Mustafa al-Hawsawi

Although it is alleged that al-Hawsawi was a member of al-Qaeda, he stated in a Combatant Status Review Hearing that he is not a member of al-Qaeda, and never swore an oath of allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Al-Hawsawi had previously worked in Al-Qaeda's media committee and was selected by Khalid Shaikh Mohammad to assist as a travel and financial facilitator for the hijackers. This was done after Mohammed's nephew, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, requested assistance with helping the hijackers. Al-Hawsawi was charged with being in the United Arab Emirates starting in April 2001, and would help send the last four operatives (other than al-Mihdhar) to the U.S and assisted them by purchasing clothing, food, lodging, rental cars, traveler's checks, and making travel arrangements. Between June and September 2001, al-Hawsawi collected money, packages and provided various sums money to the hijackers. In early September 2001, hijackers started sending al-Hawsawi a series of wire transfers totaling about $28,000 — apparently unspent advances on expenses — from addresses in Broward County, Florida, and Boston. Al-Hawsawi would later comment that as the money flowed in, he came to understand that "an operation" would soon happen. On September 11, 2001, al-Hawsawi traveled from the United Arab Emirates to Pakistan. Al-Hawsawi said that he first learned of the 9/11 operation following the attacks and was surprised by the size of the 9/11 operation. He was reportedly taken to the U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. The CIA maintained a detention and interrogation site there. This was not confirmed by U.S. officials. On July 31, 2024, al-Hawsawi agreed to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, but his plea was revoked by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin two days later. == CIA custody ==

Al-Hawsawi was held in secret CIA custody for several years. When the United States Senate Intelligence Committee published a 600-page unclassified summary of its 6,000-page classified report on the CIA's use of torture, it became known that al-Hawsawi was held in several CIA black sites during his years in secret detention, where he was subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques which amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. In particular, the report revealed that: • Al-Hawsawi had been held in detention site COBALT, believed to be situated in Afghanistan, in 2003. There he was subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, including water dousing without the approval from CIA headquarters and to rectal examinations conducted with "excessive force", leading to a diagnosis of chronic hemorrhoids, anal fissure, and symptomatic rectal prolapse; • During his detainment at detention site VIOLET, believed to be located in Lithuania, al-Hawsawi required emergency medical care, but officers denied him access to a local hospital. Moreover, the findings of the Senate Report raised doubts about Al-Hawsawi's detention, identifying him as one of a number of individuals who were detained under the CIA's program "despite doubts and questions surrounding [his] knowledge of terrorist threats and the location of senior al-Qa'ida leadership". In fact, after his first interrogation, the Chief of Interrogations wrote to CIA Headquarters saying that al-Hawsawi "does not appear to the [sic] be a person that is a financial mastermind." == Questions from Salim Ahmed Hamdan's defense attorney ==

On April 23, 2008, attorneys working on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan requested permission to meet with Abdulmalik Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Hamdan's attorneys had previously requested permission to get the "high-value detainees" to answer written questions. They believed the men would confirm that if Hamdan played a role in al Qaeda, it had been a peripheral one. Abdulmalik Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi declined to answer the questions, because they said they had no way to know that the questions purporting to be from Hamdan's attorneys were not a ruse. Andrea J. Prasow requested permission for Lieutenant Commander Brian Mizer to meet in person with the two men to try to assure them that the questions were not a ruse, and would not be shared with their interrogators. == Military commission trial ==

In June 2008, al-Hawsawi and four other "high-value detainees" (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Walid bin Attash) were charged with crimes brought before the Guantanamo military commission. The charges included 2,973 individual counts of murder, one for each person killed in the September 11 attacks, as well as conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism, and providing material support for terrorism. The judge ordered al-Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh to undergo mental competency hearings. On December 8, 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to confess and plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after the competency hearings for al-Hawsawi and bin al-Shibh, so that all five men could make their plea together. In May 2009, Al Arabiya reported that Montasser el-Zayat, a prominent Egyptian attorney, had been invited to defend al-Hawsawi. El-Zayat described suspecting, at first, that he was the target of a hoax. On August 31, 2009, Corrections One, a trade journal for the prison industry, proclaimed that "Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi" was one of ten captives they speculated might be moved to a maximum security prison in Standish, Michigan. == Official status reviews ==

Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them. Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants s were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Following the Supreme Court's ruling, the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations, as follows: • Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawasawi was listed as one of the captives who had faced charges before a military commission. ==United States Senate Torture Report==

On December 9, 2014, a redacted executive summary of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture was publicly released. This executive summary revealed the following information regarding al-Hawsawi's torture: • He was subjected to rectal examinations conducted with excessive force and was later diagnosed with chronic hemorrhoids, an anal fissure, and symptomatic rectal prolapse. This became the subject of a Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General investigation. • He was hospitalized for a medical emergency that occurred during his torture. == Amnesty International, USA Campaign ==

On December 7, 2015, Amnesty International, USA launched a campaign to raise awareness regarding al-Hawsawi's military commission trial, which they alleged violates international fair trial standards by frustrating the truth seeking process by impeding transparency and denying accountability for torture. == Human Rights bodies' criticism of al-Hawsawi's detention ==

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention On January 23, 2015, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention held that al-Hawsawi's ongoing detention in Guantánamo Bay was arbitrary, and in contravention of articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights On July 7, 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution on precautionary measures regarding al-Hawsawi requesting the United States of America, inter alia, to adopt the necessary measures to protect the life and personal integrity of al-Hawsawi, and to adopt the necessary measures to ensure access to medical care and treatment. == Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment ==

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. His seven-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on December 8, 2006. It was signed by deputy camp commandant Brigadier General Edward L. Secord. He recommended continued detention. ==References==