View source for Obaidullah (detainee)

{{Short description|Afghan Guantanamo detainee}}
{{Infobox War on Terror detainee
 | name   = Obaidullah
 | alias          = Obaydullah, Baidullah Bertola Obaidullah
 | image     = ISN 00762, Baidullah Obaydullah.jpg
 | image_size     =
 | caption  = Obaidullah's Guantanamo identity portrait, showing him wearing the [[Guantanamo uniform|white uniform]] issued to [[compliant (JTF-GTMO)|compliant]] individuals
 | birth_date  = {{birth year and age|1980}}<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82325-isn-762-obaidullah-jtf-gtmo-detainee-assessment/a028f3ac9102cd94/full.pdf | title=Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9AF-000762DP (S) | website=int.nyt.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN762/20151123_U_ISN_762_GOVERNMENTS_UNCLASSIFIED_SUMMARY_PUBLIC.pdf | title=GUANTANAMO DETAINEE PROFILE | website=www.prs.mil}}</ref>
 | birth_place = [[Khost]], [[Afghanistan]]
 | date_of_arrest = July 20, 2002<ref name="Investigation" />
 | place_of_arrest= Miland Village, Ismail Khiel District, Khowst Province, [[Afghanistan]]
 | arresting_authority=
 | date_of_release = December 23, 2019
 | place_of_release= [[Afghanistan]]
 | death_date  =
 | death_place =
 | citizenship    = [[Afghanistan]]
 | detained_at    = [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo]]
 | id_number      = 762
 | group          =
 | charge         = Charged on September 9, 2008<br />All charges dismissed on June 7, 2011<ref name="charges dismissed">{{cite web | url = http://www.defense.gov/news/Convening_Authority_8BAB.pdf | access-date = December 10, 2010 | url-status = live | author = [[Bruce E. MacDonald]] | title = Direction of the Convening Authority | date = 2011-06-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121015061606/http://www.defense.gov/news/Convening_Authority_8BAB.pdf | archive-date = October 15, 2012 }}</ref>
 | penalty        =
 | status         = Released
 | csrt_summary   =
 | csrt_transcript=
 | occupation     = shop-owner
 | spouse         =
 | parents        =
 | children       =
}}

'''Obaidullah''' (born 1980) is a citizen of [[Afghanistan]] who was one of the last remaining [[Afghan detainees at Guantanamo Bay|Afghan detainees]]  held in [[Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States|extrajudicial detention]] in the [[United States]] [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]], in [[Cuba]].<ref name=DoDList2>[http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929142457/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf |date=September 29, 2007 }}, ''[[US Department of Defense]]'', May 15, 2006</ref> He was captured as an [[Enemy combatant]] on July 20, 2002, transferred to Guantanamo on October 28, 2002, and transferred to the [[United Arab Emirates]] on August 15, 2016.<ref name=Npr2016-08-16/><ref name=Lawfare2016-08-16/><ref name=TheIndependent2016-08-16/><ref name=WashTimes2016-08-17/><ref name=NYTimesGuantanamoDocketIsn762/> Obaidullah was released and repatriated to Afghanistan on 23 December 2019.<ref name=ANN>{{cite web|url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/freed-at-last-three-afghans-sent-to-guantanamo-in-2002-and-2003-are-finally-home/|title=Freed at Last: Three Afghans sent to Guantanamo in 2002 and 2003 are finally home|publisher=Afghanistan Analysts Network|date=23 December 2019}}</ref>

Obaidullah's Guantanamo [[Internment Serial Number]] is 762. American [[intelligence analysts]] estimate that Obaidullah was born in 1980 in [[Khowst|Khost]], Afghanistan.

