ISN: 893
Nationality: Yemeni
Guantanamo prisoner Tolfiq
Al Bihani admitted to attending an Al Qeada terrorist training camp as well as being
part of a group that fought against forces allied with the United States in the
first few months of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
During his time at Guantanamo,
Tolfiq has threatened to commit acts of violence against Americans and
terrorist attacks against the United States if he is released. He remains at
Guantanamo, even though he was approved for transfer or release in January
2010, if certain conditions could be met.
This summary of the
information used by the United States to justify the continued detention of Tolfiq
is based primarily on a U.S. military document written in February 2008 during
the Bush Administration. If any information in that “Detainee Assessment” brief
(DAB)
is inaccurate, misleading or incomplete, this summary will be as well.
Training, fighting and family ties
Tolfiq Al Bihani told U.S.
interrogators he was recruited to join Al Qaeda by his brother, Mansur Al
Bihani, and Abu Ansar Al Yemeni in February 2001. Tolfiq’s DAB describes Mansur
as an, “Al Qaeda associated facilitator, financier, operational planner and
explosives expert.”
Tolfiq Al Bihani told U.S.
interrogators he trained at Al Qaeda’s Al Faruq terrorist training camp before joining
a group of fighters in Kandahar that fought against forces that were allied
with the U.S. military. Tolfiq said Americans used jet fighters and that the
fighting in Kandahar increased, before his group decided to flee to Iran.
The Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar fell
Dec. 7, 2001, according to CBS News.
Other Guantanamo prisoners
corroborated key aspects of Tolfiq’s admitted ties to Al Qaeda.
Former Guantanamo prisoner
Abd
Al Razaq Abdallah Hamid Ibrahim Al Sharikh (SA-067) said Tolfiq
received training at Al Faruq in 2001 with Tolfiq’s brothers Zakaria and Ghaleb
Nassar Al Bihani (YM-128).
Ghaleb was also a
Guantanamo prisoner. Tolfiq’s DAB said the U.S. military concluded Ghaleb was
an Al Qaeda member who received explosives training. Ghaleb was transferred
from Guantanamo to Oman on Jan. 16, 2017.
Former Guantanamo prisoner
Humud
Dakhil Humud Said Al Jadan (SA-230) said he provided Tolfiq and
Ghaleb basic militant training at the Al Qaeda Al Faruq training camp.
Terrorist leader and
Guantanamo prisoner Abu Zubaydah
said Tolfiq fought with Al Qaeda in the final days before the Taliban fell in
Afghanistan. Tolfiq’s DAB states the “final days” refers to the period of
approximately October 2001 to March 2002.
Capture
In late 2001 or early
2002, Iranian police arrested Tolfiq for being in the country illegally. He
remained in Iranian custody until mid-March 2002, when he was transferred to
Afghan custody. Tolfiq was transferred to US custody at Bagram in about
mid-December 2002, before he was transferred to Guantanamo Feb. 6, 2003.
Threats against Americans
In March 2006, Tolfiq said that if he were released, he would travel to Afghanistan and wage jihad with the intent of killing Americans. In a letter to his brother Muhammad, Tolfiq wrote, “I hope Allah provides me martyrdom for his cause.”
Tolfiq has verbally
threatened to kill U.S. personnel on numerous occasions. He said he was going
to kill President Bush, he needed to kill all Americans, he would go to America
and fly another plane (referencing the 9/11 terrorist attacks), and that he
would cut off the head of a U.S. guard.
Tolfiq said he works for
Osama bin Laden and follows bin Laden’s rules.
Conditional Detention
In January 2010, Obama’s
Guantanamo task force recommended
Tolfiq be held in conditional detention, but that he could be transferred from
Guantanamo if the security situation in Yemen improved, an appropriate
rehabilitation program or third-country resettlement option became available,
or Yemen demonstrated the ability to mitigate any threat posed by Tolfiq’s
transfer.
The final
report of the Guantanamo Review Task Force, released Jan. 22, 2010, highlighted
the concerns of Obama Administration officials had regarding transferring
Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen.
The report stated that Al
Qaeda was gaining strongholds in certain regions of the country and that the
government of Yemen was facing a rebellion in other regions. The report also stated
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the branch of Al Qaeda based in Yemen, was
involved in the attempted
bombing of an airplane headed to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
Following the attempted
attack, President Obama issued a moratorium Jan. 5, 2010 on transferring
Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen. One Yemeni Guantanamo prisoner, Mohammed
Odaini, was transferred to Yemen in July 2010 because a federal
judge ordered
that he be released.
Even though President
Obama lifted
the moratorium on transferring Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen on May 23, 2013, no
other Yemenis have been transferred back to Yemen since January 2010. Since the
initial ban, however, many Yemeni prisoners were transferred to other countries
during the Obama Administration, including Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Estonia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Montenegro, Italy,
Serbia, and Cape Verde.
Trump Administration
During his State of the
Union address in January, President Trump criticized
decisions by previous administrations to release alleged terrorists detained by
the U.S.
“In the past, we have
foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet
them again on the battlefield,” he said.
If Tolfiq were to be
transferred to another country, it would likely require the U.S. State
Department to negotiate the terms and conditions of the transfer.
Former Trump Secretary of
State Rex
Tillerson dissolved
the State Department’s “Office of the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure,” an
office created by the Obama administration to negotiate prisoner transfers.
Only one prisoner has been
transferred from Guantanamo during the Trump Administration. Ahmed
Al Darbi was transferred
to Saudi Arabia in May to serve the remaining nine years in his 13-year
sentence, which was part of the agreement he made with the U.S. government when
he pled
guilty in February 2014 to involvement in a 2002 Al Qaeda terrorist
attack on a civilian ship.
Tofiq is one of 11
Guantanamo prisoners who have filed a motion
in federal court requesting that the court determine that the U.S. government
can no longer legally detain them.
Tolfiq Al Bihani has been
imprisoned at Guantanamo for 15 years, eight of which have taken place after
the Obama Administration approved that he could be transferred if certain
security conditions could be met.
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