Administrative Review Board

The Administrative Review Board conducts an annual review of the suspects the United States holds in Camp Delta, in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The purpose of the Board is to review whether the suspects still represent a threat. American authorities classify the suspects as "illegal combatants", a term that has no meaning in International law. From July, 2004 through March, 2005 military authorities conducted a one-time Combatant Status Review Tribunal for each suspect.

The Combatant Status Reviews were criticized by human rights workers because the suspects were not allowed legal counsel, and did not know what allegations they had to defend themselves against, and the suspects had no presumption of innocence.

The Combatant Status Reviews determined that 38 suspects were not illegal combatants after all. They determined that the rest of the suspects had been correctly classified as "illegal combatants" during their original, secret, classifications.

As of September 2005 there were approximately 500 suspects in Camp Delta.

The first set of Administrative Reviews took place between December 14 2004 and December 23 2005. The Boards met to consider the cases of al 463 eligible detainees. They recommended the release of 14 detainees, and the repatriation of 120 detainees to the custody of the authorities in their home countries.

The Department of Defense was under a court order from US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff to release the names of all the detainees by 6pm March 3 2006. The Department of Defense did not meet this deadline. They delivered a CDROM with approximately 5,000 pages of documents at 6:20 pm. They then had to take that CDROM back, and issue a second copy, that had removed some further files that the DoD decided not to release.

Factors for and against continued detention

As part of this release of documents the DoD released three portable document files containing summaries of the factors for and against the release of some of the detainees. These documents summarized the factors for and against the continued detention of 120 detainees. These documents contain the detainee's names. The DoD has not explained why they did not comply with Rakoff's court order and release the factors for and against the other 343 detainees.

Some of the factors listed in favour of continued detention for some detainees were repetitions of allegations that had already been refuted during the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

Summarized Transcripts of Administrative Review Board hearings

The DoD also released an incomplete set of portable document files containing summarized transcripts from administrative review board hearings. Most of these transcripts do not contain the detainees names.

Releases

According to an article from the International Herald Tribune from April 22 2006 the ARB had determined three detainees could be released and 107 detainees could be repatriated to the custody of their home countrie, yet they still remained in Guantanamo. US officials said their continued detention was due to concerns the detainees might be tortured or killed if they were returned or repatriated.

References

1. ^ ARB_Factors_Set_1_944-1045.pdf, Department of Defense
2. ^ ARB_Factors_Set_2_1046-1160.pdf, Department of Defense
3. ^ ARB_Factors_Set_3_1161-1234_Revised.pdf, Department of Defense
4. ^ ARB_Transcript_Set_1_395-584.pdf, Department of Defense
5. ^ ARB_Transcript_Set_2_585-768.pdf, Department of Defense
6. ^ ARB_Transcript_Set_3_769-943_FINAL.pdf, Department of Defense
7. ^ ARB_Transcript_Set_4_1431-1455.pdf, Department of Defense
8. ^ Stuck in Guantánamo, International Herald Tribune, April 22 2006

External links

• I Have Not Seen An Ounce Of Democracy Here, Says Detainee, Bernama, October 14, 2005
• Inmates including Kuwaitis to be subject to certain procedures -- US, Kuwait News Agency, September 20, 2005
• transcripts released under court order, US Department of Defense, March 3 2006
• Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed, US Department of Defense, February 9 2006