==Capture and detention==
On July 20, 2002, two dozen American Special Armed Forces soldiers, acting on an anonymous tip, raided Obaidullah's family home and took him into custody along with his cousins. At the time, Obaidullah was carrying a notebook which the U.S. alleges contained diagrams for improvised explosive devices.
<ref name="Questions">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/asia/afghan-detainees-case.html|title=Questions Raised in Afghan Detainee’s Case|first=Charlie|last=Savage|date=February 9, 2012|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

In a statement made during his habeas corpus proceedings, Obaidullah stated:

<blockquote>The Americans came while my family and I were all sleeping in our home in the village of Milani, close to Khost City. At that time I was approximately 19 years old. On that night, I heard noises and the soldiers woke me up. I was very confused about what was going on, and why they were in my home, but I and my family cooperated with them. Even though I was not resisting, they tied my feet together and my hands together with plastic cuffs. Then they put a hood over my head and forced me to sit for hours against a wall. The plastic cut into my hands and it was painful to sit that way for so long. I was terrified about what would happen to me.<ref name=":0">Obaydullah v. Obama, No. 11-5123 (D.C. Cir.), Doc. #1365630, at 33-44, Declaration of Obaidullah, signed September 2010.</ref></blockquote>

=== Chapman Airfield ===
From his home, Obaidullah was transported to Chapman Airfield, a forward operating base. Obaidullah described his treatment at Chapman airbase in a statement made during his habeas corpus proceedings:

<blockquote>After I got to the military base, there were several soldiers who told me to put my hands up and then to hold them straight out to the front of me. I did what they told me to do. They then put two sandbags on my arms and made me walk around back and forth with them like that all night. They were extremely heavy, and if I dropped the bags, the soldiers put them back on my arms. They got so heavy that I had to kind of place them on my stomach as I moved. They did not let me sleep at all for the rest of that night but forced me to keep moving with bags on my arms. When they moved me from one location to another, the soldiers were extremely rough and shoved me around with their knees and elbows in a very painful and frightening way. In the morning before sunrise, I was taken into a room and interrogated by three or four soldiers. They told me that they would kill me if I didn't talk. After I told them I didn't know the answers to their questions, one of them knocked me to the floor. He took out a long knife and started sharpening it in front of me. I could hear the sounds of the knife being sharpened. He then lifted my hood and showed me the knife. He put it on the back of my head and said now start talking… I was terrified and fully believed that they might kill me.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

=== Bagram ===
Obaidullah reported [[Bagram torture and prisoner abuse|abusive interrogation]] while held in [[Bagram Collection Point|Bagram]], during a period when the officers in charge have acknowledged directing the use of the proscribed technique of chaining a detainee's hands above his head in order to impose sleep deprivation.<ref name=SecondCsrtTranscriptIsn762/>

Obaidullah alleges that after arriving at Bagram, he was kept in a small isolation cell, with his hands chained above his head to the ceiling:

<blockquote>The soldiers chained my hands above my head to the ceiling and would leave me like that for 45 minutes or an hour, then take me into an interrogation room, then take me back after the interrogation and chain my arms up again for another 45 minutes to two hours.</blockquote>

He described his interrogations:

{{blockquote|During these interrogations, they questioned me at times under very hot lights, while making me kneel and put my hands on my head for hours. Sometimes I was forced to stand on my knees. I was also forced to stand at times in a bent position while they questioned me. These positions were very painful… Usually my hood was on when they questioned me, but not always. The hood had a rope at the neck. They pulled this rope so tight that it choked me.

Many times they tied my hands and then hooked them to the wall or ceiling over my head while they were questioning me. They also slapped me and spit in my mouth. They held me by the neck, shook me and screamed at me."<ref name=":0" />}}

A Naval Criminal Investigative Service officer who investigated Obaidullah's case wrote in a sworn statement:

<blockquote>Based on my interviews of Afghan witnesses with personal knowledge and my other investigative efforts, detainees at Bagram during this period in 2002, including Obaidullah, were subjected to extraordinarily coercive measures which cause me to question the reliability of resulting statements."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web | title=Declaration of Richard Pandis | url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/291075/obaydullah-pandis-decl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202055201/https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/291075/obaydullah-pandis-decl.pdf |archive-date=2016-02-02 }}</ref> </blockquote>

=== Guantanamo ===
Obaidullah was transferred to [[Guantanamo]] on October 28, 2002.<ref name=NYTimesGuantanamoDocketIsn762/>

Regarding his interrogations there, Obaidullah stated:

