Abdul Hafiz (Guantanamo detainee)

Abdul Hafiz is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held for six and a half years in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1030. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1961. Abdul Hafiz was repatriated to Afghanistan in December 2009. By March 2010 Abdul Hafiz was reported to have resumed a senior role in the Taliban.

Arrest and detainment

According to the Associated Press the allegations against Hafiz, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, said he worked for a Taliban militia. They state that when he was captured he had in his possession a satellite phone that was "linked to a slaying".

The detainee claimed that he wasn't Abdul Hafiz at all, that his name was really Abdul Qawi. He said he was given the satellite phone by the real Abdul Hafiz, and didn't even know how to use it.

According to the Associated Press he complained AbOUT not being able to view the evidence against him, and told his Tribunal: ''"In our culture, if someone is accused of something, they are shown the evidence."

Release and repatriation

Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald reported that Abdul Hafiz was one of twelve men transferred from Guantanamo on December 19, 2009.

Hafiz's repatriation stirred controversy.

In March 2010 Newsweek magazine reported that Liz Cheney described Hafiz "Obama's first recidivist". National Review reported that Hafiz had been promoted to extort ransoms from charities and other non-governmental organizations that planned aid operations in Afghanistan.

External links

• Abdul Hafiz: the wrong man with a satellite phone Andy Worthington