Gouled Hassan Dourad

Summary

Guled Hassan Duran (Somali: Guuleed Xasan Duraan; born April 1, 1974) is a citizen of Somalia who is held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detainment camps in Cuba.[3]

Guled Hassan Duran
جوليد حسن دوران
Born (1974-04-01) April 1, 1974 (age 49)[1][2]
Mogadishu, Somalia
Arrested2004
Somalia
Detained at CIA black sites
Guantanamo
ISN10023
StatusStill held in Guantanamo
Children4

Guled Hassan Duran arrived at Guantanamo on September 6, 2006, and has been held there for 17 years, 6 months and 17 days.[3][4][5][6]

Early life edit

Duran was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. When the Somali Civil War erupted in 1991, his parents sent him to Germany where he lived in a refugee camp.[7][8] He traveled to Sweden and gained asylum there in 1993. In 1994, he attempted travel to the United States but was turned back in Iceland on account of his fraudulent passport.

Alleged ties to terrorism edit

According to American counter-terrorism officials, while in Sweden, Duran attended a Somali mosque, whose imam arranged for Duran and his friend, future AIAI bombmaker Qasim Mohamed, to train in Afghanistan before joining the Somali war effort.[7] Duran trained at the Khalden camp in weapons and explosives from January through October 1996, and at another camp in Khost in assassination techniques for several months. By late 1996 he returned to Somalia.

American counterterrorism officials assert Duran became a member of AIAI in 1997 out of a commitment to support the Somali war against Ethiopia and to win the Ogaden region of Ethiopia back to Somalia.[7] He fought against the Ethiopians in Ogaden off and on from 1997 to 2002 and trained AIAI fighters. He allegedly became associated with al-Qaeda because its members were in Somalia and his AIAI cell supported the al-Qaeda. Gouled was introduced to Abu Talha al-Sudani, who came to Mogadishu to hide following the Mombasa attacks in November 2003, in early 2003 by his AIAI cell leader. Duran was recruited to work for al-Sudani, in part, because he had trained in Afghanistan: spoke Arabic, English, some Swedish and Somali, and had a high-school education.

According to the United States Director of National Intelligence, Duran was the head of the Mogadishu-based facilitation network of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) members that supported al-Qaeda members in Somalia.[3] Duran was a member of a small, selective group of AIAI members who worked for the East African al-Qaida cell led by Abu Talha al-Sudani. Duran's responsibilities included locating safehouses, assisting in the transfer of funds, and procuring weapons, explosives and other supplies.[3] Duran was privy to several terrorist plots under consideration by his AIAI cell, including shooting down an Ethiopian jetliner landing at an airport in Somalia in 2003 and kidnapping Western NGO-workers in Hargeysa, Somalia, in 2002, as a means to raise money for future AIAI operations.[3]

Following Duran's arrest, AIAI terrorists on March 19, 2004, tried unsuccessfully to kidnap a German aid worker and murdered a Kenyan contract employee in Hargeysa.[3]

Mother's appeal edit

On November 23, 2009, Africa News published a profile of Duran's mother, Adar Mohammed Yusuf, who asserted that he was innocent.[9] Adar said her son was captured by a Somali warlord in 2004.

Adar was quoted as saying:

"If my son is a terrorist, why isn't he charged accordingly in a court of law. I am calling on the Somali government and human rights groups to look at my son’s case.”

Africa News reports Duran was captured by the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, which was associated with the CIA.[9]Africa News reports that Duran was one of dozens of captives apprehended by the Alliance.

Duran's mother asserted that he had four children.[9]

Joint Review Task Force edit

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.[10][11][12][13] That new review system was composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. 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 request.[14] Guled Hassan Duran was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release. Obama said those deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release would start to receive reviews from a Periodic Review Board.

Periodic Review Board edit

The first review wasn't convened until November 20, 2013.[15] As of 15 April 2016, 29 individuals had reviews, but Guled Hassan Duran wasn't one of them. Duran was approved for transfer on November 10, 2021.[16]

Possible transfer to the USA edit

Military authorities cut off access for the captive's lawyers and their clients following the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in March 2020.[17] They used the virus as a justification to cut off contact even by video-conference and telephone. US District Court Judge Reggie Walton gave government officials thirty days to come up with a way for lawyers to contact their clients.

Department of Justice lawyer Terry Henry claimed lawyers were still allowed to travel to Guantanamo.[17] Duran's lawyer Wells Dixon responded by reminding Henry that lawyers arriving in Guantanamo would be required to go through a two-week quarantine, upon their arrival, and another two week quarantine when they returned to the continental USA.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82759-isn-10023-gouled-hassan-dourad-jtf-gtmo-detainee/15062331d7bbe03e/full.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ https://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN10023/160621_U_ISN10023_GOVERNMENTS_UNCLASSIFIED_SUMMARY_PUBLIC.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Biographies of High Value Terrorist Detainees Transferred to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay" (PDF) (Press release). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 2006-09-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  4. ^ Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Gouled Hassan Dourad". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  5. ^ JTF-GTMO (2007-03-16). "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2008-12-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-06-13.
  7. ^ a b c "Gouled Hasan Dourad" (PDF). Countering Terrorism Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-09.
  8. ^ "Gouled Hasan Dourad" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. 2009-09-06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-01.
  9. ^ a b c Muhyadin Ahmed Roble (2009-11-23). "Release my son in Guantanamo". Africa News. Archived from the original on 2009-11-26.
  10. ^ Andy Worthington (2012-10-25). "Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?". Archived from the original on 2015-03-08. Retrieved 2015-02-19. I have already discussed at length the profound injustice of holding Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, in articles here and here, and noted how their cases discredit America, as Khan, against whom no evidence of wrongdoing exists, nevertheless had his habeas corpus petition denied, and Ghani, a thoroughly insignificant scrap metal merchant, was put forward for a trial by military commission — a war crimes trial — under President Bush.
  11. ^ Andy Worthington (June 11, 2010). "Does Obama Really Know or Care About Who Is at Guantánamo?". Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  12. ^ Peter Finn (January 22, 2010). "Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-04. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  13. ^ Peter Finn (May 29, 2010). "Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters, task force report says". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-10. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  14. ^ "71 Guantanamo Detainees Determined Eligible to Receive a Periodic Review Board as of April 19, 2013". Joint Review Task Force. 2013-04-09. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  15. ^ "Periodic Review Secretariat: Review Information". Periodic Review Secretariat. Archived from the original on 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  16. ^ https://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN10023/Subsequent%20Review%202/211110_UPR_ISN10023_SH2_FINAL_DETERMINATION.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  17. ^ a b Josh Gerstein (2020-05-29). "Judge mulls bringing Guantanamo prisoner to U.S." Politico. Archived from the original on 2020-06-01. Retrieved 2020-05-31. District Judge Reggie Walton said he doesn't consider adequate an email- and fax-based system the Defense Department has set up to handle legal mail between some detainees and their lawyers as visits have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

External links edit

  • UN Secret Detention Report (Part One): The CIA’s “High-Value Detainee” Program and Secret Prisons Andy Worthington
  • David M. Thomas Jr. (2008-09-19). "Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9SO-010023DP (S)" (PDF). JTF-GTMO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2011-10-29.   Media related to File:ISN 10023, Hassan Guleed's Guantanamo detainee assessment.pdf at Wikimedia Commons