{{Short description|Afghan Guantanamo detainee (1962–2011)}} {{Lead too short|date=February 2011}} {{Infobox War on Terror detainee | name = Awal Gul | image = ISN 782.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1962|07|01}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82326-isn-782-awal-gul-jtf-gtmo-detainee-assessment/1f702943fe379c88/full.pdf|title=JTF GTMO Detainee Profile|website=nyt.com|access-date=28 October 2023}}</ref> | birth_place = Laghman Province, Afghanistan | date_of_arrest = December 26, 2001 | arresting_authority= Militia leader Hazrat Ali | date_of_release = | place_of_release= | death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|02|02|1962|07|01}} | death_place = Guantanamo Bay detention camp | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 782 | group = | alias = * Awal Malim Gul * Moalim Awal Gul | charge = No charge | penalty = | status = | csrt_summary = | csrt_transcript= | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} '''Awal Gul''' (July 1, 1962 – February 2, 2011) was a citizen of Afghanistan who died in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba after nine years of imprisonment without charge.<ref name=DoDList2> {{cite web | url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf | title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 | publisher=United States Department of Defense | access-date=2006-05-15 | quote= }} {{wikisource-inline|List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006}} </ref><ref name="BBC20110203GTMO">{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12361834 |title=Guantanamo Bay terror suspect 'dies after exercising' |publisher=BBC News |date=2011-02-03 |access-date=2011-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204051138/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12361834 |archive-date=4 February 2011 |url-status=bot: unknown }} </ref>
==Personal== The Department of Defense reports Awal Gul was born on July 1, 1962. Sawati Ghundi, Afghanistan.<ref name=DoDList2/> He was the father of 18 children.<ref name=Greenwald>Greenwald, Glenn (2011-02-04) [http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/04/guantanamo/index.html Guantanamo death highlights U.S. detention policy], ''Salon.com''</ref>
==Relationship with the Taliban== "While the U.S. claims he was a Taliban commander, Gul has long insisted that he quit the Taliban a year before the 9/11 attack because, as his lawyer put it, 'he was disgusted by the Taliban's growing penchant for corruption and abuse.'"<ref name=Greenwald /> ''USA Today'' reported that Gul "had played a key role in persuading Taliban commanders to surrender Nangarhar Province to a council of tribal leaders."<ref name=USAToday20011225>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/24/alert.htm |title=U.S. forces mark Christmas on alert|work=USA Today|date=December 25, 2001|access-date=2008-05-20}}</ref> His attorneys wrote in a letter after Gul's death:
<blockquote> The government charged that he was a prominent member of the Taliban and its military, but we proved that this is false. Indeed, we have documents from Afghanistan, even a letter from Mullah Omar himself on Taliban letterhead, discussing Mr. Gul's efforts to resign from the Taliban a year or more before 9/11/01. ... Mr. Gul was never an enemy of the United States in any way. ... We now hear for the very first time in the nearly 10 years since Mr. Gul's arrest, that (1) he operated a guesthouse for Al-Qaida members, and (2) that he admitted providing bin Laden operational support on several occasions. Over the course of almost 3 years in court, the government has never provided any evidence at all to support this slander. Neither Mr. Gul nor any credible witness has ever said such things. Indeed, this is why the government placed Mr. Gul in the group of prisoners set for "indefinite detention;" it admitted that it lacked any credible evidence to prove its suspicions in a court of law. The government never even made these claims until now, when Mr. Gul is not alive to defend himself.
Beginning in the early 1980s, Mr. Gul was a member of local forces who were allied with the United States against the Soviets. From 1989–1996, he continued to run the local weapons depot in his hometown, not unlike a police commander, which he used to keep the peace. In 1996, the Taliban swept through eastern Afghanistan and took over his city at the barrel of a gun. Mr. Gul was given two options: flee with your family to Pakistan or stay home and operate the depot at the command of the Taliban. It must be remembered that the Taliban was initially greeted warmly by many Afghans, and even the American government, as a source of hope. Mr. Gul stayed home. The Taliban soon proved themselves to be as corrupt and abusive as we can imagine. Mr. Gul discovered this change over time and resigned from the Taliban more than one year before September 11, 2001. He was arrested in December 2001 when he voluntarily traveled to meet American military officials.<ref name=FDL>[http://my.firedoglake.com/phoenix/2011/02/03/awal-gul-you-cannot-wash-blood-with-blood/ Awal Gul: “You Cannot Wash Blood with Blood”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205101205/http://my.firedoglake.com/phoenix/2011/02/03/awal-gul-you-cannot-wash-blood-with-blood/ |date=2011-02-05 }}, ''Firedoglake''</ref> </blockquote>
Phillip Smucker, writing in ''The Asia Times'', described being contacted by W. Matthew Dodge, a lawyer defending Gul before a Guantanamo military commission.<ref name=AsiaTimes-2009-04-10>{{cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KD10Df01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412124536/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KD10Df01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=2009-04-12|title=On the case in Tora Bora|work=Asia Times|date=2009-04-10|author=Philip Smucker |access-date=2010-05-12}}</ref> According to Smucker, the prosecution's charges depended on a new alternate theory as to how Osama bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora. The new theory is that bin Laden didn't escape through collusion with corrupt Eastern Shura officials across the border to Pakistan's Tribal Areas—but rather through Awal Gul's help north to Konar province.
