Sanad al-Kazimi

Nationality: Yemeni
Date of birth: 17 February 1970
Place of birth: Aden, Yemen
Aliases: Salah al-Kurdi, Munir al-Kurdi, Abdul Aziz Ahmad Abdullah Aloqi, Abu Malik, Majid Muhammad Umar Abdallah, Abu Ali al-Kazimi, Abduallah Aziz Ahmed, Sind Ali Yislim a-Kazimi, Al Qasim al-Yemeni, Kass

Capture: Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 2003
 
SSCI prisoner number: 74

Entered CIA custody: 14 August 2003 – 17 August 2003
Period of CIA custody: 270-273 days
Left CIA custody: 13 May 2004

Detained: United Arab Emirates; Afghanistan (COBALT/GRAY and ORANGE [possibly]); Guantánamo Bay

Current status: detained, Guantánamo Bay

Sanad al-Kazimi was captured by UAE authorities in Dubai at some point in January 2003. According to Amnesty International, he was initially held for around two months in or near Dubai before being driven for about two hours to a second location. Whilst in UAE custody, he was hooded, kept in a dark room, and shackled naked for days on end. Interrogators beat him with fists, threatened him with rape, and subjected him to simulated drowning: “His eyes were covered with black goggles, his arms and legs shackled and he was lifted by a machine and submerged into a pool of cold water.”

Analysis by The Rendition Project and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has established that al-Kazimi was transferred into CIA custody at some point 14-17 August 2003. Analysis of flight data has identified a flight between the UAE and Uzbekistan in this period, by rendition aircraft N379P. It is likely that the aircraft landed in Afghanistan, either after or instead of Uzbekistan, and transferred al-Kazimi to CIA detention in the country. Click here for our analysis of flight data and documentation associated with al-Kazimi’s rendition from UAE to Afghanistan.