<blockquote>When I was taken to an interrogation, they often put me in a freezing cold room with the air conditioning way up high. After the interrogation was over, they would leave me in there for another 3-4 hours by myself with the air conditioning up high. For a long time, maybe a year, after I got to Guantánamo, the interrogators controlled everything about our lives. If we wanted water or if we wanted to see a doctor, it all depended on whether the interrogators approved it or not. One time, about 2 or 3 months after I arrived in Guantánamo, I was very sick for many days. My throat was sore and I had a fever. Finally, they took me to the infirmary. A doctor began to examine me. After a short time, an interrogator came to the door and signalled to the doctor. The doctor went outside and talked to the interrogator for a short time and then left. He did not return. I was taken back to my cell even though I was still sick and felt very bad.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

==== Hunger Strike ====
In February 2013, more than a decade after his arrival at Guantanamo, Obaidullah began a hunger strike. According to Obaidullah, he joined a hunger strike spurred by "invasive" cell searches conducted in February 2013. The removal of items including his family photos and mail from his attorneys, he said, was "especially distressing for me because I have nothing to provoke the authorities to take my belongings and comfort items that gave me a small sense of humanity."<ref>{{Cite web | title=Declaration of Obaidullah, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Obaydullah v. Obama, Civil Action No. 08-1173 (RJL) | date=2013-03-27 | url=http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/prisoner-testimonies/prisoner-testimonies/declaration-of-obaidullah | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310022231/http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/prisoner-testimonies/prisoner-testimonies/declaration-of-obaidullah |archive-date=2016-03-10 }}</ref>

He stated:

<blockquote>I had not participated in hunger strikes, or organized protests in the past. I have been patiently challenging my imprisonment in US civil courts. But the latest actions in the camps have dehumanized me, so I have been moved to take action. Eleven years of my life have been taken from me, and now by the latest actions of the authorities, they have also taken my dignity... Despite the difficulties in continuing the strike, and the health effects I am experiencing and witnessing, we plan to remain on strike until we are treated with dignity... I am losing all hope because I have been imprisoned at Guantánamo for almost eleven years now and still do not know my fate.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

==Official status reviews==

Originally, the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] [[United States President|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.<ref name=UsaToday20071011>
{{cite news
 |url         = https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-11-guantanamo-combatants_N.htm
 |title       = U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use
 |publisher   = [[USA Today]]
 |date        = 2007-10-11
 |archive-date = 2007-10-23
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071023220558/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-11-guantanamo-combatants_N.htm
 |url-status     = live
 |quote       = Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
}}  
</ref>
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===

[[File:Trailer where CSR Tribunals were held.jpg|thumb|[[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.<ref name=Nytimes041109>[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/08/national/08gitmo.html?ex=1257570000&en=4af06725bdf5c086&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court], ''[[New York Times]]'', November 11, 2004 - [http://cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=3838 mirror] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184542/http://cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=3838 |date=2007-09-30 }}</ref><ref name=FinancialTimes041211>[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/news/ft-12-11-04a.htm Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals"], ''[[Financial Times]]'', December 11, 2004</ref>]]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] set up the [[Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants]].<ref name=UsaToday20071011/><ref name=Bbc2002-01-21>{{cite news
 |url         = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1773140.stm
 |title       = Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?
 |work        = [[BBC News]]
 |date        = 2002-01-21
 |access-date  = 2008-11-24
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081123204530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1773140.stm
 |archive-date = November 23, 2008
 |url-status  = live
}}</ref>

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:<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16>
{{cite web
| url         = https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1216_detainees_wittes.pdf 
| title       = The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study
| publisher   = [[The Brookings Institution]]
| date        = 2008-12-16
| author1     = [[Benjamin Wittes]]
| author2     = Zaathira Wyne
| access-date  = 2010-02-16
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170519100934/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1216_detainees_wittes.pdf
| archive-date = 2017-05-19
| url-status  = live
}} 
</ref>

* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who had faced charges before a military commission.<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who the military alleges were members of either al Qaeda or the Taliban and associated with the other group.<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."''<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency."''<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who was an ''"al Qaeda operative"''.<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives ''"who have been charged before military commissions and are alleged Al Qaeda operatives."''<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the ''"34 [captives] admit to some lesser measure of affiliation—like staying in Taliban or Al Qaeda guesthouses or spending time at one of their training camps."''<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>
* Obaidullah  was listed as one of the captives who had admitted ''"to training at Al Qaeda or Taliban camps"''.<ref name=Brookings2008-12-16/>

