Quick Facts
Biography
Abdulla Majid Al Naimi (also transliterated as Abdullah al Noaimi) (born March 9, 1982 in Manama, Bahrain), is a Bahraini, formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.
Inconsistent identification
Abdulla Majid Al Naimi was identified inconsistently on official Department of Defense documents:
- He was identified as Abdullah al Noaimi on the official list of captives' names published on May 15, 2006.
- He was identified as Abdullah Majed Sayyah Hasan Alnoaimi on the official list of captives whose habeas corpus petitions should be dismissed following their transfer from US custody.
Press reports transliterate his name as "Abdullah Al Nuaimi".
Combatant Status Review
Detainees do not have the right to a lawyer before the CSRTs or to access the evidence against them. The CSRTs are not bound by the rules of evidence that would apply in court, and the government’s evidence is presumed to be “genuine and accurate.” However, unclassified summaries of relevant evidence may be provided to the detainee and each detainee has an opportunity to present “reasonably available” evidence and witnesses.
From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Abdulla Majid Al Naimi was among the one-third of prisoners for whom there was no indication they chose to participate in their tribunals.
In the landmark case Boumediene v. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court found that CSRTs are not an adequate substitute for the constitutional right to challenge one's detention in court, in part because they do not have the power to order detainees released. The Court also found that "there is considerable risk of error in the tribunal’s findings of fact."
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. His memo accused him of the following:Witness statements
The documents the Department of Defense released include two statements, both dated November 11, 2004.
One statement was from Mohammed Salman Al-Khalifa, a cousin of Salman Al Khalifa, a member of the Bahrain royal family. It states since Abdullah Al Noaimi was a childhood friend of Salman Al Khalifa he was asked to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to look for him, when he went missing, in August 2001.
The other statement is from Mohamad Suleiman Alkaleifa, a childhood friend who testified to his good character, and lack of interest in politics.
If his Board considered these witness statements then it was redacted from their recommendations.
Abdullah AL Noaimi v. George Walker Bush
A writ of habeas corpus was submitted on Abdullah Al Noaimi's behalf. The Department of Defense released a dossier of 24 pages of documents arising from his CSR Tribunal on 9 December 2004.
Administrative Review Board
Detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee might pose if released or transferred, and whether there were other factors that warranted his continued detention.
Summary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Al Noaimi's Administrative Review Board, on July 1, 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.
There is no record that Al Noaimi participated in his Board hearing.
Board recommendations
In early September 2007, the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon J. England, the Designated Civilian Official. The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted.
England authorized his transfer on 4 October 2005.
Release
Represented by attorney Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, al-Naimi was one of three Bahraini detainees released and sent back to Bahrain in November 2005.
Bahraini Member of Parliament Mohammed Khalid had called for the Bahrain government to provide financial compensation to the released men.
Comments on the June 10, 2006 suicides
The deaths of three detainees were announced on June 10, 2006. Al Naimi knew the three men, and commented on their deaths on June 25, 2006. Al Naimi said that Mani Al-Utaybi and Ali Abdullah Ahmed were captured while studying in Pakistan. He said that they were interrogated for only a brief time after their arrival in Guantanamo, and their interrogators had told them they were not regarded as a threat, and that they could expect to be released.
Al Naimi said that the third dead man, Yasser Talal Al Zahrani, was only 16 when he was captured. According to Al Naimi Al Zahrani should have been treated as a minor.
Saudi arrest
The Gulf Daily News reports that he was arrested in Saudi Arabia in late October 2008. Bahraini Member of Parliament Mohammed Khalid expressed dismay at the arrest of a third former Guantanamo captive by Saudi authorities, and said that the Saudis had not offered a formal justification for his arrest.
In late November 2008 another Bahraini in extrajudicial detention in Saudi Arabia, Khalil Janahi, was reported to have been repatriated. Mohammed Janahi described Khalid Janahi's repatriation as a hopeful development for Al Naimi, and two other Bahrainis in extrajudicial detention in Saudi Arabia -- Abdulraheem Al Murbati, and Hassan Al Yabis. Al Naimi and the other men remained held by Saudi Arabia in April 2009.
On August 2, 2010, Newsblaze reported on an incident where Bahraini police had been recorded beating a Saudi citizen.
Newsblaze speculated that Saudi officials had not complained about the incident because Saudi Arabia did not want to explain its detention of Naomi, Khalil Janahi, and Abdurrahim Al Murbati.
Pentagon claim he had "returned to the fight"
On May 20, 2009, the New York Times, citing an unreleased Pentagon document, reported that Department of Defense officials claimed Abdullah al Noaimi was one of 74 former Guantanatmo captives who "are engaged in terrorism or militant activity."