Shah Muhammad

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Shah Muhammad is a Pakistani who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] On May 8, 2003 Muhammad was released at the same time as two other Pakistanis, Jehan Wali and Sahibzada Usman Ali. He was 20 years old.

Muhammad is a baker from Dir, in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan.[1][2]

Only one other Pakistani detainee, elderly Mohammed Saghir, had been released prior to his release. [3][4]

Shah reported that he felt despair, and made four suicide attempts during his time in Guantanamo, even though suicide was against the tenets of Islam.[5]

When The Guardian interviewed Muhammad, a year after his release, Muhammad reported on-going after-effects from his incarceration.[6] "The biggest damage is to my brain. My physical and mental state isn't right. I'm a changed person. I don't laugh or enjoy myself much."

The Guardian reports that Muhammad's first suicide attempt followed a month of solitary confinement in a punishment cell.[6] Muhammad was not confined there because he had broken any of the camp rules -- rather the camp's expansion meant they had run short of ordinary cells.

Muhammad reported having his suicidal impulses treated by involuntary injections with extremely powerful, long-lasting, psychoactive drugs. [6]

The Department of Defense released a list of all the captives who had been detained in Guantanamo, in military custody on May 15, 2006.[7] Muhammad Shah's name is missing from that list.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b US releases three Pakistanis jailed in Guantanamo, Daily Times, May 14, 2003
  2. ^ Fatima Bhutto. "The road to Guantanamo", The International News, January 20, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-22. 
  3. ^ Afghans Describe Life Inside Gitmo CBS News, October 29, 2002
  4. ^ The oldest of the old: First 'hardcore' suspects freed from Camp Delta.. three Afghans, combined age 196, The Mirror, October 30, 2002
  5. ^ Inmates Released from Guantanamo Tell Tales of Despair, New York Times, June 17, 2003
  6. ^ a b c People the law forgot, The Guardian, December 3, 2003
  7. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006