The Taliban had demanded Gul's release in exchange for Army prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured on June 30, 2009. Bergdahl was released in exchange for five other Taliban members held at Guantanamo on May 31, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/13/exclusive_meet_the_sixth_man_the_taliban_wanted_back_in_the_bergdahl_swap |title=Exclusive: Meet the Sixth Man the Taliban Wanted in the Bergdahl Swap|work=Foreign Policy|date=13 June 2014}}</ref>
==Guantanamo== Gul is one of the Guantanamo detainees whose medical records, and arrival date, were not made public.<ref name=OfficialGuantanamoWeights> {{cite web |url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/measurements/ |title=Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |publisher=Department of Defense |author=JTF-GTMO |date=2007-03-16 |access-date=2008-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125010428/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/measurements/ |archive-date=25 January 2009 |url-status=dead }} </ref><ref name=CshraHeightAndWeightTable> {{cite web | url=http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/resources/library/documents-and-reports/gtmo_heightsweights.pdf | title=Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version) | publisher=Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613004352/http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/resources/library/documents-and-reports/gtmo_heightsweights.pdf | archive-date=2010-06-13 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Combatant Status Review=== {{main|Combatant Status Review Tribunal}}
Gul was among the 60% of prisoners who chose to participate in tribunal hearings.<ref>OARDEC, [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_CSRT_detainees_testimony.pdf Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203004301/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/index_CSRT_detainees_testimony.pdf |date=2007-12-03}}, September 4, 2007</ref> A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee.
Gul's memo accused him of the following:<ref name=CsrtAwalGul>[{{DoD detainees ARB|Set_11_1145-1178.pdf#13}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Awal Gul's''Combatant Status Review Tribunal'' - pages 13-28</ref><ref name=CsrtSummaryOfEvidenceIsn782>{{Cite web|url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/782-awal-gul/documents/5/pages/618#1|title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Gul, Awal|date=2004-09-07|author=OARDEC|publisher=United States Department of Defense|access-date=2009-04-29}}</ref>
{{Blockquote| :a. Detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with al Qaida. :#Detainee was trained in the use of Stinger missiles in Pakistan :#Detainee associated with Usama Bin Laden on three occasions. :#Detainee served intermittently as commander of a Taliban supply base near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for ten years.
:b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or its coalition partners. :#Detainee fought against the Northern Alliance in Kabul on the Gul-Da-Da-Ra front lines and was the commander of a ten-man unit. :#Detainee was the commander of "Taliban Unit Four," a 250-soldier unit, for approximately five years. }}
===Testimony=== Gul told his Tribunal he thought he surrendered on February 10, 2002.<ref name=AlJazeera060304>[http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/56CE220C-CDE0-4068-9D17-5F623FCE58EA.htm Extracts from prisoners' hearings], ''Al Jazeera'', March 4, 2006</ref> However press reports his capture on December 25, 2001.<ref name=attack>[http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/strike/1225alert.html U.S. Marines move to state of alert] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060502192201/http://multimedia.belointeractive.com/attack/strike/1225alert.html |date=2006-05-02 }}, December 25, 2001</ref><ref name=TribuneIndia>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011226/world.htm#3 Commander held for aiding Al-Qaida], ''Tribune India'', December 25, 2001</ref>
=== 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.<ref> {{cite web |url=https://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902 |title=Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials |date=March 6, 2007 |access-date=November 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100228040335/http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902 |archive-date=February 28, 2010 }}</ref>
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Awal Gul's first annual Administrative Review Board in 2005.<ref name=ArbSummaryOfEvidenceAwalGul> {{Cite web | url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/782-awal-gul/documents/1/pages/673#18 | title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Gul, Awal | date=2005-08-05 | author=OARDEC | publisher=United States Department of Defense | access-date=2009-04-29 }}</ref> The two page memo listed nine "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and two "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Awal Gul's second annual Administrative Review Board in 2006.<ref name=Arb2SummaryOfEvidenceAwalGul> {{Cite web | url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/782-awal-gul/documents/3/pages/818#20 | title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Gul, Awal | date=2006-08-01 | author=OARDEC | publisher=United States Department of Defense | access-date=2009-04-29 }}</ref> The two page memo listed eleven "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and five "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Awal Gul's third annual Administrative Review Board in 2007.<ref name=Arb3SummaryOfEvidenceAwalGul> {{Cite web | url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/782-awal-gul/documents/9/pages/476#22 | title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Gul, Awal | date=2007-08-24 | author=OARDEC | publisher=United States Department of Defense | access-date=2009-04-29 }}</ref> The four page memo listed twenty-four "primary factors favor[ing] continued detention" and thirteen "primary factors favor[ing] release or transfer".
