The Administrative Review Board is a

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in

Camp Delta Camp Delta is a permanent American Guantanamo Bay detention camp, detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between 27 February and mid-April 2002 by Seabee (US Navy), ...

at the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

base at Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. The purpose of the Board is to review whether the detainees still represent a threat. US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

initially called the detainees " illegal combatants." But, without a formal announcement of the policy change, the Bush Administration changed their description to "

enemy combatant Enemy combatant is a term for a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict, used by the U.S. government and media during the War on Terror. Usually enemy combatants are members of t ...

". From July 2004 through March 2005, military authorities conducted a one-time

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 establi ...

for each detainee, to confirm whether they had been properly been classified as an "enemy combatant". The Combatant Status Reviews were criticized by human rights workers because the detainees were not entitled to legal counsel, and did not know what allegations they had to defend themselves against, and the detainees had no presumption of innocence. The ARB was created in an attempt to mitigate the harsh results of potentially

indefinite detention Indefinite detention is the incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency for an indefinite amount of time without a trial. The Human Rights Watch considers this practice as violating national and internatio ...

by allowing an annual review to determine whether the individual should still be detained. The Combatant Status Reviews determined that 38 detainees were not illegal combatants after all. They determined that the rest of the detainees had been correctly classified as "enemy combatants" during their original, secret, classifications. The first set of Administrative Reviews took place between December 14, 2004 and December 23, 2005. The Boards met to consider the cases of al 463 eligible detainees. They recommended the release of 14 detainees, and the

repatriation Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

of 120 detainees to the custody of the authorities in their home countries. The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

(DoD) was under a court order from

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

Judge Jed Rakoff to release the names of all the detainees by 6:00 p.m. EST on March 3, 2006. The Department of Defense did not meet this deadline. They delivered a CD-ROM with approximately 5,000 pages of documents at 6:20 pm. DoD had to take that CD-ROM back and issue a second copy that without files that DoD decided not to release.

Factors for and against continued detention

As part of this release of documents the DoD released three files containing summaries of the factors for and against the release of some of the detainees. ARB_Factors_Set_1_944-1045.pdf ''

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

'', March 3, 2006 ARB_Factors_Set_2_1046-1160.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 ARB_Factors_Set_3_1161-1234_Revised.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 These documents summarized the factors for and against the continued detention of 120 detainees. These documents contain the detainee's names. The DoD has not explained why they did not comply with Rakoff's court order and release the factors for and against the other 343 detainees. Some of the factors listed in favour of continued detention for some detainees were repetitions of allegations that had already been refuted during the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

Summarized Transcripts of Administrative Review Board hearings

The DoD also released an incomplete set of four files containing summarized transcripts from administrative review board hearings. ARB_Transcript_Set_1_395-584.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_2_585-768.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_3_769-943_FINAL.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_4_1431-1455.pdf ''

'', March 3, 2006 Over the next six weeks the DoD released 15 more files containing transcripts. ARB_Transcript_Set_5_20000-20254.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_6_20255-20496.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_7_20497-20750.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_8_20751-21016.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_9_21017-21351.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_10_21352-21661.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_11_21662-22010.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_12_22011-22244.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_13_22245-22523.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_14_22524-22682.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_15_22683-22733.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_16_22734-22821.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006

ARB_Transcript_Set_17_22822-23051.pdf ARB, ARb or arb may refer to: Brands and enterprises * ARB, Inc., predecessor of Primoris Services Corporation * American Research Bureau * ARB (Azerbaijani TV channel), an Azerbaijani television network * ARB 24, an Azerbaijani television news ...

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_18_23052-23263.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 ARB_Transcript_Set_19_23264-23359.pdf ''

'', April 20, 2006 Most of these transcripts do not contain the detainees names. However, almost all the transcripts bear the detainee's Guantanamo ID number on the lower right hand corner of each page, and on April 20, 2006, and on May 15, 2006, the DoD released lists of the detainees, with their associated detainee IDs.list of prisoners (.pdf)
''

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

'', April 20, 2006list of prisoners (.pdf)
''

'', May 15, 2006 In early September 2007 the DoD published additional documents from the second set of Review Board hearings convened in 2006. Less than twenty percent of the remaining detainees participated in their hearings. The Department only published transcripts of the hearings in which detainees chose to participate.

Releases

According to an article from the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'' from April 22, 2006, the ARB had determined three detainees could be released and 107 detainees could be repatriated to the custody of their home country, yet they still remained at Guantanamo. Stuck in Guantánamo
''

'', April 22, 2006 US officials said their continued detention was due to concerns the detainees might be tortured or killed if they were returned or repatriated.

Observers

Very few of the Review Board hearings were observed by members of the press. Adam Brookes of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

wrote on April 8, 2005, about being allowed to sit in on the first Administrative Review Board hearing where observers were permitted. He wrote that over sixty Review Board hearings had been convened with no press attendance.

References

External links

Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed
''

'', February 9, 2006
I Have Not Seen An Ounce Of Democracy Here, Says Detainee

Bernama The Malaysian National News Agency (), is a news agency of the government of Malaysia. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Communications. Headquartered at the Wisma Bernama, off Jalan Tun Razak near National Library, Kuala Lumpur ...

, October 14, 2005
Inmates including Kuwaitis to be subject to certain procedures -- US

Kuwait News Agency Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) is an official state news wire service based in Kuwait. History and structure KUNA was established in 1956. It was reorganized in 1976 as an independent body. However, it functions as a branch of the Ministry of Infor ...

, September 20, 2005 * ARB_Transcript_Set_1_395-584.pdf transcripts released under court order ''

'', March 3, 2006 United States Department of Defense Guantanamo Bay captives legal and administrative procedures