Gholam Ghaus Z. is a German citizen wrongly imprisoned for over four month in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan.[1][2][3][4][5] Der Spiegel reports that he was of Afghan background and was apprehended while on a trip to visit relatives in Afghanistan. Deustche Welle reports that he is from the German city of Wuppertal.
Der Spiegel reports that the 41 year old man had taken early retirement, due to medical problems.[1][5] A second Der Spiegel report states that his Kabul relatives told him that, as a German citizen, he could shop in the supermarket in the American base in Kabul without any problems:
Gholam Z. borrowed a relative's car to go on what a security expert has called his "fatal shopping trip," during which he planned to buy a razor, among other items. According to his version of events, he drove up to the military base on Jan. 4, showed the guard his German passport in its red cover and was then allowed to pass through several security checkpoints without incident.
It reported that German security officials who investigated his background in Germany, and who interviewed him in Afghanistan, were satisfied that there was no evidence of any tie to terrorism. Nevertheless, the USA told German officials that he could not be released unless Germany provided assurances of measures that amounted to "round the clock surveillance".
Der Spiegel reported that the USA had been holding Gholam Ghaus Z. for approximately four months, and that his continued detention had been putting a strain on the relationship between Germany and the USA.[1] Der Spiegel compared his detention to that of Murat Kurnaz.
After talks with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated[6]:
"We hope that we can soon bring this case to a happy ending."
On 2008-05-31, Der Spiegel reports that Gholam Ghaus Z. finallye was released and brought to Germany.[7]
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||