The Rendition Project

The Rendition Project

Researching the globalisation
of rendition and secret detention

Musab al-Mudwani

 

Nationality: Yemeni
Date of birth: 1 January 1979
Place of birth: Al-Hudaydah, Yemen
Aliases: Abu Anas, Abu Musab al-Yemeni

Capture: 11 September 2002, Karachi, Pakistan
Captured alongside: Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Hassan bin Attash, Abd al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, Ghulam Rabbani, Ayub Marshid Salih, Bashir al-Marwalah, Ha’il al-Mithali, Said Saleh Said, Shawqi Awad

SSCI prisoner number: 11

Entered CIA custody: 14 September 2002 – 15 September 2002
Period of CIA custody: 30-39 days
Left CIA custody: 14 October 2002 – 24 October 2002

Detained: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay

Current status: detained, Guantánamo Bay

 

Musab al-Mudwani is a Yemeni man who – according to calculations published by the SSCI – was held by the CIA for around a month (30-39 days). He was one of a number of suspects captured on 11 September 2002 in a series of raids in Karachi by Pakistani ISI officers, rangers and police officers, sparked by the capture the day before of another suspect, Ghulam Rabbani. After capture, al-Mudwani may have been held in Pakistani detention for a number of days before being transferred into CIA custody.

It appears from the SSCI report that a group of prisoners captured on 11 September 2002, including al-Mudwani, were moved into and out of CIA custody together. Analysis by The Rendition Project and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has also concluded it likely that this group was transferred to CIA custody along with Hassan bin Attash, who was then separated from the group and transferred onwards to Jordan. Given bin Attash’s own testimony, this transfer date is likely to have been at some point on either 14-15 September 2002. There is little information regarding where al-Mudwani was held during his period of CIA detention. A US federal judge hearing his habeas corpus case has stated that al-Mudwani was held at a number of prisons before his transfer to Guantánamo Bay, and that his claims of “abusive interrogation techniques” during secret detention were “credible”. Given that the others in the group captured alongside al-Mudwani and held by the CIA during the same period were held at the CIA-run DETENTION SITE COBALT, it is almost certain that he was as well. Indeed, early reporting by Human Rights Watch placed al-Mudwani in the Dark Prison, which is likely to have been another name for COBALT.