Abdul Al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani

Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani was a citizen of Pakistan who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

American Intelligence analysts estimated that Rabbani was born in 1967.

Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani arrived at Guantanamo on 19 September 2004, and was held at Guantanamo for over 18 years, until his release on 23 February 2023.

Official status reviews

Originally, the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not protected by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without explanation. However, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that the captives were entitled to hear the allegations that justified their detention, and to try to refute those allegations.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

In 2004, in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush, the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. Documents from those reviews were published in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:

Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of Al Qaeda." In response, on 13 December 2005, the Department of Defense published a fourteen-page dossier of unclassified documents arising from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

His Summary of Evidence memo was drafted on 10 November 2004. His assessment was twelve pages long, and recommended his continued detention. It was signed by camp commandant David M. Thomas Jr. and was dated 8 June 2008.

Joint Review Task Force

When he assumed office in January 2009 President Barack Obama made a number of promises about the future of Guantanamo. He promised the use of torture would cease at the camp. He promised to institute a new review system. That new review system was composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. When it reported back, a year later, the Joint Review Task Force classified some individuals as too dangerous to be transferred from Guantanamo, even though there was no evidence to justify laying charges against them. On 9 April 2013, that document was made public after a Freedom of Information Act request. Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release. Although Obama promised that those deemed too innocent to charge, but too dangerous to release would start to receive reviews from a Periodic Review Board less than a quarter of men have received a review. Rabbani was approved for transfer on 13 May 2021.

Hunger strike Rabbani and his brother participated in the hunger strike that started on 8 August 2005.

Release Rabbani and his brother were transferred to Pakistan on 23 February 2023.

Death Rabbani died of a stomach illness on 1 November 2024.