Obaidullah testified at his 2004 and 2005 hearings.<ref name=CSRTTranscriptIsn762>
{{cite web 
| url         = http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/Detainee/csrt_arb/Set_42_2728-2810.pdf
| title       = summarized transcript
| publisher   = [[US Department of Defense]]
| author      = [[OARDEC]]
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111127150443/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/Detainee/csrt_arb/Set_42_2728-2810.pdf
| archive-date=2011-11-27
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref><ref name=Arb2005TranscriptIsn762>
{{cite web
| url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_8_20751-21016.pdf#page=219
| title=Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings of ISN 762
| date=
| author=[[OARDEC]]
| page=219
| publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]]
| access-date=2007-12-19
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060731083850/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_8_20751-21016.pdf#page=219
| archive-date = 2006-07-31
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref>
<!-- <ref name=Arb2005SummaryIsn762>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902
| title = Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials
| date = March 6, 2007
| access-date = November 12, 2010
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100228040335/http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902
| archive-date = 2010-02-28
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref>
<ref name=Arb2006SummaryOfEvidenceBaidullahBertolaObaydullah>
{{cite web     
| url=http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/Detainee/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_799-899.pdf
| title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Obaydullah, Baidullah/Bertola
| date=11 August 2006
| pages=18–20
| author=[[OARDEC]]
| publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]]
| access-date=2007-12-19
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120916015155/http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/Detainee/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_2_Factors_799-899.pdf
| archive-date = 2012-09-16
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref> -->

===Habeas Petition===
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in [[Boumediene v. Bush]] that Guantanamo detainees are entitled to [[habeas corpus]] proceedings, Obaidullah filed a petition for habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in July 2008.<ref name="Amnesty International">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/053/2010/en/ | title = Document - USA: Normalizing delay, perpetuating injustice, undermining the 'rules of the road' | date = 23 June 2010 |access-date=July 25, 2012 }}</ref> Two months later, the Bush administration filed charges against him in the military commissions at Guantanamo.

On October 19, 2010, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia ruled that Obaidullah's detention was lawful.<ref name="Leon Decision">{{cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2010/10/new-habeas-opinion/ | title = New Habeas Opinion | author = [[Benjamin Wittes]] | date = 2010-10-20 | work = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]] | access-date = 2013-04-24 | archive-date = 2013-05-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514073338/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2010/10/new-habeas-opinion/ | url-status = live }}</ref>  Judge Leon denied Obaidullah's petition for writ of habeas corpus after finding he was "more likely than not" an insurgent.<ref name="Questions" />

====Appeal====
Obaidullah appealed the decision, and In August 2012, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the appeal, affirming the lower court's ruling.<ref name="circuit decision">{{cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2012/08/d-c-circuit-rules-in-obaydullah/ | title = D.C. Circuit Rules in Obaydullah | date = 2012-08-11 | author = [[Benjamin Wittes]] | work = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]] | access-date = 2013-04-24 | archive-date = 2013-05-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130526155404/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/08/d-c-circuit-rules-in-obaydullah/ | url-status = live }}</ref> The court held that the lower court had correctly determined that it was "more likely than not" that Obaidullah was a member of al Qaeda, relying on the secret source whose tip to the U.S. military led to the raid on Obaidullah's family compound. The identity of this source and the information received have not been revealed to Obaidullah or his attorneys.<ref name="Oral Argument Preview">{{cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2012/04/oral-argument-preview-obaydullah-v-obama/ | title = Oral Argument Preview: Obaydullah v. Obama | author = [[Benjamin Wittes]], Raffaela Wakeman | date = 2012-04-23 | work = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]] | access-date = 2013-04-24 | archive-date = 2013-06-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130602160517/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/04/oral-argument-preview-obaydullah-v-obama/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

