No longer enemy combatant

{{Use American English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}} '''No Longer Enemy Combatant''' ('''NLEC''') is a term used by the U.S. military for a group of 38 Guantanamo detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) determined they were not "enemy combatants".<ref name=Afps31063> {{cite news | url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=31063 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315091801/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=31063 | url-status=dead | archive-date=15 March 2007 | title=38 Guantanamo Detainees to Be Freed After Tribunals | author=Kathleen T. Rhem | publisher=American Forces Press Service | date=30 March 2005 | accessdate=2007-09-01 }}</ref> None of them were released right away. Ten of them were allowed to move to the more comfortable Camp Iguana.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} Others, such as Sami Al Laithi, remained in solitary confinement.

Thirty-eight detainees were finally classified as NLECs.<ref name=WapoNlec> {{Cite news | url=http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ | title=Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classified as "No Longer Enemy Combatants" | newspaper=Washington Post | accessdate=2008-03-26 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070204065424/http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ | archivedate = 2007-02-04 }} </ref> The fifth Denbeaux report, "No-hearing hearings", reported that an additional three Combatant Status Review Tribunals determined that captives should not have been determined to have been enemy combatants, only to have their recommendation overturned.<ref name=Denbeaux061117>Mark Denbeaux et al., [http://law.shu.edu/news/final_no_hearing_hearings_report.pdf No-hearing hearings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802031333/http://law.shu.edu/news/final_no_hearing_hearings_report.pdf |date=2008-08-02 }}, 17 November 2006</ref>

The ''Washington Post'' has published a list of the names of 30 of the 38 individuals who were determined not to have been enemy combatants.<ref name="WapoNlec"/>

The delay in the release of some of the detainees was said to be due to considerations of their safety. Some could not be returned to their home countries, out of fears of retaliation from their fellow citizens, or from the governments of their countries. Some, like Al Laithi, were returned to their home countries after the US secured a promise that they would not be punished by their home countries. Others, like five of the Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo, were released when the US found a third country which would accept them.<ref name=Bbc060506> [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4979466.stm Albania takes Guantanamo Uighurs], ''BBC'', 6 May 2006 </ref><ref name=BostonGlobe060518> [http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/18/freed_from_guantanamo_5_face_danger_in_albania/ Freed from Guantanamo, 5 face danger in Albania], ''Boston Globe'', 18 May 2006 </ref>

Three further captives who had been determined not to have been enemy combatants, who had been occupants of Camp Iguana since May 2005, were released in Albania in November 2006.<ref name=AllHeadlineNews061117>[http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005556662 U.S. Releases Three Men From Terror Camp In Guantanamo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929111236/http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005556662 |date=2007-09-29 }}, ''All Headline News'', 17 November 2006</ref><ref name=UsStateDept061120>[http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2006/November/20061120180922sjhtrop0.7480738.html Albania Agrees To Resettle Three Detainees from Guantanamo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409194003/http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2006/November/20061120180922sjhtrop0.7480738.html |date=2008-04-09 }}, ''US State Department'', 20 November 2006</ref><ref name=MiamiHerald061117>[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16040949.htm Pentagon sends Guantánamo captives to Albania]{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Miami Herald'', 17 November 2006</ref>

==Multiple CSRTs==

The fifth Denbeaux study, entitled "No-hearing hearings", revealed that some Guantanamo captives had second or third Combatant Status Review Tribunals convened when their first tribunal determined that they had not been enemy combatants after all.<ref name="No-hearing_hearings">{{cite web | url=http://law.shu.edu/news/final_no_hearing_hearings_report.pdf | title=No-hearing hearings | page=17 | author=Mark Denbeaux, Joshua Denbeaux, David Gratz, John Gregorek, Matthew Darby, Shana Edwards, Shane Hartman, Daniel Mann, Megan Sassaman and Helen Skinner | publisher=Seton Hall University School of Law | accessdate=2 April 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802031333/http://law.shu.edu/news/final_no_hearing_hearings_report.pdf | archive-date=2 August 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

