User:Geo Swan/gitmo/Murtaza

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Murtaza, an Afghan with just a single name, was detained in Camp Delta, in the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Murtaza was one of eighteen Afghanis repatriated on March 22, 2003, and released by Afghan authorities four days later. Murtaza was one of the first detainees to be released, even though, like several other of the eighteen detainees, he acknowledged fighting with the Taliban. But he said he had been forced to fight, against his will.

Murtaza said he spent two months imprisoned in Sherberghan, five months imprisoned in Kandahar, before he was shipped to Guantanamo Bay.

The detainees were released with their a knapsack, their medical records, a change of clothes, and a pair of running shoes. The detainees had to rely on charity to find their way home from Kabul.

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Fellow prisoner Murtaza, who like many Afghans has only one name, described being cooped up in cages in Guantanamo, sometimes hooded and handcuffed, during a seemingly interminable detention.
"Initially they told us it would take one month for the investigation and we would be released immediately if we were proven innocent.
"We spent two months in Sherberghan, five months in Kandahar, and more than one year in Guantanamo and finally now they release us because we are innocent.
"In Guantanamo we were in two-metre long cages. Some of us were interrogated 20 times, others 50 times, others 60. But the food was good and they did not beat us."
Murtaza, 30, admitted he was fighting with the Taliban when he was arrested in northern Kunduz province, but said he had been forced to join the militia.