Noor Uthman Muhammed

Noor Uthman Muhammed is a citizen of Sudan who was confined in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba where he served a sentence for terrorism convictions before the Guantanamo military commission[2]

Noor Uthman Muhammed
Born1962[1]
Kassala, Sudan
Detained atGuantanamo
Alternate nameMuhammed Noor Uthman
Zamir Muhammed
ISN707
Charge(s)Charges initiated May 23, 2008.
StatusTransferred to Sudan

The Department of Defense reports that Muhammed was born in Kassala, Sudan.

Background

Noor Uthman Muhammaed is a citizen of Sudan who described working at the Khalden training camp, in Afghanistan, from the mid-1990s, until it was shut down in 2000. He first worked as a small-arms instructor, but after a few months of discontent he asked for a transfer. Instead, Noor Uthman Muhammad was assigned as Khalden training camp's quartermaster. He was responsible for the collection and distribution of camp supplies, such as food, water and firewood.[3] He denies membership in al Qaida or the Taliban, and described the Khalden camp as being an independent camp.

Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts describe him as being a senior member of al Qaida's leadership cadre. Noor Uthman Muhammaed was captured in Abu Zubaydah's house in Faisalabad on March 24, 2002, along with Abu Zubaydah, Sufyian Barhoumi, Ghassan al-Shirbi, Jabran Al Qahtani and several other suspects. Three of the other captives captured in that house were to face charges before the Guantanamo military commissions in 2005 and 2006.

Charges

Noor Uthman Muhammed was charged with conspiracy and providing support to terrorists on May 23, 2008.[4][5]

On October 21, 2008, Susan J. Crawford the official in charge of the Office of Military Commissions announced charges were being dropped against Noor Uthman and four other captives: Jabran al Qahtani, Ghassan al Sharbi, Sufyian Barhoumi, and Binyam Mohamed.[6][7] Carol J. Williams, writing in the Los Angeles Times reports that all five men had been connected by Abu Zubaydah—one of the three captives the CIA has acknowledged was interrogated using the controversial technique known as "waterboarding".

Williams quoted the men's attorneys, who anticipated the five men would be re-charged in thirty days.[7] They told Williams that: "... prosecutors called the move procedural", and attributed it to the resignation of fellow Prosecutor Darrel Vandeveld, who resigned on ethical grounds. Williams reported that Clive Stafford Smith speculated that the Prosecution's dropping of the charges, and plans to subsequently re-file charges later was intended to counter and disarm the testimony Vandeveld was anticipated to offer, that the Prosecution had withheld exculpatory evidence.

The current charges [8] against Noor Uthman were instated on December 5, 2008.

The Barack Obama Presidency was granted a continuance on October 21, 2009.[9] The military commissions for five other captives have been granted continuances, until November 16, 2009.

On November 13, 2009, the Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Noor Uthman's case would continue in a military commission.[10]

On April 8, 2010, Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported Captain Moira Modzelewski, the Presiding Officer over Noor's military commission, predicted she would require a year to review the secret evidence against Noor.[11] According to Rosenberg the provisions within the Military Commissions Act of 2009 allowed the use of classified evidence, but only after a review by the Presiding Officer. The Prosecution could submit a summary of classified evidence, in lieu of the evidence itself, but the Presiding Officer was required to review every document the summary was based on, to ensure it was a fair summary.

On September 21, 2010, Carol Rosenburg, again writing in the Miami Herald, reported that prosecutor Marine Major James Weirick[12] stated that "Noor Uthman Mohammed for a number of years was the principal trainer and in charge of all training at the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan that provided numerous individuals who went on to serve for al Qaida.[13]

On February 15, 2011, Noor Uthman Muhammed pleaded guilty to providing material support for terrorism, and conspiracy to providing material support to an international terrorist organization and terrorism. He was sentenced to 14 years of confinement.[14]

On May 15, 2013, Charlie Savage, reporting in the New York Times reported that although Noor's plea deal was supposed to see him serve an additional 34 months in Guantanamo, he might not be released, after all.[15] Savage was reporting on an April motion from Noor's lawyer, that requested the Presiding Officer to compel the DoD to release Noor as scheduled. They asserted that Noor had fully complied with the plea deal, but the officials known as the Convening Authority were not doing so. Further, Savage noted the exemption in law Congress had passed barring the release of captives—unless they had been sentenced and completed their terms, was going to expire three months before Noor's scheduled release. An additional complication was that the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned the sentences of two other captives who had plead guilty to the same change Noor pleaded to, as the charges barred the fundamental principle that no one should face charges for an act that was legal at the time they committed it, and that Noor too was likely to have his sentence overturned.

After serving 34 months of his sentence, Noor was transferred to his native Sudan on December 19, 2013.[16]

References
  1. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/guantanamo/detainees/707-noor-uthman-muhammed/documents/11
  2. OARDEC (May 15, 2006). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  3. Cabot, Tyler. "The Prisoners of Guantanamo". Esquire Magazine. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  4. "Sudanese terror suspect charged at Guantanamo Bay". Associated Press. May 23, 2008. Archived from the original on May 23, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-23. According to the charges, Muhammed was a member of al-Qaida, trained at a camp in Afghanistan and later become a weapons instructor. From 1996 to 2000 he was deputy commander of the camp, where he oversaw its operations.
  5. "Pentagon charges detainee with terrorism support". Reuters. May 23, 2008. Archived from the original on May 23, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  6. Jane Sutton (2008-10-21). "U.S. drops charges against 5 Guantanamo captives". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2008-10-21.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. Carol J. Williams (2008-10-21). "War crimes charges dropped against 5 in Guantanamo". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2008-10-21.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Referred%20Charge%20Sheet.pdf Archived February 12, 2011, at WebCite
  9. "Delays granted in 2 Guantanamo war crimes cases". Associated Press. 2009-10-21. Archived from the original on 2009-10-22.
  10. U.S. to hold 9/11 trial in public court : Some praise the shift from Guantanamo to New York. Others say the suspects gain a propaganda forum. - Los Angeles Times Archived February 12, 2011, at WebCite
  11. Carol Rosenberg (2010-04-08). "Judge says she needs year to sort through evidence". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2010-04-08.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. "U.S. v. Dutton" (PDF).
  13. Prosecutor: Guantanamo detainee trained 9/11 hijackers | McClatchy Archived February 12, 2011, at WebCite
  14. "Gitmo detainee pleads guilty to terror charges". CNN U.S. 15 February 2011. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  15. Charlie Savage (2013-05-14). "Lawyers Press Pentagon to Abide by Detainee Deal". New York Times. p. A14. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Noor has kept both the letter and spirit of his promises under the plea agreement, but the government has not," the filing says. "More than two years have passed since the written plea agreement was signed by the government, and yet the convening authority continues to delay in carrying out the procedural steps necessary to pave the way for Noor's release and repatriation. As a matter of contract law and basic fairness, the plea agreement between Noor and the government should be enforced.
  16. https://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/us-transfers-two-more-guantanamo-detainees
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