Asad Ullah (child detainee)

Asad Ullah
Born	1988 (age 22–23)
Released	2004-01-29
Detained at	Guantanamo
Alternate name	Asadullah Abdul Rahman
ISN	912

Asad Ullah (born 1988) is a young Afghani formally held at Camp Iguana in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ullah and his friends and supporters claim that he was twelve years old^[1][2] (or younger) when he was arrested by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The military, however, believe him to have been around fifteen years old. Asad was arrested in the Musawal compound of the Afghani warlord Sammoud in 2002. The military says that he was being trained as a gunman for an al-Qaeda-related group.^{[citation needed]} Before he was arrested, he claims he was sold into sexual slavery to a militia leader.

After his arrest, Ullah was possibly held at the U.S. base in Gardez, where he alleges that he was beaten. At some point, he was transferred to the air base at Bagram, and flown to Guantanamo Bay. After pressure from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, he was released on January 29, 2004, having been held by the U.S. for seventeen months, and returned to Khoja Angur. The Red Crescent state that Asadullah's family were not informed that their son had been arrested until seven months after the event, and then only by a Red Crescent official.

Unusually for released detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Ullah appears to have nothing but praise for the place. He claims to have played sports, learned to play chess and learned Pashto, English, Arabic, mathematics, science, art and Islam while at Guantanamo Bay.^[3] Various organisations criticized the detainment of minors like Asadullah. However, Pentagon spokeswoman Barbara Burfeind responded: "The Taliban leadership directed younger members to counterattack the U.S. forces in the area. The juveniles were removed from the battlefield to prevent further harm to U.S. forces and to themselves".

See also

• Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp
• Naqib Ullah
• Mohammed Ismail

References

1. ^ http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/prisoner-testimonies/children-held-at-guantanamo-bay
2. ^ Verma, Sonia (February 17, 2004). "Boy, 12, recounts days as terror inmate / Youngest captive spent 17 months detained, a year at Guantanamo". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/13/MNGNH509FC1.DTL. 
3. ^ Astill, James (March 6, 2004). "Cuba? It was great, say boys freed from US prison camp". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/06/guantanamo.usa. Retrieved April 25, 2010. 

External links

• UK Guardian:Cuba? It was great, say boys freed from US prison camp
• San Francisco Chronicle article
• Who They Are: News Coverage of the Guantanamo Bay Detainees by Camille Gerwin
• Guantánamo's Children: Military and Diplomatic Testimonies
• New York Times article - 3 Afghan Youths Question U.S. Captivity