User:Geo Swan/gitmo/Jan Mohammed

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Jan Mohammed
Detained at: Guantanamo
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status One of the first captives to be released.

Jan Mohammed is an Afghani man was held in extrajudicial detention in United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The New York Times reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai invited the three men to meet with him at the Presidential Parade.[5][8] Following their meeting with President Karzai, Sayed Fazl Akbar, a presidential spokesman announced:

"Mr. Karzai decided to send a team to Guantánamo to find out if the rest of the Afghans there are in the same situation, if there are people there who are innocent and should be released."

Mohammed was repatriated in October 2002, together with three elderly men, two Afghanis and a Pakistani.[2] The men described being chained, for hours, during their interrogations.

Mohammed said that he had been forcibly conscripted into the Taliban army, at gunpoint.[4][1] The Associated Press quoted other comments Mohammed made:

  • "They kept us in cages like animals. We were only allowed out twice per week, for half an hour."
  • "I wasn't Taliban, but the Taliban made me fight with them. I'm innocent. I'm a farmer."
  • "There are still many of us left in that prison. They think they'll die there."

Some press reports stated that Mohammed, and the three elderly detainees released at the same time he was, were the first detainees to be released.[6] But the Associated Press and the Washington Post reported that a mentally ill detainee was repatriated in May 2002.[1][4]

Mohammed said he recognized some high level Taliban leaders in the camp, such as Zaeff Mohammed, a former ambassador.[4] He said that the detainees were shackled every time they were removed from their cells.

Mohammed's companions said that they had no contact with their family during their American custody.[1] Mohammed said he received a letter from his family just three days before his release.

The Department of Defense gave them men a pair of long underwear, a blue running jacket, white socks, and black shoes.[1] men were Kabul Police Chief Basir Salangi said the men were taken to a Red Cross hospital when they were passed from American to Afghan custody. He described the three men as appearing "very sick".[6]

[edit] Not listed

After a long legal battle the Department of Defense complied with a court order from US District Court Justice Jed Rakoff, to release the names of all the Guantanamo detainees. The DoD finally released what they described as a full list of all the captives who had been detained, in military custody, in Guantanamo. Jan Mohammed is one of the captives known to have been detained in Guantanamo whose name is missing from that list.

Main article: Guantanamo detainees missing from the official list

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Todd Pitman. "Guantanamo prisoners tell of confinement & interrogations", The Daily Iowan, October 30 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  2. ^ a b "Afghans Describe Life Inside Gitmo", CBS News, October 29, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  3. ^ "Guantanamo Diaries", Mother Jones magazine, October 28, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  4. ^ a b c d Former Guantanamo Prisoners Say They Weren't Tortured, Washington Post, October 29, 2002
  5. ^ a b David Rohde. "Kabul to Send Team to Check on Afghans Held at Guantánamo", New York Times, October 31, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  6. ^ a b c "U.S. releases four terror suspects from Guantanamo", St Augustine Record, October 29, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  7. ^ "Three Afghans, Pakistani held at Guantanamo Bay return home", The Daily Athenaeum, October 29, 2002. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 
  8. ^ "Karzai will check on Afghans held in Cuba", St Louis Post Dispatch, October 31, 2002, p. A9. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.