"Individuals who had lived in Obaidullah's village identified two males who were not originally from the same village but had lived there for a period, and who were rumoured to have sold false information to Americans," a Navy intelligence officer investigating Obaidullah's case in Afghanistan said in a sworn statement. "It was stated that those two men later disappeared and it is not known whether they are alive".<ref name=":1" />

====Motion to Reopen====
On February 8, 2012, Obaidullah's lawyers moved to reopen the record.<ref name="Motion for Relief">{{cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2013/02/new-d-c-district-court-orders-in-obaydullah-and-alhag-guantanamo-habeas-cases/ | title = New D.C. District Court Orders in Obaydullah and Alhag Guantánamo Habeas Cases | author = Alan Rozenshtein | date = 2013-02-01 | work = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]] | access-date = 2013-04-24 | archive-date = 2013-05-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514104022/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/02/new-d-c-district-court-orders-in-obaydullah-and-alhag-guantanamo-habeas-cases/ | url-status = live }}</ref> This would allow Obaidullah a new trial in the district court on the grounds that new evidence had been uncovered. This evidence was attested to in a declaration by Lieutenant Commander Richard Pandis, an NCIS investigator assigned to the case.<ref name="Investigation">{{cite web|url=http://www.closeguantanamo.org/Articles/50-U.S.-Investigation-in-Afghanistan-Clears-Obaidullah-an-Afghan-Still-Held-in-Guantanamo|title=U.S. Investigation in Afghanistan Clears Obaidullah, an Afghan Still Held in Guantánamo|work=closeguantanamo.org|access-date=2012-07-20|archive-date=2012-08-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816021540/http://www.closeguantanamo.org/Articles/50-U.S.-Investigation-in-Afghanistan-Clears-Obaidullah-an-Afghan-Still-Held-in-Guantanamo|url-status=dead}}</ref> The motion was denied on January 30, 2013.<ref name="Motion for Relief" />

====Supreme Court====
On February 26, 2013, Obaidullah filed a petition for [[writ of certiorari]] in the [[US Supreme Court]].<ref name="cert petition">{{cite web | url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2013/03/the-obaydullah-cert-petition-one-more-shot-for-the-supreme-court/ | title = The Obaydullah Cert. Petition: One More Shot for the Supreme Court... | date = March 2013 | work = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]] | author = [[Steve Vladeck]] | access-date = 2013-04-24 | archive-date = 2013-05-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514074855/http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/03/the-obaydullah-cert-petition-one-more-shot-for-the-supreme-court/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

===Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment===

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization [[WikiLeaks]] published formerly secret assessments drafted by [[Joint Task Force Guantanamo]] analysts.<ref name=TelegraphWikiLeaksRevealed2011-04-25>
{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8471907/WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-Bay-terrorist-secrets-revealed.html |title=WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed -- Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose |publisher=[[The Telegraph (UK)]] |date=2011-04-27 |access-date=2012-07-13 |author1=Christopher Hope |author2=Robert Winnett |author3=Holly Watt |author4=Heidi Blake |archive-date=2012-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715015806/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8471907/WikiLeaks-Guantanamo-Bay-terrorist-secrets-revealed.html |url-status=live |quote=The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website. }}  
</ref><ref name=TheTelegraphDabDatabase>
{{cite news
| url         = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8476672/WikiLeaks-The-Guantanamo-files-database.html
| title       = WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database
| publisher   = [[The Telegraph (UK)]]
| date        = 2011-04-27
| access-date  = 2012-07-10
| archive-date = 2015-06-26
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150626204100/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8476672/WikiLeaks-The-Guantanamo-files-database.html
| url-status = dead
}}  
</ref>
His 8-page [[Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment]] was drafted on June 16, 2008.<ref name=TheTelegraphDabIsn762>
{{cite news
| url         = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8476904/Guantanamo-Bay-detainee-file-on-Ubaydallah-US9AF-000762DP.html
| title       = Ubaydallah: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Ubaydallah, US9AF-000762DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks
| publisher   = [[The Telegraph (UK)]]
| date        = 2011-04-27
| access-date  = 2016-04-19
}}  
</ref>
It was signed by camp commandant [[Rear Admiral]] [[David M Thomas Jr.]] He recommended continued detention at Guantanamo.

