Attorneys Claim Gitmo Detainee Zubaydah Illegally Held

One of the US government’s most valuable detainees claimed he never worked for Al Qaeda and has been unlawfully detained. In a petition filed last month with the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, and unsealed Monday, attorneys for Abu Zubaydah claim US charges against their client are false and his continued detention is a violation of due process rights.^[1]

Attorneys for Zubaydah assert that he "has not been afforded any procedures that would satisfy even the most basic notions of due process," adding that he is “not a member of either the Taliban or al Qaeda" and that he "did not cause or attempt to cause any harm to American personnel or property.”^[2] The petition also contains quotes from a former FBI Agent, Daniel Coleman, who describes Zubaydah as a “travel agent” for Al Qaeda who “knew very little about real operations.”^[3]

Brent Mickum, one of Zubaydah’s lawyers, further added that no classified information on Zubaydah has been provided to support government claims regarding the alleged activities of their client. The attorneys reportedly were forced to rely solely on information from the public records and media reports.^[4]

This is not the first time the Zubaydah case has been the subject of judicial scrutiny- in December 2007, CIA officials admitted to videotaping interrogations of Zubaydah, and later destroying those recordings, possibly illegally.^[5]

Zubaydah was reportedly detained in CIA facilities overseas from the time of his capture in Pakistan in 2002, until his transfer to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in September 2006. Authorities have admitted that Zubaydah was submitted to waterboarding during interrogation, and he further claims to have been subjected to other severe treatment while in custody. Government documents claim Zubaydah was recruited by Osama Bin Laden to be a travel facilitator, directed an Al Qaeda training camp, and was trained in forgery and the use of explosives. It is further alleged he was organizing a terror attack in Israel at the time of his capture.^[6]

Douglas McNabb has written extensively on the prosecution of alleged terror suspects; additional information can be found here, with specific analysis of terrorism crimes found here.

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[1] Carol Cratty, Terror detainee falsely held, lawyers say; CNN.com, March 17, 2008 (available at www.cnn.com).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane, CIA Destroyed Tapes as Judge Sought Interrogation Data, NY Times, February 7, 2008 (available at www.nytimes.com).

[6] Cratty.