Mohamed Jawad

Born in Miran Shah, Pakistan, Mohamed Jawad (also Amir Khan, Mir Jan, Sakheb Badsha) faces life in prison, accused of war crimes, at the Guantanamo military commissions on charges that he threw a grenade at a passing American convoy on December 17, 2002 while 16 or 17 years old. He does not face any accusations of terrorism.

Jawad insists that he had been hired to help remove landmines from the wartorn region, and that a colleague had thrown the grenade. He has been held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and Guantanamo Bay detainment camps for the past five years. His Internee Security Number is 900.

Jawad had been among those who announced they would boycott the tribunals, but attended the beginning of his trial in May 2008.

Background

Jawad, who was studying at a sixth or seventh-grade level at a school the United States later referred to as "Jihadi", lived in an Afghan refugee camp in Miran Shah, Pakistan. His father died while he was a child, and when his mother re-married when he was 13, his new stepfather kicked him out of the house.

Several years later, he was approached by four or six men at Qari Mosque in his hometown. They asked if he would be willing to take a lucrative job in Kabul, Afghanistan where recent government attention had been called to the need to remove landmines, and help clear Soviet-era mines from the region for a promised 12,000 Pakistani Rupees.

Jawad agreed, but said he would first need to secure the permission of his mother. The men told him to tell his family he had found a job across the border, but not to mention the details lest they worry about his safety. Some of his relatives tried to discourage him, saying he was too young for a job, but since his mother wasn't present, he decided to accompany the men.

Attack and capture

Main article: minors detained in the global war on terror

A white Soviet Waz jeep, driven by Sergeant first class Michael Lyons with Sergeant first class Christopher Martin in the passenger seat and Afghan interpreter Assadullah Khan Omerk in the rear, had just finished an operation in the marketplace and was stopped in traffic, when somebody tossed a homemade grenade through the jeep's missing rear window.

Both soldiers from the 19th Special Forces were wounded, Lyons in the eye and and both feet, and puncturing an eardrum, while Martin escaped with less serious injuries to his right knee, and the Afghan interpreter suffered only minor injuries.

Four American Humvees cordoned off the site of the attack, and Afghan police near the area arrested three men, holding Jawad and Ghulam Saki, while releasing a third suspect. A police officer said that he had seen one throw the grenade, and the other tackled by a fruit vendor as he prepared to throw a second. Jawad would later tell his tribunal that he had been handed devices he didn't recognise by the men with him, and told to put them in his pocket and wait for their return. When he went into his pocket to purchase raisins from a shopkeeper, he was asked why he had a "bomb" in his pocket - and the shopkeeper advised him to run and throw the two grenades in the river. It was while running toward the river, yelling at people to move aside because he had a bomb, that Jawad alleges he was "caught".

Imprisonment at Guantanamo

Jawad tried to kill himself in December 2003.

In May 2004, two months after the military announced that it had ceased its "Frequent Flier" program of sleep deprivation by forcing detainees to shift cells every 2-4 hours, Jawad was given the same treatment, being woken up every 2 hours and 55 minutes, and moved to a new cell; which happened 112 times.

His 22nd interrogation was held in September 2004.

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared on 19 October 2004. In addition to mentioning his recruitment to help remove Soviet-era minefields in Kabul, the memo also introduced allegations that Jawad had ties to Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, and that his school was named "Jihadi". The memo also said that Jawad "received instruction" on AK-47s, RPGs and grenades, and told an unnamed "terrorist organization associate" that he would fight Northern Alliance and American forces.

The memo was released in March 2005, although it redacted his place of birth. The subsequent September 2007 release of the memo did not redact it.

Jawad expressed confusion about the purpose of the Tribunal. When his Tribunal's President asked him if he understood the Tribunal procedure he responded that it was supposed to determine if he was a criminal. His Tribunal's President tried to explain that the Tribunal was not concerned with whether he was a criminal, but rather was supposed to determine whether he was an "enemy combatant". Nevertheless, Jawad continued the tribunal explaining that he was not a criminal.

Jawad described being approached by a man at the mosque who invited him to take a job clearing mines. Jawad told his Tribunal that he told the man he wanted his mother's permission before he took the job. The man told him to tell his family he had accepted a job in Afghanistan, but not to worry them by telling them he was going to be clearing mines. Various family members told him he was too young to take a job. His mother had left to visit relatives, so he left for Afghanistan without her permission. Jawad testified that when he arrived in Afghanistan he was given a Hezb-e-Islami ID card. He testified that he was made to take pills that left him sleepy and disoriented. He also testified: "The men gave me injections in the leg and I hallucinated about many things, like my nose coming off and giving my ear to people."

