Yesterday, Gitmo Detainee Awal Gul died in the shower after exercising on an elliptical machine (Gitmo has non-electronic mechanical ellipticals). Gul, who according to his attorneys, had been a Taliban commander in the 1990s before leaving because "[t]he Taliban soon proved themselves to be as corrupt and abusive as we can imagine," had a pending habeas case in court. The hearing had taken place last March, but it was classified.
Shortly following his death, JTF GTMO released a statement saying he had been a known associate of Osama Bin Laden. Josh Gerstein reported:
The U.S. military called Gul "an admitted Taliban recruiter and commander of a military base in Jalalabad." Gul had also admitted to meeting with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and "providing him with operational assistance on several occasions," the military said.
Gul's attorneys said the allegations were far more serious than the ones the government had presented to the District Court, and argued that Gul had presented himself voluntarily to American officials in 2001.
I don't know how credible the government's case against him was, but the tone of the DoD's statement was remarkable. Given that Gul himself had never been tried by military commission, and had instead been marked for "indefinite detention," it seemed almost like the government was trying to convict him posthumously.
The Department of Defense's press release earlier today is outrageous for a couple reasons. Thegovernment, through this post-death statement, makes claims more outlandish even than the government lawyers in Mr. Gul's habeas case. We now hear for the very first time in the nearly 10 years since Mr. Gul's arrest, that (1) he operated a guesthouse for Al-Qaida members, and (2) that he admitted providing bin Laden operational support on several occasions. Over the course of almost 3 years in court, the government has never provided any evidence at all to support this slander. Neither Mr. Gul nor any credible witness has ever said such things. Indeed, this is why the government placed Mr. Gul in the group of prisoners set for "indefinite detention;" it admitted that it lacked any credible evidence to prove itssuspicions in a court of law. The government never even made these claims until now, when Mr. Gul isnot alive to defend himself.
After nine years in detention, he won't get the chance, and the fate of his habeas petition is uncertain. While the government will likely call for the case to be dismissed, Matthew Dodge, one of Gul's attorneys, said they hadn't yet decided how to proceed.
“I'm still very concerned that the allegations are out there, and he hasn't been exonerated publicly,” said Dodge. “I don't want this label to remain with him, and then by proxy with his family for all time."
