User:Geo Swan/Guantanamo/Riot at Mazari Sharif

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In November of 2001 there was a riot at the Qala-I-Jangi prison near Mazari Sharif, a city in Northern Afghanistan.[1]

The prison was under the jurisdiction of General Dostum, a prominent militia leader in the Northern Alliance.[1]

[edit] American presence

Template:TalibanBounty

At least two officers of the Central Intelligence Agency were present at the prison. One of the CIA officers, John Spann, died during the riot.[1] Spann and his colleague were at the prison to interrogate prisoners. Prisoners report that the Americans were paying Afghan gunmen a bounty for the prisoners.

One other American was known to have been present during the riot, John Walker Lindh. According to some accounts Spann was actually interrogating Lindh when the riot began.


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Debra Burlingame. "Gitmo's Guerrilla Lawyers: How an unscrupulous legal and PR campaign changed the way the world looks at Guantanamo.", Thursday, March 8, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-7-15. 


eyewitness accounts of the riot at the prison in Mazari Sharif
id name notes
84 Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev

"We were surrounded by Northern Alliance forces and taken to a place with walls around it. They [Northern Alliance] let everybody out of the cars and were searching all of the clothes and luggage. After that, they put all of us in the basement.

"I spent one day there. I don't know the exact time because I was in the basement. At some point, they told us to get out of the basement. I was sick and decided I was going to go behind everybody. Everybody lined up to get out of the basement. It was group of about 20-30 people.

"At that time, I noticed there were two entrances to the basement, one on the left and one on the right. We were standing in the one that goes on the left side. When I was close to the entrance on the left side, I heard gunshots. Everybody panicked and tried to get out I thought the gunshots were coming from the right entrance. I was running behind the people who were running from the left entrance.

"As soon as I got out of the left entrance, in order to save my life, I turned to the right and there was a grenade explosion and I was injured. From the corner of my eye, as I turned around, I saw there were a lot of people laying or sitting on the ground. Since I was injured, I could only take a couple steps and I collapsed.

"It wasn't outside yet. It was only as you got out of the basement, it took place in some sort of foyer.

"So, when I collapsed, I noticed that both of my legs and my back were bleeding. I saw some fabric lying around, so I picked some up and tied my legs.

"While I was lying on the ground, I heard a lot of gunshots close to me. Another explosion took place; it was close to me. Pieces of debris, like steel, not just regular debris...

"In order to save my life, I figured it wasn't good for me to lie there. I decided to crawl back into the basement.

"I went back to the basement and probably spent about 5 or 6 days and beside me there were a few more injured people. I lost lots of blood and was almost unconscious. I remember someone was giving me water, but I'm not sure who it was.

"It was very hard without water. I believe I was hallucinating when I was injured and I'm not even sure what I was seeing.

"There was another explosion and it felt almost like an earthquake. I'm not sure which side it was from; which forces did it.

"Then we smelled gas and believed somebody actually spilled gas or oil and lit it on fire. Since I was unconscious, it smelled like someone cooking something, that somebody was actually frying meat. Then, it is my understanding that somebody actually caught on fire. It was somebody's body.

"Then they started to fill the basement with water. I'm not sure how much time I spent in the water. After that, I totally lost control of myself. I remember hearing some voices. I remember somebody lifted me up and took me out of there [the basement].

"They took me to the hospital and started treating me. My legs were swollen. I don't remember if they operated or did something. Then I was handed to you and since then, I'm here."