| Mohammed Saghir | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 (age 59–60) Khohestan |
| Detained at | Guantanamo |
| Alternate name | Mohammad Sanghir |
| ISN | 143 |
| Status | Repatriated in October 2002. |
Mohammed Saghir (also transliterated Mohammed Sanghir) is an elderly Pakistani who was held by the U.S. military in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 143. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1952, in Khohestan, Pakistan.
When The Guardian interviewd Saghir, following his release, on October 22, 2002, they estimated he was in his sixties.[2]
Saghir was one the first four detainees to be released from Guantanamo.[3][4] He was the first Pakistani to be released from Guantanamo.
Saghir was released together with two even more elderly Afghan men, and one younger Afghan man.
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There are no documents about Mr. Sanghir. He was released before the Combatant Status Review Tribunals began.[5]
Saghir is suing the United States for $10.4 million dollars for the torture and abuse he reports he endured.[6][7]
Sanghir reportedly still wears the green ID bracelet issed to him in camp delta.[8] His bracelet says: US 9PK 0001 43 DP
According to Le Monde Mohmmed Sanghir said he had been in Afghanistan for three months prior to the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.[8] He was Captured in Kunduz, a Taliban enclave in the North of Afghanistan, with 250 other people, who were loaded into a large shipping container, for the trip to General Dostum's prison at Sheberghan: Sanghir said 50 of his companions died:
"They were screaming for water, they were banging their heads against the walls and there, right there beside me, they died."
Mohammed Sanghir said he was held for 45 days in Sheberghan before he was first interrogated.[8] After several months in Afghanistan, where he was forcibly shaved, Sanghir said a female interrogator told him he was being sent to a better place. But, he reported, while still bound, he and his companions were thrown off the plane that took them to Guantanamo, and endured a brutal beating.
Mohammed Sanghir said he was interrogated twenty times while at Guantanamo[8]:
"The questions were always the same, just presented in different ways. First, they showed me photographs of members of al-Qai'da to find out if I knew them; then they asked me if there were any al-Qai'da members around me; they wanted to know if I'd met bin Laden and if I'd be able to recognise him. The photos were of people who looked like Afghans or Arabs."
On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published a series of articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives.[9] Saghir was one of the former captives who had an article profiling him.[10]
Mohammed Sagheer reports that when he was repatriated he found that his family had incurred debts of 1.2 million rupees in his absence—to search for his body, and to support themselves without his income.[10]
Mohammed Sagheer acknowledged that he had traveled to Afghanistan with a group from the Tablighi Jamaat, a non-political religious organization that American counter-terrorism analysts tie to terrorism.[10]
Mohammed Sagheer told his McClatchy interviewer that he was captured in a stream of refugees, not on a battlefield. He said he was shipped in a metal shipping container to General Dostum's Sherberghan prison.[10] He said he saw many other captives die during the months he spent there. He describe religious persecution in Guantanamo. He participated in a hunger strike and was subjected to force-feeding.
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