Kangaroo Tribunals

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals are the extra-judicial process that the government uses to classify a captured individual is an "enemy combatant." Mark and Joshua Denbeaux's report, No-Hearing Hearings provides a useful introduction to this kangaroo tribunal.

On a few occasions, a Tribunal initially found that the detainee was not/no longer an enemy combatant. In such cases, the detainee was never told of this decision. Instead, the Tribunal’s decision wasreviewed at multiple levels in the Defense Department chain of command and eventually a new Tribunal was convened. However, some detainees were still found not/no longer to be enemy combatants. At least one detainee’s record indicates that after a second Tribunal found him no longer an enemy combatant, the process was repeated and sent back for a third Tribunal which found him to be an enemy combatant.

Our friend, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, was one those prisoners initially found to have no ties to terrorism classified as a "non enemy combatant." The higher-ups overturned this determination and Mr. Al-Ghizzawi continues to languish in Guantánamo.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados