Mohammed Ahmad Said Al Edah Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement
UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO
Summarized Unsworn Detainee Statement
The Tribunal President read the Hearing Instructions to the Detainee. The Detainee confirmed that he understood the process and had no questions.
The Recorder presented the Unclassified Summary of Evidence (Exhibit R-I) to the Tribunal.
The Recorder presented Exhibits R-2 and R-3 into evidence and gave a brief description of the contents of the Unclassified Summary of Evidence (Exhibit R-l).
The Recorder confirmed that he had no further unclassified evidence or witnesses and requested a closed Tribunal session to present classified evidence.
The Tribunal President opened the Tribunal to the Detainee to make his statement and asked if he would like to make his statement under oath.
Detainee: Yes, I want to.
Tribunal President: Recorder, would you please administer the oath.
Detainee: Is this the Muslim oath?
Tribunal President: Yes, it will be the Muslim oath.
The Recorder administered the Muslim oath to the Detainee.
The Personal Representative assisted the Detainee by reading each point on the Unclassified Summary of Evidence and giving the Detainee the opportunity to reply.
3.1. The Detainee traveled to Afghanistan in July 2001.
Detainee: Is that the 7th month of the year?
Personal Representative: Yes. Would you like to make a statement?
Detainee: I already did. I said yes.
3.2. The detainee Traveled from Kandahar to Khost, Afghanistan on a bus filled with wounded Taliban soldiers.
Detainee: Wait, I'm still on point one. Do you want me to talk about my travel?
Tribunal President: If you would please.
Detainee: I traveled to Afghanistan with my sister for the purpose of taking her to her husband. In the Muslim society, a woman does not travel by herself. I was just accompanying her to her location. That was reason for my travel.
3.2. The detainee traveled from Kandahar to Khost, Afghanistan on a bus filled with wounded Taliban soldiers.
Detainee: I did travel from Kandahar to Khost and I told the interrogator this information that they didn't even know. But I did not travel with soldiers from the Taliban. They were some people there that were injured. They were civilians or soldiers and as you know the Afghani people, they cannot tell the difference between the civilians or the soldiers because the clothing and uniforms are the same.
3.3. The Detainee helped with the needs of the wounded Taliban soldiers during the bus trip.
Detainee: That is not correct. First, I'm not from that part of the world that I know the way and two, I don't have any experience in medical treatment. I was not working for a community or organization and I didn't have any money to help these people. In addition to that, I was injured myself.
3.4. The Detainee was present in Kabul, during U.S. air campaign there.
Detainee: Yes I was present and the campaign took place when I was there. I did not go from one municipality to another municipality. I wanted to get out of Kabul and as I said before I don't know the area until the time I met with someone who told me how to get from Kabul to Khost. Do not make a connection between my travel from Kandahar to Khost. My first travel was from Kandahar to Kabul. The second time it was from Kandahar to Khost.
3. 5. The Detainee was arrested Pakistani authorities, in Pakistan.
Detainee: Yes that's true. I was not on the border and I didn't have any weapons. I was in one of cities in Pakistan, on a bus.
3.6. At the time of his capture, the Detainee was in the possession of a Casio watch, model A159W (silver version of the F-91W).
Detainee: I looked at the document that was presented to me by the Personal Representative and having looked at it, I knew that watch is not mine. When they captured me Pakistan, I had a watch. But because I did not know how to read and write the English language, I do not know the name of the watch, the model, I can tell the watch is mine only by looking at it. The document that the Personal Representative showed me, is not my watch.
Personal Representative: I do have some evidence to introduce or an Exhibit for that if you'd like it now.
Tribunal President: You can wait with that, when we get to it, but I certainly will allow you to do that.
Detainee: My Personal Representative indicated to me that he was going to tell the Tribunal that, in his own opinion, this is a very cheap watch and it's not relevant or important.
Tribunal President: He will be allowed an opportunity to do that.
Detainee: In my own opinion it's a matter of principle if that was my watch or rather it was expensive or inexpensive, I will admit it's my watch but in that case it's not.
3.7. This model of watch has been used in bombings that have been linked to al Qaida and radical Islamic terrorist improvised explosive devices.
Detainee: Is that a question?
Translator: He was asking if that was a question. I said no that was an allegation.
Tribunal President: It was a statement.
Detainee: Is that an allegation?
Tribunal President: No, that was just simply a statement.
Detainee: I've already answered that question by saying that this is not my watch.