===Joint Review Task Force===

When he assumed office in January 2009 [[United States President|President]] [[Barack Obama]] made a number of promises about the future of Guantanamo.<ref name=finn1>
{{cite news
 |title       = Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely
 |author      = Peter Finn
 |url         = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104936.html
 |newspaper   = Washington Post
 |date        = January 22, 2010
 |access-date  = July 21, 2010
 |archive-date = 2015-05-04
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150504225142/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104936.html
 |url-status     = live
}}
</ref><ref name=finn2>
{{cite news
 |title       = Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters, task force report says
 |author      = Peter Finn
 |url         = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052803873.html
 |newspaper   = Washington Post
 |date        = May 29, 2010
 |access-date  = July 21, 2010
 |archive-date = 2015-05-10
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150510052105/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052803873.html
 |url-status     = live
}}
</ref><ref name=AndyWorthington2010-06-11>
{{cite web
| author = Andy Worthington
| url = http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/06/11/does-obama-really-know-or-care-about-who-is-at-guantanamo/
| title = Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo?
| date = June 11, 2010
| access-date = July 21, 2010
| archive-date = 2010-06-16
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100616161842/http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/06/11/does-obama-really-know-or-care-about-who-is-at-guantanamo
| url-status = live
}}
</ref>
He promised the use of torture would cease at the camp.  He promised to institute a new review system.  That new review system was composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense.<ref name=GuantanamoReviewTaskForceFinalReport/>  
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 (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] request.<ref name=Unchargeable71>
{{cite news 
| url         = https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html
| title       = 71 Guantanamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2013
| publisher   = [[Joint Review Task Force]]
| date        = 2013-04-09 
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150519230955/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html
| archive-date = 2015-05-19
| access-date  = 2015-05-18
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref>
Obaidullah was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release.
Although Obama promised that those deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release would start to receive reviews from a [[Periodic Review Board]] less than a quarter of men have received a review.

==Charges==

On September 10, 2008, charges were filed against Obaidullah for "conspiracy" and "providing material support for terrorism" under the Military Commissions Act of 2006.<ref name="Reuters20080910">{{cite news
 |url          = https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN9A45605320080910
 |title        = U.S. charges Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo
 |publisher    = Reuters
 |author       = [[Jane Sutton]]
 |date         = 2008-09-10
 |access-date   = 2008-09-11
 |archive-date = 2022-06-07
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220607085921/https://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN9A45605320080910?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref><ref name="AbaidullahCharges">{{cite news|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Obaidullah%20Sworn%20Charges.pdf |title=Charge Sheet |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]] |date=2008-09-10 |access-date=2008-09-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911101756/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Obaidullah%20Sworn%20Charges.pdf |archive-date=September 11, 2008 }}
</ref>
According to ''[[Reuters]]'':

:{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|
:The charges allege he hid mines and other explosives in the Khost area of Afghanistan from October 2001 to July 2002 and carried a notebook describing "how to wire and detonate explosive devices in preparation for acts of terrorism."
|}
[[Anne Richardson (lawyer)|Anne Richardson]], one of his lawyers, described how, when his defense team were able to disprove the allegations used to justify detaining him, and on which the charges he faced were based, the prosecution chose to drop the charges, instead of allowing him to prove his innocence, at trial, which would have justified freeing him.<ref name=Huff2016-11-21/>  She wrote:

:{| class="wikitable"
|
: Later, in 2011, a military lawyer assigned to his defense team found evidence to support Obaidullah's claims of innocence, including substantiating his family's claims that the seemingly incriminating mines had actually been left there during the Soviet occupation, while he and his family were in Pakistan. Although his military lawyers sought a speedy trial, the U.S. government simply dropped the charges. The government didn't need them. They could rely on indefinite detention instead, as they did with most of the other Guantanamo detainees ― detention without charge.<ref name=Huff2016-11-21/>
|}

On June 7, 2011, the Convening Authority for the military commissions dismissed the charges without prejudice.<ref name="charges dismissed" /> There are currently no charges pending against him.

