Niam Kuchi

Naim Kochi is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 931 Joint Task Force Guantanamo estimate that he was born in 1940 in Logar, Afghanistan.

Kochi is a senior tribal leader within Afghanistan's Kuchis ethnic group.^[2] During former President Burhanuddin Rabbani's government (1992–1996), Naim Kochi became Deputy Minister for Tribal Affairs. He also became the governor of Bamiyan province during Taliban's regime. The Edmonton Sun described him as the Kuchis' "best known leader".^[3]

Release

According to medical records published on March 15, 2007, Kuchi's "in-process date" was March 23, 2003.^[4] Those records he was 69 inches tall, and his weight ranged from 175 pounds when he arrive to 185 pounds. Nine weights were recorded, his weight upon his arrival in March 2003, and a monthly weigh-in from January to August 2004.

Naim Kochi was repatriated on 18 September 2004, seven weeks after the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants began convening Combatant Status Review Tribunal, but no CSR Tribunal was convened to review his status.^[5][6] Dawd Gul, one of the other nine Afghan captives repatriated that day, had had a CSR Tribunal, prior to his repatriation.

Some afghans specialists say, that the reasons Kochi had been in detention at Guantanamo, concern more with the accusations related to tribal rivalries during the arrival of NATO forces, than to any links with extremism.

McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Naim Kochi.^{[2][7][8][9][10][11][12]} He declined—twice—to be interviewed by McClatchy reporters. When reporters showed up at his house, without invitation, he told reporters that he got depressed after speaking about Guantanamo. He also told them he suffered from headaches and hypertension, arising from the conditions of his detention.

The McClatchy report states that other sources told them that Naim Kochi was a senior leader in the Ahmadzai tribe,^[2] which is known as the biggest pashtun tribe. Thus, many afghans consider him as the most influential and legitimate afghan leader.

Since his repatriation Naim Kochi has worked with national peace and reconciliation office.^[2]

The McClatchy report states that when Americans apprehended him on January 1, 2003 hundreds of members of his tribe came to Kabul to protest. The USA has offered no explanation for his apprehension.

References

External links

• McClatchy News Service - video