Tribunal President: Correct.
Tribunal President: Anything else?
Personal Representative: Yes Your Honor, I would like to enter Exhibit D-b and I'll briefly describe what this is. Researching on the internet to the Casio World Website. found this picture and definition of the F-91W which is not.
Tribunal President: Please give time for him to translate.
Personal Representative: There are two points that I wanted to make about this. First of all, the price on the watch is indicated as $18.95. The point being that the inexpensive price and the quantities produced, using this as a point of evidence is, in my, or I would like you to consider the weight of that. Also, if you would note on here there's a section on Product Archive which I did a search on the watch that was alleged to be in the Detainee's possession and the watch is so old that it does not even show up on the Casio's website in their product archives. The point being also that we're also now linking now two watches with very inexpensive and the high production rates and the fact that it's a person's possession is, I believe a weak point of evidence that would tie him to a particular Islamic or radical group. That's just information for the Tribunal that's in light of his statement that it's not his watch mayor may weigh but I think it's relevant in the statement as it's made in the Unclassified Statement.
Detainee: The two watches, the one that I saw and the one that was downloaded. What about the one that's downloaded?
Personal Representative: The one watch is the one that is alleged to be similar to your watch and is the tie to the Terrorist organization.
Translator: May I show him this?
Detainee: 1 want to know the difference between the two watches. This one here (referring to Exhibit D-B) and one downloaded from the Casio website.
Personal Representative: I could not find any specs on his watch so I don't know what's included in there but. ..
Detainee: Why do we have second watch here especially ifit's not mine?
Personal Representative: The only thing that I've been able to find is from the Unclassified Statement, they say they are similar, visually they look similar but I don't have the specs on the 159W, which is the one he had in his possession. They are both simple watches. They are not very complex watches.
Detainee: How is that they've alleged that my watch is connected to the (inaudible).
Tribunal President: Don't know. The only thing that we've seen is this [referring to Exhibit R-I]. This is the only document that this Tribunal Panel has seen.
Detainee: Bullet number six and number seven, they are alleging that it has some connection with the Taliban.
Tribunal President: Correct they are.
Detainee: If you are saying that there is a connection to the al Qaida and so forth and Personal Representative is saying that it's a very simple watch. How is it that you're saying it has lED capabilities and other things?
Tribunal President: I can't help you there. This is all we know about it is what is here.
Detainee: By the way all the information that you have I told the interrogators about. Your interrogators didn't have anything on me whatsoever. I will be more than happy to participate with you people; answer anything that you want all the way to the end. And I hope that the Tribunal would look at the Unclassified as well as the Classified and arrive to the truth.
Tribunal President: Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation. Would you like to make any more statements or does that conclude your statement?
Detainee: That's it. If there are questions, you ask.
Tribunal President: I believe we will have some questions for you. Thank you.
Detainee: Fine.
Tribunal President: Personal Representative do you have any questions for the Detainee?
Personal Representative: No rna' am.
Tribunal President: Recorder do you have any questions for the Detainee?
Recorder: No ma'am.
Tribunal President: Do any Tribunal members have any questions for the Detainee?
Tribunal Member's questions
Q. Would you tell us a little bit about your sister's husband and what he was doing in Afghanistan while you were bringing your sister to Afghanistan?
A. He was working for a charitable organization. Because he was looking for work, he had to go outside Yemen so he could get paid for all the services and charity work. As I stated earlier, that the woman does not travel by herself. Because my sister was Yemen and her husband in Pakistan, be asked me to bring her over to him.
Q. What city in Pakistan?
A. I took her to Pakistan, Karachi. There was a guy that I met with and he took us to Afghanistan. I took my sister from Yemen to Afghanistan. Pakistan was nothing more than a stop over. Because I couldn't travel from Yemen to Afghanistan.
Q. Do you know the name of the charitable organization your brother-in-law worked for?
A. I do not know.
Q. You are a Yemen citizen?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have military training in Yemen?
A. I was in the Army. I was drafted. It was a compulsory duty. For a period oftwo years. From 1982 to 1984 approximately.
Q. What was your usual occupation in Yemen?
A. 1 was an employee for an oil refinery.
Q. Would you please tell us something about your injuries that you sustained in Afghanistan and how you got them?
A. I was on a motorcycle and fell off.
Q. How long did you originally plan to stay in Afghanistan after you delivered your sister?
A. One to two months.
Q. In what month were you captured?
A. In September approximately.
Tribunal Member: Madame President may 1 see Exhibit D-b please?
Tribunal President: Certainly.
Tribunal President: May I make a brief inquiry on D-b with the Detainee?
Tribunal President: Yes.
Tribunal Member: Please explain to him (to translator) I'm going to ask him about D-b.
The Tribunal Member went to the Detainee to show him the photo in Exhibit D-B.
Q. You've told us that this is not a picture of the watch that you had.
A. Not this one the second one (referring to the photo on the third page of Exhibit DB).
Q. That is not a picture of the watch you had?
A. [Detainee indicated in the negative].
Tribunal Member: make it reflect that's D-b page three (to the reporter).
Tribunal Member: Thank you for clarifying, that's all I have.
Detainee: Thank you as well.
The second member of the Tribunal posed thefollowing questions:
Q. You stated that you traveled in a bus not filled with Taliban soldiers. Is that true?
A. Yes, that's true.
Q. But later, then you said you could not tell the difference between civilians and soldiers because they wear the same clothing.
A. Yes, that's true too.
Q. So how do you know they were not soldiers?
A. I was trying to clarify the accusation. In the accusation you said soldier. As far as soldier in the American society is somebody who is wearing a military uniform. So in Taliban it's different. When you look at the people they're all wearing the same clothes so you can't tell. That was in the past. Now they have improved on their uniforms and they have an army and so forth.
Q. So it's possible that these people on the bus were Taliban?
A. There were a lot people that were injured. Some of them could have been civilians and some of them could have been soldiers.
Q. When you left Yemen to Afghanistan, with your sister, were you still employed at the oil refinery?
A. Yes. I was employed. I had taken vacation.
Q. Your employer was willing to give you two months vacation?
A. They were willing to give me more than two months.
Q. What was the reason you were captured in Afghanistan? In Pakistan, excuse me, in Pakistan.
A. I was on a bus. They were capturing everybody that had Arabic features. I gave them my passport and that show that I'm an Arab. They said why don't you follow us we need you in the Center. From that point on they brought us over here.
Tribunal President questions
Q. I have a couple of questions because I got a little lost earlier. I understood you to say that there were actually two trips you took in Afghanistan.
A. No one time.
Q. Okay. I knew I was confused. That's why I asked.
A. I left Yemen to Pakistan and then from Pakistan I went to Afghanistan, all done at one time. I stayed one day in Pakistan. That was the first time I left Yemen to go outside.
Q. Once you were in Afghanistan, you went from Kandahar to Khost?
A. Kandahar to Kabul. From Kabul to Khost.
Q. Where in Afghanistan were you taking your sister? To Khost?
A. To Kandahar.
Q. So the rest of the travel after you dropped her off was for sight seeing?
A. It was.
Q. And then once things started to happen in Kabul how did you leave then to get to Pakistan? Because you were captured in Pakistan correct?
A. I went from Kabul to Khost. Khost was very safe, there was nothing going on there. I came back from Khost to Kandarhar to take my sister. I found out that my sister had gone back to Yemen. I got injured and went to the hospital and I traveled from Kandahar to Khost and then to Pakistan. Via something called Miramshah.
Q. You had no trouble getting cross the border I'm assuming since you had your passport?
A. I had my passport. I did not commit any crime or violation that I was going to be detained for any reason. (inaudible).
Tribunal President: Thank you. 1 have no further questions.
Detainee: Thank you as well.
Tribunal President: Again, I'd like to thank you for participating in this Tribunal today.
Tribunal President: At this time do you have other evidence to present to the Tribunal?
Detainee: My statements answered all the allegations. I'm concerned about the watch. Regarding question number three, providing medical support, I don't have medical experience or any financial means to do that.
The Tribunal President confirmed that the Personal Representative had no further evidence to present and that the Detainee no previously approved witnesses to present to the TribunaL
The Tribunal President concluded the Tribunal session.
Detainee: In the beginning you said that was some classified. May I take a look at it?
Tribunal President: Classified information cannot be revealed to a Detainee.
Detainee: May I look at the Unclassified Evidence?
Tribunal President: Basically, all of the Unclassified has been shown to you.
Detainee: That's fine.
The Tribunal President explained the remainder of the Tribunal process to the Detainee and adjourned the open session.
AUTHENTICATION
I certify the material contained in this transcript is a true and accurate summary of the testimony given during the proceedings.
Colonel, U.S. Army Tribunal President
UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO
ISN# 033 Enclosure (3)