H. Candace Gorman, the pro bono lawyer for Abdel Hamid Ibn Abdussalem Ibn Mifta Al Ghazzawi, expressed surprise when she learned that her client had initially been determined not to have been an enemy combatant, after all.<ref name=HuffingtonPost061120> [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-candace-gorman-/secrets-of-the-war-crimin_b_34505.html Secrets of the War Criminals], ''Huffington Post'', 12 December 2006</ref> Gorman described traveling to the secure site in Virginia, the only place where lawyers were allowed to review their clients' classified files. She was told that the justification for convening her client's second tribunal had been that the DoD had new evidence. However, when she reviewed the transcript of his second tribunal she found that there had been no new evidence.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Abraham came forward and swore an affidavit, describing his experience sitting on Al Ghazzawi's tribunal. It was critical of the process, including the pressure exerted to find against the detainee.<ref name=Cbs20070623> {{cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gitmo-panelist-slams-hearing-process/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524063152/https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/23/world/main2970288_page2.shtml | archive-date=2011-05-24 | title=Gitmo Panelist Slams Hearing Process: Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham Is First Member Of Military Panel To Challenge Guantanamo Bay Hearings | date=23 June 2007 | publisher=CBS | url-status=live | access-date=2007-06-23 }}</ref><ref name=Affidavit>{{cite web | url=http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/Al%20Odah%20reply%206-22-07.pdf | title=Declaration of Stephen Abraham, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Reserve, June 14th, 2007 | publisher=United States Supreme Court | date=14 June 2007 | accessdate=2007-06-25 }}</ref><ref name=TheJurist20070622>{{cite news |author = Mike Rosen-Molina |url = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/06/guantanamo-tribunal-officer-says-csrts.php |title = Guantanamo tribunal officer says CSRTs pressured on 'enemy combatant' rulings |publisher = The Jurist |date = 22 June 2007 |accessdate = 2007-06-25 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080208154544/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/06/guantanamo-tribunal-officer-says-csrts.php |archivedate = 2008-02-08 }}</ref><ref name=WashingtonPost20070623>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062202230.html | title=An Ex-Member Calls Detainee Panels Unfair: Lawyer Tells of Flawed 'Combatant' Rulings | last1 = Leonnig | first1 = Carol D. | authorlink1 = Carol D. Leonnig | first2 = Josh | last2 = white| authorlink2 = Josh White (journalist) | newspaper=Washington Post | date= 23 June 2007 | accessdate=2007-06-24 }}</ref><ref name=HuffingtonPostWorthington20070808> {{cite news | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/guantanamo-will-more-wh_b_59716.html | author=Andy Worthington | title=Guantánamo: Will More Whistleblowers Step Forward, Please? | publisher=Huffington Post | date=8 August 2007 | accessdate=2007-08-09 }}</ref>

