Please take a few minutes and learn more about Adel Hamad, detainee number 940 held in extrajudicial detention at the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Mr. Hamad has been imprisoned for five years without trial. During Mr. Hamad’s Combatant Review Status Tribunals hearing, one dissenting member of the Tribunal called his detention “unconscionable.” I cannot disagree. When you are finished reading this diary, I beg of you to take some action on behalf of this man. I will list some very simple things you can do, none of which may lead to his immediate release, but all of which will show some awareness and solidarity with a fellow human being.
Adel Hamad was a teacher of elementary school orphans, a hospital worker, and someone who coordinated the delivery of food, medicine and blankets to refugees. He has been imprisoned for 5 years and classified as an enemy combatant, despite the lack of any allegations or evidence that he ever acted against the U.S. or its allies, or even had political sympathies for those who did. His friends and colleagues describe him as a funny, apolitical man who loved charity work and ping-pong.
One simple act of conscience would be to visit the Project Hamad website and learn more.
Project Hamad is what you might call a “Good Samaritan” organization. It is a small group of friends that heard of this man’s plight and decided to do something. Their goal is to raise awareness.
Project Hamad was created by David Naimon, Laura Moulton and Ben Parzybok. We're a physician, teacher and web developer, respectively, living in Portland, Oregon.
Another act of conscience would be to watch this video. You can also watch the video on the Project Hamad site, but I suggest you go to YouTube for two reasons. One is to rate the video. The second is to read this comment:
pilotkev55 (3 hours ago)
you dumbasses will beleive anything, fuck you scumbag liberals, you should be at guantanamo also
Got that, you scumbag liberal dumbass?
What about the charges:
- The hospital Adel Hamad worked for was run by a charity (World Assembly of Muslim Youth or WAMY) that may support "terrorist ideals"
WAMY is not a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) according to the State Department's own watch list.
WAMY worked regularly with the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the World Food Program.
In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees wrote: "UNHCR wishes to express gratitude and appreciation to WAMY for the humanitarian assistance, most notably, the commendable primary health care it provided to the Afghan refugees in Old Bagzai camp, Kurram Tribal Agency."
The U.S. Army Major, who dissented in his case, concurred: "Even if elements of certain NGOs provide support to terrorist ideals and causes that is insufficient to declare an employee of said NGO an enemy combatant; to do so would lead to unconscionable results: one would have to declare all physicians, nurses and aid workers of any suspect NGO as enemy combatants; the ramifications of such logic would lead to unforeseen and unconscionable results."
What unforeseen and unconscionable results? Does violating the Geneva Convention mean nothing to the Bush Administration?
Article 20 of the 4th Geneva Convention states: Persons regularly and solely engaged in the operation and administration of civilian hospitals, including the personnel engaged in the search for, removal, and transporting of and caring for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall be respected and protected.
That is rhetorical question. We all know how little regard the Bush administration has for the Geneva Conventions and international law.
- In the course of his work with refugees Adel Hamad may have come into contact with Al-Qaeda or Taliban members
The dissenting Army Major in Adel Hamad's Administrative Review at Guantanamo states: "The fallacy of logic that seeks to classify Hamad as an enemy combatant because he many have come in contact with al Qaida member in the course of providing aid to refugees, or teaching at a school, would also provide support that a local merchant who 'came in contact' with al Qaida members could be detained as an enemy combatant."
Can the bar for classifying someone as an enemy combatant be set any lower? If coming in contact with a member of a terrorist organization qualifies you as an enemy combatant, then Donald Rumsfeld is a former member of Saddam Hussein’s government.
- Adel Hamad is an Enemy Combatant
Adel Hamad was not captured on a battlefield. Instead he was arrested in the middle of the night from his own home. He had a valid passport and work visa and Pakistani intelligence found nothing incriminating in his place of residence.
No allegations have been made against Adel Hamad that he engaged in terrorism, acts supporting terrorists, violence against the United States or any belligerent act.
Interviews with his employers, his colleagues, his brother-in-law, and his landlord all describe Adel Hamad as a family man with a good sense of humor, a man who never spoke of politics, who was not a radical or an extremist.
The most damning evidence against him consists of Hamad having been member of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1986 and there are conflicting accounts of him having a pamphlet from the Muslim Brotherhood in his possession when he was arrested.
Another simple act of conscience would be to join Project Hamad, which is basically signing a petition of interest.
You can share Mr. Hamad’s story with family and friends by passing along the Project Hamad links.
You can write letters to your local print media and elected representatives about the Hamad case and the need to overturn the Military Commission Act, which eliminates the writ of habeas corpus for anyone who offends our war criminal president. If you are pressed for time, you can find a well-constructed letter on the Project Hamad site at this link.
If you are willing to risk getting on the radar of our government, you can write a letter to Mr. Hamad to show him that not all Americans are evil, just the ones running the country at the moment:
Adel Hamad
Camp Delta
P.O. Box 160
Washington DC 20053
You can send an email to the wonderful people at Project Hamad that have taken the plight of this man to heart so he will not be forgotten.
projecthamad at gmail dot com
Please do something. What we do for others in need is our legacy to future generations. Thank you for reading.