Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi is a citizen of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, who was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. The

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

estimate that Al Warafi was born in 1974, in

Ta'iz Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni Highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. With a populat ...

, Yemen. Muktar Yahya Najee al Warafi was held at Guantanamo from 2002 to January 13, 2016.

Official status reviews

Originally the

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

asserted that captives apprehended in the ''"

war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

"'' were not covered by the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...

, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. In 2004, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled, in

Rasul v. Bush ''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corpus ...

, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the

set up the

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants The Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, established in 2004 by the Bush administration's Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, is a United States military body responsible for organising Combatant St ...

. Scholars at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

, led by

Benjamin Wittes Benjamin Wittes (born November 5, 1969) is an American legal journalist and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he is the Research Director in Public Law, and Co-Director of the Harvard Law School–Brookings ...

, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations: * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges ... are associated with the Taliban."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges ... traveled to Afghanistan for jihad."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who ''"The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives whose ''"

names or aliases were found on material seized in raids on Al Qaeda safehouses and facilities A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who was a foreign fighter. * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of ''"36 aptives whoopenly admit either membership or significant association with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or some other group the government considers militarily hostile to the United States."'' * Muktar Yahya Najee Al Warafi was listed as one of the captives who had admitted ''"to training at Al Qaeda or Taliban camps"''.

Habeas corpus

In 2015, Warafi's lawyers challenged his detention following a statement by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, that US involvement in hostilities in Afghanistan were over. They argued that the detention of individuals in Guantanamo was only valid while hostilities were ongoing. On July 30, 2015,

US District Court Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

Royce Lamberth Royce Charles Lamberth /’læm-bərth/ (born July 16, 1943) is a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who formerly served as its chief judge. Since 2015, he has sat as a visiting judge on the United Stat ...

ruled that, without regard to the Obama's comment, hostilities were still ongoing in Afghanistan, so Warafi's detention remained legal.

A court cannot look to political speeches alone to determine factual and legal realities merely because doing so would be easier than looking at all the relevant evidence. The government may not always mean what it says or say what it means.

One of Warafi's lawyers, Brian Foster, called Lamberth's opinion ''"rubber stamp for endless detention"''.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

published formerly secret assessments drafted by

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command has ...

analysts. His 8-page

Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

was drafted on October 30, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

David M. Thomas Jr. David M. Thomas (born 1958) is a former senior officer in the United States Navy. Early life Thomas's father was a career Navy officer. Thomas, and three of his brothers, are graduates of the United States Naval Academy. All are retired, ...

He recommended continued detention.

Transfer to Oman

Warafi was transferred to

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

with nine other individuals from Yemen:

Fahed Abdullah Ahmad Ghazi The United States has held a total of 115 Yemeni citizens at Guantanamo Bay, forty-two of whom have since been transferred out of the facility. Only Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia had a greater number of their citizens held in the Guantanamo Bay de ...

Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number was 043. The Department of Defense reports Moqbel ...

, Waqas Mohammed Ali Awad, Abu Bakr Ibn Ali Muhhammad Alahdal,

Abdul al Razzaq Muhammad Salih The United States has held a total of 115 Yemeni citizens at Guantanamo Bay, forty-two of whom have since been transferred out of the facility. Only Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia had a greater number of their citizens held in the Guantanamo Bay dete ...

, Muhhammad Said Bin Salem, Said Muhammed Salih Hatim, Omer Saeed Salem al Daini,

Fahmi Abdullah Ahmed The United States has held a total of 115 Yemeni citizens at Guantanamo Bay, forty-two of whom have since been transferred out of the facility. Only Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia had a greater number of their citizens held in the Guantanamo Bay de ...

. All ten men had been cleared for release in 2009.

References

External links

Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Two: Captured in Afghanistan (2001)
Andy Worthington, September 17, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Warafi, Mukhtar Yahya Najee 1974 births Living people People from Taiz