===Military Commissions Act=== The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.<ref name=McaLetter2006-10-16> {{Cite news |url=http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/Hamdan.28j.letter.pdf |title=NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006 |publisher=United States Department of Justice |author=Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter |date=2006-10-16 |access-date=2008-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002190428/http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/Hamdan.28j.letter.pdf |archive-date=2 October 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown }} </ref>
===Boumediene v. Bush=== On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in ''Boumediene v. Bush'', that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system, and that all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".<ref name=BostonGlobe2008-10-24> {{Cite news |url=http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/10/24/lawyers_debate_enemy_combatant/ |title=Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant' |publisher=Boston Globe |author=Farah Stockman |date=2008-10-24 |access-date=2008-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081027091934/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/10/24/lawyers_debate_enemy_combatant/ |archive-date=27 October 2008 |url-status=live }} </ref>
===Writ of habeas corpus=== Gul had a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf.<ref name=Cv08-0442Doc1430>{{Cite web | url=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2008mc00442/131990/1430/0.pdf | title=Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 1430 -- NOTICE OF FILING OF FACTUAL RETURN | publisher=United States Department of Justice | author=Daniel M. Barish | date=2008-12-30 | access-date=2009-01-12 | quote= | archive-date=2012-06-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616191244/http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2008mc00442/131990/1430/0.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> On December 30, 2008, United States Department of Justice official Daniel M. Barish informed the court that the DoJ had filed "factual returns" in seven habeas cases, including Gul's.<ref name="Cv08-0442Doc1430"/> The petition was fully argued before a federal court in March 2010, eleven months before his death.<ref name=Greenwald/> No further action was taken.<ref name=Greenwald/> The action was still pending when he died.<ref>{{cite news |title=Seventh Detainee Dies|newspaper=Catholic Worker|page=4 |date=March–April 2011 }} </ref>
==Death== Media reports indicate he died after collapsing in the shower following a workout on an elliptical machine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/03/afghan-detainee-awal-gul-dies-after-exercise-at-guantanamo/|title=News & latest headlines from AOL|work=AOL.com|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204183959/http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/03/afghan-detainee-awal-gul-dies-after-exercise-at-guantanamo/|archive-date=2011-02-04}}</ref><ref name=MiamiHerals20110203>{{Cite news|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/03/2048865/suspected-taliban-commander-dead.html |title=Suspected Taliban commander dies at Guantánamo|work=Miami Herald|date=February 3, 2011|access-date=2011-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203203700/http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/03/2048865/suspected-taliban-commander-dead.html| archive-date=3 February 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> An autopsy completed February 3, 2011, indicated a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism was the possible cause.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apnews.myway.com//article/20110204/D9L5KCV00.html|title=My Way News - Afghan detainee dies after exercise at Guantanamo|work=myway.com}}</ref> His attorneys have maintained that "we have no way of knowing whether the government is telling us the truth" about Gul's death.<ref name=FDL /> They further wrote: "It is shame that the government will finally fly him home not in handcuffs and a hood, but in a casket. ... Justice will now come too late for Mr. Gul."<ref name=FDL />
5,000 attended the funeral on February 7, 2011. They ran alongside a vehicle carrying the body. Gul's body was wrapped in white cloth, but his face and beard were visible inside the coffin, which was buried in Jalalabad, east of Kabul.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apnews.myway.com//article/20110207/D9L840H81.html|title=My Way News - Hundreds attend funeral of Guantanamo Bay detainee|work=myway.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/02/10/in-afghanistan-5000-attend-funeral-of-prisoner-who-died-in-guantanamo-as-afghan-peace-council-calls-for-release-of-former-taliban-official/|title=In Afghanistan, 5,000 Attend Funeral of Prisoner Who Died in Guantánamo, as Afghan Peace Council Calls for Release of Former Taliban Official|work=andyworthington.co.uk}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * [http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/the-guantanamo-files-website-extras-11-the-last-of-the-afghans-part-one-and-six-ghost-prisoners/ The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six “Ghost Prisoners”] Andy Worthington * [http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/11/17/who-are-the-remaining-prisoners-in-guantanamo-part-eight-captured-in-afghanistan-2002-07/ Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Eight: Captured in Afghanistan (2002-07)] Andy Worthington * [http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-responds-death-of-awal-gul-guantanamo-bay CCR Responds to Death of Awal Gul at Guantanamo Bay] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204222022/http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-responds-death-of-awal-gul-guantanamo-bay |date=2011-02-04 }}
{{Afghanistan War}} {{WoTPrisoners}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gul, Awal}} Category:Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees Category:1962 births Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Guantanamo Bay detention deaths Category:2011 deaths Category:People from Laghman Province