Deleted:Zakirjan Asam

Zakirjan Asam
Born	}}}}}}}} 18, }} 1975 Saratov, Russia
Other names	Zakirjan Hassan, Zakirjan Hasam

Zakirjan Asam (also transliterated as Zakirjan Hassan) is a citizen of Uzbekistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 672. The Department of Defense reports that Asam was born on May 18, 1975, in Saratov, Russia.

Zakirjan Asam was transferred to Albania on November 17, 2006.

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Zakirjan Asam's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 6 December 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him:

A. The detainee is associated with forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.

1. The detainee traveled from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in the spring of 2001.
2. The detainee is a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
3. The IMU is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide as having ties with the Taliban.
4. The detainee is acquainted with two individuals who hold leadership roles in the IMU.
5. The detainee was at Mazar-e-Sharif [sic], Afghanistan, when the U.S. bombing campaign began.
6. The detainee has ties to Muslims in the Sink'Iang [sic] Province of China.
7. The detainee fled to the mountains when the U.S. bombing campaign started.
8. The detainee was captured by the Northern Alliance in the mountains.
9. The detainee was captured a second time and turned over to U.S. forces.

Transcript

Asam chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a fourteen page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Asam was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. They report that Asam remains in detention. They report his nationality as Russian. The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

The Ottawa Citizen speculates that Asam may be one of a select number of detainees under consideration for an offer of Asylum.

Celikgogus v. Rumsfeld

Zakirjan Asam is one of the five plaintiffs in Celikgogus v. Rumsfeld.