The Faisalabad Three is a term used to refer to three of

Guantanamo detainees As of October 29, 2022, This list of Guantánamo prisoners has the known identities of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, but is compiled from various sources and is incomplete. In official documents, the United States Depart ...

facing charges before military commissions.

Jabran Said bin al Qahtani Jabran Said Bin Wazir al-Qahtani is a Saudi who was held in extrajudicial detention for almost fifteen years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts estimate he was born in 1977, in Tab ...

Sufyian Barhoumi Sufyian Ibn Muhammad Barhoumi is an Algerian man who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 28, 1973, in Algiers, Algeria. Sufy ...

and

Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi al-Sharbi is a Saudi currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 682. He graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni ...

were captured in a

safehouse A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, together with approximately a dozen other suspects, including a senior member of the

Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...

leadership,

Abu Zubaydah Abu Zubaydah ( ; , ''Abū Zubaydah''; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi Arabian currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held under the authority of Authorization for Use ...

. Summarized transcripts (.pdf) from Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi's''

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were esta ...

'' - pages 26-30 Barhoumi, al Qahtani, and al Sharbi have all tried to decline legal representation. Abdul Zahir, the tenth Guantanamo detainee to face charges, was also captured in that safehouse. Faisalabad is the home of Salafi University, a donation supported religious institution that provides free room and board to international students—a number of these were captured on suspicion of being tied to terrorism.

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ruling and the Military Commissions Act

In the summer of 2006, 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 that the

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 ...

lacked the constitutional authority to set up military commissions. The Supreme Court ruled that only the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

had the authority to do so. All ten captives who had faced charges before the presidentially authorized military commissions had those charges dropped. In the fall of 2006, Congress passed the

Military Commissions Act of 2006 The Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of ...

, which authorized commissions similar to those President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

had tried to set up. Only three captives faced charges before these commissions. However, in 2008, the

Office of Military Commissions ThGuantanamo military commissionswere established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of e ...

started to accelerate the pace at which charges were laid. Over a dozen captives who had not been charged earlier were charged via the congressionally authorized commissions. Subsequently the Office of Military Commissions started to re-charge the captives who had faced charges earlier.

New charges

On May 29, 2008, charges were laid against Barhoumi, al Qahtani, and al Sharbi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faisalabad Three, The Lists of Guantanamo Bay detainees Faisalabad Quantified groups of defendants Salafism in Pakistan