==NLEC captives==

On 19 November 2007, the Department of Defense published a list of the 38 men finally deemed to be no longer enemy combatants in 2004.<ref name=DoDNlecList20071119>{{cite news | url=http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/03/27/20/NLEC_DetaineeList.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf | title=Detainees Found to No Longer Meet the Definition of "Enemy Combatant" during Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo | publisher=United States Department of Defense | author= | date=19 November 2007 | accessdate=2008-03-01 | quote= | archive-date=2018-12-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215115511/http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/03/27/20/NLEC_DetaineeList.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |+ '''NLEC captives''' ! ISN !! Name !! Notes |- | 142 || Fazaldad || Returned to Pakistan on 17 September 2004<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList> {{cite news | url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/09-F-0031_doc1.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220004442/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/09-F-0031_doc1.pdf |archivedate=20 December 2008 | title=Consolidate chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased | publisher=Department of Defense | author=OARDEC | date=2008-10-09 | accessdate=2008-12-28 | quote= }} </ref> |- | 208 || Maroof Saleemovich Salehove || Date of release to Tajikistan unknown |- | 248 || Saleh Abdall Al Oshan || Repatriated to Saudi custody on 20 July 2005<ref name=TheSaudiRepatriatesReport> {{cite web |url = http://www.fotofest.org/guantanamo/SaudiReport.pdf |title = The Saudi Repatriates Report |author = Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman |date = 19 March 2007 |accessdate = 2007-04-21 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001054542/http://www.fotofest.org/guantanamo/SaudiReport.pdf |archivedate = 1 October 2011 }}</ref><ref name=Reuters060526>[http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/5b4fb18f40ca51d56c447200d2d10865.htm Saudi Arabia: Guantanamo Detainees Return to Legal Limbo], ''Reuters'', 26 May 2006</ref> |- | 260 || Ahmed Adil || Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |- | 276 || Akhdar Qasem Basit || Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |- | 279 || Mohammed Ayub || Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |- | 283 || Abu Bakr Qasim || Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |- | 287 || Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy || Repatriated to Egypt, after assurances |- | 293 || Adel Abdulhehim || Sent to Albania with four other Uyghurs |- | 298 || Salih Uyar || Released to Turkey on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 357 || Abdul Rahman || Date of return to Afghanistan unknown. |- | 457 || Mohammad Gul || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 459 || Gul Zaman || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 491 || Sadik Ahmad Turkistani || Uyghur born in Saudi Arabia, repatriated to Saudi Arabia |- | 561 || Abdul Rahim Muslimdost || Released to Pakistan, disappeared mysteriously |- | 581 || Shed Abdur Rahman || Date of release to Pakistan unknown |- | 586 || Karam Khamis Sayd Khamsan ||Date of release to Pakistan unknown; charged with attempting to assassinate US ambassador to Yemen in December 2005;<ref name=YemenObserver051230>{{cite news | url=http://www.yobserver.com/news_9069.php | title=Panel Court Postpones Case of Guantanamo detainee | publisher=Yemen Observer | date=30 December 2005 | accessdate=2006-03-12 | archive-date=27 November 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127085814/https://www.yobserver.com/news_9069.php | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=YemenTimes051215>{{cite news |url = http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=903&p=front&a=2 |title = U.S. Ambassador's attackers stand trial |publisher = Yemen Times |date = 15 December 2005 |accessdate = 2006-03-12 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929094004/http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=903&p=front&a=2 |archivedate = 29 September 2007 }}</ref> acquitted on 13 March 2006<ref name=Upi060316>{{cite news | url=http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060317-110234-8288r | title=Security & Terrorism | publisher=United Press International | date=18 March 2006 | accessdate=2006-03-19 }}</ref><ref name=YemenObserver060314>{{cite news |url=http://www.yobserver.com/news_9739.php |title=Court acquits Ex-Guantanamo Detainee |publisher=Yemen Observer |date=14 March 2006 |accessdate=2006-03-19 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20060323045615/http://www.yobserver.com/news_9739.php |archivedate=2006-03-23 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> |- | 589 || Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr || Returned to Jordan on 19 July 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 631 || Padsha Wazir || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 649 || Mustaq Ali Patel || Returned to France on 7 March 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 672 || Zakirjan Asam || Set free on 17 November 2006<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 712 || Hammad Ali Amno Gadallah || Returned to Sudan on 19 July 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 716 || Allah Muhammed Saleem || Released to Albania on 7 January 2007, where he applied for asylum<ref name=AsharqAlawsat070106>{{cite news | url=http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=7564 | title=Egypt: Human Rights Activist Identifies 2 Former Egyptian Guantanamo Detainees | date=6 January 2007 | author=Essam Fadl | publisher=Asharq Alawsat | accessdate=2007-01-07 | archive-date=2007-09-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001311/http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=7564 | url-status=dead }}</ref> |- | 718 || Fethi Boucetta || Released to Albania rather than his home of Algeria |- | 730 || Ibrahim Fauzee || Citizen of the Maldives, release date unknown |- | 812 || Qalandar Shah || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 834 || Shahwali Zair Mohammed Shaheen Naqeebyllah || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 835 || Rasool Shahwali Zair Mohammed Mohammed || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 929 || Abdul Qudus || Youngest person ever detained at Guantanamo only 14 years old when he arrived in Guantanamo early 2002, he returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 952 || Shahzada || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 953 || Hammdidullah || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 958 || Mohammad Nasim || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 986 || Kako Kandahari || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 1013 || Feda Ahmed || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 1019 || Nasibullah|| Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 1041 || Habib Noor || Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 1117 || Jalil|| Returned to Afghanistan on 11 March 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |- | 1157 || Hukumra Khan|| Returned to Afghanistan on 18 April 2005<ref name=ConsolidatedReleaseList/> |}

On 17 January 2009, Carol Rosenberg, writing in the ''Miami Herald'', quoted Guantanamo spokesman Jeffrey Gordon, that a panel of officers had recently reviewed Bismullah's "enemy combatant" status, and determined, "based on new evidence", that he was not an enemy combatant after all.<ref name=MiamiHerald2009-01-17> {{Cite news |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/858981.html |title=Six more detainees freed from Guantánamo |publisher=Miami Herald |author=Carol Rosenberg |date=2009-01-17 |accessdate=2009-01-18 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5dw0VOliY?url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/858981.html |archivedate=19 January 2009 }} </ref> Bismullah was released to Afghanistan on 17 January.

==References== <references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:No Longer Enemy Combatant}} Category:Law of war Category:Guantanamo Bay captives legal and administrative procedures