Tarek Dergoul

Tarek Dergoul
Born December 11, 1977(1977-12-11)
Mile End, United Kingdom
Detained at Guantanamo
ISN 534
Charge(s) No charge (extrajudicial detention)
Status Repatriated in the summer of 2004

Tarek Dergoul is a citizen of the United Kingdom who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 534.

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published a series of articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives.[2] Tarek Dergoul was one of thee former captives who had an article profiling him.[3]

Tarek Dergoul acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan following the al Qaeda's attacks of September 11, 2001.[3] He said he regarded the flight of refugees as a business opportunity. He and some other associates thought they could buy property from fleeing refugees at bargain prices, and then re-sell them when order was restored. However, he said, his companions were killed, and he was injured, when a shell landed in a villa they were about to buy.

Tarek Dergoul told his McClatchy interviewer he was buried in the rubble, and woke in hospital, to find himself under an armed guard.[3] His left arm was amputated. After some time in Afghan custody he was sold to the Americans for a $5000 bounty, and transferred to the Bagram Theater internment facility.

Tarek Dergoul reported that when he arrived in Bagram medical treatment was withheld from him, and then, when a doctor oversaw the amputation of one of his toes, pain medication was withheld from him, so that he would still be able to feel pain, when he was next interrogated.[3]

He claimed that he was taken into a medical room where a medical trainee was being instructed in how to amputate his toe. He claimed that he wasn't given anesthesia for the operation. Instead, he said, he was given just enough painkiller to stop the pain from being overwhelming, but not so much that he couldn't answer interrogators when they started asking questions again.

Tarek Dergoul reports that he only became religious during his detention.[3]

Tarek Dergoul was repatriated to the United Kingdom in 2004.[3] He stated that due to his wounds he has not been able to work.

See also

References

  1. ^ OARDEC (May 15, 2006). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  2. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 1". Miami Herald. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror
  3. ^ a b c d e f Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Tarek Dergoul". Miami Herald. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/33. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror

External links