Mohamedou Ould Slahi

ISN: 760

Nationality: Mauritanian

This summary of the evidence against Mohamedou Slahi is based largely on the ruling in his 2010 habeas corpus case. I summarized the history of the habeas corpus rights of the prisoners at Guantanamo for National Security Stories.

Slahi trained at Al Qaeda’s Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan in late 1990 and early 1991. Slahi pledged loyalty to Al Qaeda in 1991. He said that he went to Afghanistan to fight the communists and also said that he fought for Al Qaeda in the battle of Gardez in 1992. Slahi says he severed his ties with Al Qaeda in 1992.

The decision in Slahi’s 2010 habeas case says that, “there is ample evidence in this record that Slahi was subjected to extensive and severe mistreatment at Guantanamo from mid-June 2003 to September 2003.”

During his Habeas case, the US government argued that in October 1999 Slahi recruited two of the highjackers and one of the organizers of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Judge Roberston concluded that based upon the available evidence, “the government has credibly shown, and Slahi has not rebutted, the showing that Slahi provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany, that one of them was Ramzi bin al Shibh, and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan.”

Slahi’s habeas ruling also says that, “Salahi continued to be in touch with people he knew to be al Qaeda members, and […] was willing to refer would-be jihadists to them when the opportunity arose.”

The US government believes that Slahi’s cousin, Abu Hafs, was a member of Al Qaeda. Slahi transferred 4 thousand dollars to Hafs twice, once in December 1997 and once in December 1998. During a coercive interrogation, Slahi said that he transferred the money in order to support Al Qaeda. He later said that he was only helping Hafs send money to his family in Mauritania. 

Slahi lived in Canada from November 1999 to January 2000. During that time an Al Qaeda cell in Canada launched the “millennium plot,” a failed attempt to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Years Eve 1999.

In November 2001 Slahi was arrested by Mauritanian authorities. He was then sent to Jordan. He was transferred to US custody in July 2002. He was sent to Guantanamo in August 2002.

Slahi was recommended for prosecution by Obama’s Guantanamo task force in January 2010. Slahi won his habeas case in March 2010.  In November 2010 the DC appeals court ordered the district court to rehear Slahi’s case using a different legal standard.

Mohamedou Slahi provided a copy of his memoirs to the online newsmagazine Slate. He remains at Guantanamo to this day.