Jawad testified that he was taught how to throw grenades, that a mine went off near him, but he wasn't injured.

According to Jawad that staff at the camp where he was trained were known by numbers, not names.

Jawad told his Tribunal that the staff members gave him orange gum, chocolate candy, and a tablet that made him go out of his mind.

Jawad's Personal Representative tried to repeat to his Tribunal the account he recorded of Jawad, "number thirty-nine", "number forty-two" another trainee named Nadir and himself traveling to Khowst. Jawad's Personal Representative's account included Jawad being given some bombs. Then "something happened", everyone was running. Then he got arrested, taken to Bagram, and finally to Guantanamo.

While the Personal Representative tried to repeat the account he recorded Jawad kept interrupting him with corrections.

Jawad said he didn't know whether Nadir, "number 38" and "number 42" were arrested at the same time he was. He was told they were. He was told they weren't. And he was told they were killed.

Jawad's transcript does not record the Tribunal members asking him any questions.

First annual Administrative Review Board hearing

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his first annual Administrative Review Board on 7 November 2005.

At his first ARB, Jawad was accused of meeting a single individual at his shop in October 2002 who offered him money to kill Americans. Two months later it says that he was attending Qurey Mosque in Miran Shah and met four people who offered him 12,000 Rupees in exchange for helping to clear a minefield. It states that he trained with Hezb-I-Islami Gulbuddin for a day and a half in Khost, after being given given injections in his right leg and two pills. It says he was then trained to use "AK-47s, rocket launchers, machine guns, and hand grenades". It said that Jawad had previously stated that although he was not originally supposed to be the one to throw the grenade, it had been handed to him at the last second and he thus threw it.

It also cited Jawad's interrogation by the Afghan police, where he allegedly put his thumbprint and signature to a confession that said he had trained in the caves of Afghanistan, had told his associates that he was willing to kill people, had agreed to kill Americans in exchange for extra money, and that he was proud to have done it.

Given the opportunity for a spoken statement, Jawad said that he had was confused by the accusation that he met a recruiter at his shop, since he never owned a shop. He agreed that he had attended the Qurey Mosque, but said he had never attended a "Jihadi Madrassa" or any other religious school. He also stated that the militants who recruited him had no connection to Hezb-I-Islami, and he had never received any training on how to throw grenades. He also said that he had specifically told his interrogators that he "was the person who did not throw the grenade.", and that the only time he had said otherwise was under torture by the Afghan police who threatened to kill him if didn't confess.

This marked the first time that his Assisting Military Officer heard anything about alleged abuse, and prompted the Presiding Officer to ask whether the new claim triggered mandatory responses. Jawad was questioned about the interrogation and confession, and confirmed that he had been tortured by Afghans, not American forces. He also said that he couldn't have put his signature on the confession since he lacked a signature.

Jawad reiterated his claim that he was in the market with his associates, but that he had not been the one to throw the grenade. He said he didn't know the attacker personally, but would recognise his face if he saw him again. He was interrupted while explaining how he had been recruited, to be told that the panel had already heard that part of the story from him, and he subsequently refused to continue his oral statement.

Jawad's Assisting Miliary Officer met with him on December 6 2005 for 45 minutes for a pre-hearing interview. His Assisting Military Officer reported that he was "very cordial, attentive, and was well informed about the ARB's purpose and procedures.

Second annual Administrative Review Board hearing

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his second annual Administrative Review Board on 26 October 2006, for which there was no indication that Jawad chose to take part. The new accusations changed the accusation that he had been seen "in Jihadi Madrassa", to state that an unnamed "source" had reported seeing him "in jihadi Madrassas". It removed the reference to Jawad allegedly meeting a recruiter in his shop, and the wording about which of the two associates had thrown the grenade was made less clear, but argued that Afghan police believed there was only one suspect in the attack, despite three people originally being arrested at the scene. This ARB also added a note claiming Jawad had been caught with "approximately four grenades".

It again quoted Jawad's interrogation by the Afghan police, but added a phrase stating that he had confessed to having foreknowledge of the September 11th attacks.

Faces charges before a Guantanamo military commission

On Thursday October 11 2007, Jawad because the eleventh Guantanamo charges before a Guantanamo military commission, and was the first person to face charges following the Supreme Court's ruling that the ten former tribunals were unconstitutional, ushering in the Military Commissions Act of 2006.. He was charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of committing serious bodily harm.

His defence attorney, Major David Frakt has filed motions calling for a mental health evaluation of Jawad, and seeking the dismissal of charges based on the interrogation techniques used against him, and the "unlawful influence on the prosecution" by Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, who had been suspended from participating in other tribunals following similar complaints.