More than 27 years after he abandoned his undergraduate studies in Mysuru to wage jihad against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan, Zainalabdeen Mohammad Hussein Abu Zobaida’s links with the southern Indian city have become the subject of intense interest among a group of international lawyers and human rights groups.
Arrested by the U.S. authorities in March 2002 and described by the then Bush administration as the “No. 3 in al-Qaeda” and accused of having links to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Saudi national of Palestinian descent, who is better known as Abu Zubaydah, is being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.
The lawyers representing Zubaydah have, in recent months, been seeking to unearth more details about his stay in Mysuru while they await progress on a habeas corpus petition filed before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The petition seeks the release of their client along with 10 other Muslim men, who have been detained at Guantanamo Bay without charges or a trial.
Subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” including waterboarding at the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) ‘black sites’, which later became the subject of extensive Congressional hearings and censure, Zubaydah has not been charged, according to his lawyers, with the CIA itself having conceded that he was not a part of the al-Qaeda.
“Further, effective January 24, 2018, Abu Zubaydah was delisted by the United Nations Security Council from its Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions List, based on the recommendation of the U.N. ombudsperson, who also concluded that he was not a member of the al-Qaeda,” Charles R. Church, a member of two legal teams representing Zubaydah, wrote on the Lawfare blog.
Diary entries
According to Zubaydah’s personal diaries — seized from a safe house in Pakistan’s Faisalabad following his capture, translated into English by the U.S. government and now publicly available on the Al Jazeera website — he arrived in Mysuru from Riyadh in June 1989 to study computer science.
The first of the six notebooks that comprise his personal diary chronicles his desire to study computer science in a college outside Saudi Arabia and the widening “gap” between him and his father, Mohammed Hussein Abu Zubaydah.
While the Special Branch of the Foreigners’ Registration Office in Mysuru City Police has no record of his arrival or stay in Mysuru — the Mysuru City Police Commissionerate that was carved out of the District Police was created only a couple of months after Zubaydah arrived in the city, in November 1989 — the University of Mysore’s records reveal that he had joined the city’s renowned Sarada Vilas College.
College records show that Zubaydah, whose date of birth is recorded as July 28, 1971, studied Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, Arabic and English at the College. Exam records, however, reveal that he only succeeded in passing his Computer Science and Arabic papers at the annual examinations held in April 1990.
K.J. Muralidhar, who taught Physics at the college during the time Zubaydah was a student, said he could not recall the name, most likely because he may not have been an academic topper. “I still remember some of the bright students from the Arab countries. Abu Zubaydah was certainly not one among them,” said Mr. Muralidhar, who retired recently.
A visit to the address listed in the college records in the city’s upmarket Udayagiri locality revealed that the ownership of the house had changed several hands since 1989, when Zubaydah and five other Arab classmates from countries, such as Yemen and Kuwait, had stayed.
In his diary, Zubaydah recounts a friendship with a neighbour, Yasir Badr Al Zaman, son of a police official Wajid, which later soured over the sale of a motorcycle he had purchased with his money but registered in Yasir’s name.
This volume of the diary is also replete with references to a maid “Flumina”, described as a “33-year-old short, black, petite, mother of three children, a widow, Christian, cheerful”, who had served him “loyally and faithfully”. Zubaydah reveals that he had a close relationship with the maid, who not only continued to work for him even after he shifted to a new house in the city, but also wept when he left Mysuru.
On January 12, 1991, Zubaydah, accompanied by his friend Amin, whose identity could not be established, left Mysuru for Afghanistan via Bengaluru, Delhi, Okara, Lahore and Peshawar.
Only 19 years old when he joined the conflict in Afghanistan, Zubaydah recounts having suffered injuries in a mortar attack and having been evacuated back to Pakistan. And there, once he had recovered, being moved to Peshawar to become the manager of a guest house for militants heading into Afghanistan. However, after the U.S. invasion in 2001, he fled again only to be captured in March 2002 in Faisalabad.
Lawyers allege that Abu Zubaydah has been detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba without charges or trial. File
Zubaydah’s lawyers are not the only people interested in dredging up any nuggets of information that may shed more light on his months in Mysuru.
Adrian Levy, co-author with Cathy Scott-Clark of TheExile , the first book to trace the life of Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda’s leaders from 9/11 to the raid on Abbottabad, is also part of a team researching Zubaydah’s life.
“Unfortunately, he was never in al-Qaeda or responsible for 9/11,” said Mr. Levy, when he spoke to The Hindu during a visit to Mysuru a few months back. “He was the administrator of jihad guest house, a logistics guy unconnected to 9/11 — a small fish.”
A jigsaw puzzle
“We are struggling to put together the jigsaw puzzle of Abu Zubaydah’s life”, Mr. Levy said. He is on the lookout for whoever knew him, especially ‘Flumina’. “This is an extraordinary state of affairs: that a man could languish in detention without charge or trial, having suffered extraordinarily… So all help from the people of Mysuru is welcome.”
Understanding Zubaydah’s life, his character from his days as a young student in Mysuru, “his likes, loves and friendships” would help lawyers fighting on his behalf, according to Mr. Levy, by “transforming this forever prisoner in a nightmarish situation, into a flesh and blood man, who has already endured torture and imprisonment for 16 years without charge.”
The Abu Zubaydah diary
Some of the references on India in a diary of Abu Zubaydah — a former CIA captive and one of the most high-profile prisoners in Guantanamo Bay — when he was studying in Mysuru:
June 13, 1990
- This date makes it almost a year for me here in India or perhaps more than a year. Ever since the First day I arrived in this country to study computer science, I have been trying to turn a new page in my life. But, the winds always expose for me pages from the past. I try not to read them; however, I recall them very well. And as they say: “One with no beginning has no end.”
June 14, 1990
- Today, the grades of the finals will be announced. It is the first year in computer science and it includes the following subjects: Computer, Math, Physics, Arabic, and English. Yesterday, the names of those who passed all subjects were announced and my name was not among them. So, I might have failed only one subject.
- Although I have thought, God willing, that I will pass the first year and go on to the second one without having to repeat the first year, yet, I am worried.
June 28, 1990
- Here I am now, in India, for almost a year or a bit over a year and I have truly discovered that it is the land of wonders.
- Everything in Indian is amazing in a sickening way. However, there are few facts that can not be ignored. Truly, the sceneries in this country are breathtaking, in spite of the fact that it is neglected in some areas, it could possibly be the most beautiful tourists attractions; provided that, it receives appropriate care... but...
- I cannot deny that I owe it to this country for allowing me to continue my college education after I have lost all hope to have college education.
The stars here are “goddesses.” Alcohol and cinema are things that an Indian person cannot live without; even if he doesn't have food to eat, he has to drink and watch a movie in the theater; especially the poor class or as they call it “Third Class.” And the favorite sport is Cricket.
Translation of diary by U.S. Department of Justice, FBI/Al Jazeera America
