officer who prepared the case which of the nations mentioned at the hearing were U.S. coalition partners. "Somalia is not; Ethiopia is; and Kenya is, a coalition partner of the United States," that officer was quoted as replying. Washington Post Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tahliil Posted May 6, 2007 I think they should release him simply because, as he says, he did not have any anomosity toward the Americans...As stated he was there to fight with the Ethiopians as a rebel...a P O W yes but not a terrorist...Hopefull, he will b released or at least transferred to the so-called TFG for rehabilitations... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xoogsade Posted May 6, 2007 More somalis will be housed at Guantanamo. The warlords wrote already the Anti-terror Bill. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wisdom_Seeker Posted May 6, 2007 Is this advanced slavery, where Africans sell each other to the master? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