==Incarceration in Guantanamo==
Obaidullah appears on a Department Defense list of "71 Guantanamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2014."<ref>Department of Defense, Office of Freedom of Information, "71 Guantánamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2013," {{cite web |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html |title=Guantanamo Parole List |access-date=2015-05-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519230955/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html |archive-date=2015-05-19 }}</ref> Obaidullah was participating in a hunger strike along with half of the other Guantanamo detainees as of April 23, 2013.<ref name="Strike">{{cite news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol|title=Southcom to send more medics to Guantánamo|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article1950601.html|access-date=21 May 2016|work=[[Miami Herald]]|publisher=[[The McClatchy Company]]|date=23 April 2013}}</ref> Obaidullah received his Periodic Review Board (PRB) hearing on April 19, 2016.<ref name="HRF20160419">{{cite web|last1=Cosgrove|first1=Katherine|title=Obaidullah Receives Initial Review as Pace of PRBs Picks Up|url=http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/obaidullah-receives-initial-review-pace-prbs-picks|website=Human Rights First|access-date=21 May 2016|archive-date=30 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630115140/http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/obaidullah-receives-initial-review-pace-prbs-picks|url-status=dead}}</ref> The decision of the PRB was released Friday, May 20, 2016, and the PRB approved Obaidullah for release into an appropriate environment in an accepting nation, not necessarily his original home country of Afghanistan, similar to conditions placed upon previously released detainees.<ref name="MH20160520">{{cite news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol|title=Guantánamo parole board OKs release of Afghan Obaidullah|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article78908327.html|access-date=21 May 2016|work=[[Miami Herald]]|publisher=[[The McClatchy Company]]|date=20 May 2016}}</ref>

==Transfer to the United Arab Emirates==

On August 15, 2016, the USA transferred Obaidullah, and fourteen other men, to the [[United Arab Emirates]].<ref name=Npr2016-08-16/><ref name=Lawfare2016-08-16/><ref name=TheIndependent2016-08-16/>  Like Obaidullah, [[Mohammed Kamin]], another Afghan, had faced charges under the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]], but wasn't recharged when the [[US Congress]] passed the [[Military Commissions Act of 2009]].

The ''[[Associated Press]]'' sought out and interviewed members of Obaidullah's family, on August 17. One of brothers told the ''Associated Press'' that one of Obaidullah's lawyers had told the family that, after living for six months to a year in the UAE he would be free to leave. Obaidullah would undergo government monitored rehabilitation.<ref name=WashTimes2016-08-17/> 

''[[The Independent]]'' noted that Obaidullah had maintained he was tortured into the confessions that led to him being charged, and that he was assessed not to hold anti-American feelings.<ref name=TheIndependent2016-08-16/>

==Release in Afghanistan==
Obaidullah was reported to have been released and repatriated to Afghanistan by 23 December 2019.<ref name=ANN>{{cite web|url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/freed-at-last-three-afghans-sent-to-guantanamo-in-2002-and-2003-are-finally-home/|title=Freed at Last: Three Afghans sent to Guantanamo in 2002 and 2003 are finally home|publisher=Afghanistan Analysts Network|date=23 December 2019}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name=SecondCsrtTranscriptIsn762>
{{cite web
| url         = http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/762-obaidullah/documents/4 | work= [[The New York Times]] 
| title       = Summarized Sworn Detainee Statement
| date        = 2004
| pages       = 42–52
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060731084019/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_42_2728-2810.pdf#page=42 
| archive-date = 2006-07-31
| access-date  = 2016-11-26
| url-status     = live 
}}
</ref>

<ref name=GuantanamoReviewTaskForceFinalReport>
{{Cite web 
| url         = https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2010/06/02/guantanamo-review-final-report.pdf 
| title       = Final Report: Guantanamo Review Task Force 
| date        = 2010-01-22 
| publisher   = [[Guantanamo Review Task Force]] 
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Huff2016-11-21>
{{cite news
| url         = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wrongfully-imprisoned-in-gitmo_us_58210903e4b0e80b02cc2b31
| title       = Wrongfully Imprisoned in Gitmo for Years, This Man Finally Won His Freedom
| author      = [[Anne Richardson (lawyer)|Anne Richardson]]
| publisher   = [[Huffington Post]]
| date        = 2016-11-21
| quote = Later, in 2011, a military lawyer assigned to his defense team found evidence to support Obaidullah's claims of innocence, including substantiating his family's claims that the seemingly incriminating mines had actually been left there during the Soviet occupation, while he and his family were in Pakistan. Although his military lawyers sought a speedy trial, the U.S. government simply dropped the charges. <!-- The government didn’t need them. They could rely on indefinite detention instead, as they did with most of the other Guantanamo detainees ― detention without charge. -->
}}
</ref>

