Ahmed Abdul Qader is a citizen of Yemen, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from June 18, 2002, to January 14, 2015. His detainee ID number was 690. The Department of Defense estimated that Qader was born in 1984, in Sana'a, Yemen.
Ahmed Abdul was cleared for release by the Guantanamo Review Task Force. He was accepted as a refugee by Estonia on January 14, 2015.
Official status reviews
Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.
Following Freedom of Information Act requests the DoD published documents from Ahmed Abdul's annual OARDEC hearings from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, studied these documents, and listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations According to their study: Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees stayed in Al Qaeda, Taliban or other guest- or safehouses." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... took military or terrorist training in Afghanistan." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... fought for the Taliban." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges that the following detainees were captured under circumstances that strongly suggest belligerency." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... served on Osama Bin Laden’s security detail." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative". Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "deny affiliation with Al Qaeda or the Taliban yet admit facts that, under the broad authority the laws of war give armed parties to detain the enemy, offer the government ample legal justification for its detention decisions." Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... admitted fighting on behalf of Al Qaeda or the Taliban."
Ahmed Abdul chose to participate in his initial 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal. The United States Department of Defense published an 8-page summary of the transcript of his hearing.
Ahmed Abdul requested fellow captive Abdul Aziz, the Al Wafa director, as a witness. Abdul Aziz stated he did not remember ever meeting Qadar, and since he didn't remember him Ahmed Abdul could never have worked for him.
Habeas corpus petition
Ahmed Abdul's habeas corpus petition was turned down in 2011.
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. A 13-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo detainee assessment was drafted about him on May 20, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M Thomas Jr. who recommended continued detention.
Guantanamo Review Task Force
On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo. He established a task force to re-review the status of all the remaining captives. Where the OARDEC officials reviewing the status of the captives were all "field grade" officers in the US military (Commanders, naval Captains, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels) the officials seconded to the task force were drawn from not only the Department of Defense, but also from five other agencies, including the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security. President Obama gave the task force a year, and it recommended the release of Qader and 54 other individuals.