<ref name=TheIndependent2016-08-16>
{{cite news
| url         = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guantanamo-bay-closure-a-step-closure-after-mass-transfer-of-prisoners-to-the-uae-a7193081.html
| title       = Guantanamo Bay closure a step closer after mass transfer of prisoners to the UAE
| author      = David McFadden 
| publisher   = [[The Independent (UK)]]
| date        = 2016-08-16
| quote = According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in US military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by US special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target U.S. and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan. 
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Npr2016-08-16>
{{cite news
| url         = https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/16/490181416/15-guantanamo-bay-detainees-transferred-to-united-arab-emirates
| title       = 15 Guantanamo Bay Detainees Transferred To United Arab Emirates
| author      = Camila Domonoske
| publisher   = [[National Public Radio]]
| date        = 2016-08-16
| quote       = Two of the Afghan prisoners — Mohammed Kamin and Obaidallah, who only has one name — had been briefly charged in a military commission, The Miami Herald reports. The war crimes prosecutor dropped those charges.
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Lawfare2016-08-16>
{{cite news
| url         = https://lawfaremedia.org/article/big-guantanamo-transfer-progress-towards-sites-obsolescence
| title       = A Big Guantanamo Transfer: Progress Towards the Site's Obsolescence
| author      = [[Benjamin Wittes]]
| date        = 2016-08-16
| publisher   = [[Lawfare (website)|Lawfare]]
}}
</ref>

<ref name=WashTimes2016-08-17>
{{cite news
| url         = http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/17/afghan-family-excited-their-son-released-from-guan/
| title       = Afghan family excited their son released from Guantanamo
| work   = [[Washington Times]]
| date        = 2016-08-17
| quote       = Karim said that his brother's defense lawyer has told him that Obiadullah would be first transferred to a third country for six months to one year and that later, he would be completely free.
}}
</ref>

<ref name=NYTimesGuantanamoDocketIsn762>
{{cite news
| url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/762-obaidullah
| title=Guantanamo Docket: Obaidullah
| work=[[New York Times]]
| author=[[Margot Williams]]
| date=2008-11-03
| access-date  = 2016-11-26
}}
</ref>

}}

==External links==
*[http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/01/07/afghan-nobody-faces-trial-by-military-commission/ Afghan Nobody Faces Trial by Military Commission] Andy Worthington
*[http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/06/26/amnesty-international-blasts-obama-for-delays-and-injustice-on-human-rights-guantanamo-and-terrorism/ Amnesty International Blasts Obama for Delays and Injustice on Human Rights, Guantánamo and Terrorism] [[Andy Worthington]] June 26, 2010
*Human Rights First; [https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/04/obaidullah The Case of Obaidullah, Afghan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014032321/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/04/obaidullah |date=2012-10-14 }}
*Human Rights First; [https://web.archive.org/web/20100827143822/http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/cases/obaidullah.aspx The Case of Obaidullah, Afghan]
* {{cite news 
| url         = http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-afghanistan-detainee-20150408-story.html
| title       = Family fears that Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo will be forgotten
| work   = [[Los Angeles Times]]
| author      = Ali M. Latifi
| date        = 2015-04-09
| location    = [[Kabul]]
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150409123250/http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-afghanistan-detainee-20150408-story.html
| archive-date = 2015-04-09
| url-status     = live 
| quote       = His lawyers say he is too small a fish to be part of any prisoner release agreement involving the United States, the Afghan government and the Taliban.
}}

{{GitmoCharges|state=collapsed}}
{{WoTPrisoners|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obaidullah}}
[[Category:Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]
[[Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States]]
[[Category:Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Khost]]
[[Category:1980 births]]