- Mohammed el Gharani
-
Mohammed el Gharani Born 1986 (age 24–25)
Medina, Saudi ArabiaDetained at Guantanamo Alternate name Mohammad El Gharani
Muhammed Hamid al Qarani
Muhammad Hamid (Yousef Akbir Salih) al QaraniISN 269 Charge(s) No charge (unlawfully detained) Status Repatriated after winning his habeas corpus Mohammed el Gharani is a citizen of Chad who was detained for seven years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] [2] [3]
El Qarani is a native of Saudi Arabia[4] and American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1986, in Medina, Saudi Arabia.[5]
On June 15, 2005 Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith identified Al Qarani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.[6] According to Smith Al Qarani was born in November 1987.
On May 28, 2006 The Independent said Al Qarani was accused of plotting with Abu Qatada, in London, in 1999 – when he was a 12 year old, living with his parents, in Saudi Arabia.[7]
Main article: minors detained in the global war on terrorOn January 14, 2009 U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Al Qarani because the evidence that he was an enemy combatant was mostly limited to statements from two other detainees whose credibility had been called into question by US government staff.[1]
Contents
Boston Globe investigations
On July 14, 2006 the Boston Globe reported on investigations they made to test the credibility of the allegations against Guantanamo detainees.[8] Al Gharani was one of the detainees whom they profiled.[9]
The Globe reported that Al Gharani was alleged to have been part of a cell, in London, led by Abu Qatada, "circa 1998" – when Al Gharani was 11 or 12 years old.[9] According to the Globe:
- "Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman, said the date referred to when 'Abu Qatada became active.' He maintained that it was possible that Gharani had been a part of the cell before his arrest at 14."
Al Gharani's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith pointed out that Al Gharani had never traveled to England.[9]
Smith also offered an example of how allegations arose against Al Gharani due to the DoD's lack of qualified translators.[9] In Al Gharani's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' is a tomato. In his translator's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' meant money. His translator asked Al Gharani where he would go to get money, back home, and Al Gharani dutifully listed all the grocery stalls where he could buy tomatoes.
Questioning over the June 10th 2006 suicides
The Department of Defense reported, on June 10, 2006, that three detainees committed suicide.
Main article: Guantanamo suicide attemptsThe camp commander, Admiral Harry Harris, called the suicides, "an act of asymetrial warfare". One reaction of the camp authorities to the suicide was to seize all their papers, even their confidential communication with their lawyers. Leaks from the camp authorities fueled rumors that the camp authorities had reason to believe that detainee's lawyers had actively conspired with the detainees in arranging the suicides. The camp authorities claimed that one of the suicide notes was written on stationary that the camp authorities made available to detainee's lawyers.
The Washington Post reports that the lawyer camp authorities have focussed their suspicion on was Clive Stafford Smith.[10] Stafford Smith reports that his client Mohammed el-Gharani, one of the youngest of the Guantanamo detainees, has been interrogated, at length, trying to establish a tie between him and the suicides.[11] In a letter to the Associated Press Stafford Smith wrote:
- "The interrogator said I told my clients to kill themselves, and word was passed to the three men who did commit suicide."
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Stafford Smith claims: "...soldiers have threatened to move el-Gharani to Camp 5, a maximum-security facility, if he does not implicate Stafford Smith in the suicides.".[11]
Historian Andy Worthington, reporting on April 25, 2008, in the Lebanon Daily Star, described abuse Al Qaranhi reports experiencing.[12] The abuse Al Qaranhi reports include:
- sleep deprivation;
- having a cigarette extinguished on his body;
- having freezing cold water thrown on him;
- being suspended by his arms, with his feet hanging free from the floor, for extended periods of time;
- having a soldier hold his penis in his hand, hold a pair of scissors, and threaten to cut it off.
Writ of habeas corpus
On January 14, 2009 US District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered Al Qarani's released.[13][14] Leon dismissed all the US allegations that Al Garani had been observed in Afghanistan, because there was no evidence to support them—other than denunciations from two other captives—captives whose credibility he questioned.
First phone call home
Muhammad Al Qarani was allowed his first phone call home on April 16, 2009.[15] But instead, he phoned former captive, recently released Al Jazeera journalist Sami Al Hajj.[16] He told Al Hajj that conditions had worsened after the election of United States President Barack Obama. Al Qarani was repatriated less than two months after the call, on June 13, 2009.[17]
Repatriation
On June 11, 2009 the Department of Justice reported that they had repatriated an Iraqi captive and a Chadian captive from Guantanamo to their home countries.[18]
Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that he was still not free after his repatriation, that he being held by Chadian security forces, who described his Chadian detention as a formality.[19][20]
Reuters reports that Commander Jeffrey Gordon continued to insist that Al Garani was older than he claimed.[21]
The BBC reports that after his repatriation Al Garani has not been able to receive any official identity documents, because Chad officials are not sure he is actually a citizen.[22] They report that since Al Garani grew up in Saudi Arabia he is unable to speak to any other Chadians in their local language.
References
- ^ "Mohammed El Gharani - The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/269-mohammed-el-gharani.
- ^ "U.S. judge orders Chad citizen freed from Guantanamo". Reuters. 2009-01-14. http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE50D7X120090114.
- ^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,619195,00.html
- ^ The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/15/us/politics/AP-US-Guantanamo-Judges-Excerpts.html.[dead link]
- ^ OARDEC (May 15, 2006). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
- ^ Clive Stafford Smith (2005-06-15). "Kids of Guantanamo". Reprieve via Cageprisoners. Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cageprisoners.com%2Farticles.php%3Fid%3D7880&date=2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ The children of Guantanamo Bay, The Independent, May 28, 2006
- ^ Guantanamo accusations questioned after review turns up basic errors, The Jurist, July 14, 2006
- ^ a b c d Factual errors cited in cases against detainees: Lawyers demand new trial system at Guantanamo, Boston Globe, July 14, 2006
- ^ Group Denounces U.S. Over Gitmo Suicides, Washington Post, September 28, 2006
- ^ a b Lawyer for detainees speaks on suicides, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 25, 2006
- ^ Andy Worthington (April 25, 2008). "When Guantanamo held children". Dailty Star. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=91429. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
- ^ "US must free Guantanamo detainee". BBC News. 2009-01-14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7829780.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- ^ "Judge orders release of Guantanamo detainee from Chad". Agence France Presse. 2009-01-15. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hQ2P-5qQo_Y8Shl68FomtSz5IZFQ. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- ^ "'Nothing changed' at Guantanamo". The Australian. 2009-04-16. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25340979-12335,00.html. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "New Guantanamo abuse claims". Al Jazeera. 2009-05-22. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009416174526284984.html. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "US transfers Guantanamo detainees". Al Jazeera. 2009-06-13. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/06/2009612224618580116.html. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ "United States Transfers Two Guantanamo Detainees to Foreign Nations". United States Department of Justice. 2009-06-11. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.prnewswire.com%2FDisplayReleaseContent.aspx%3FACCT%3D104%26STORY%3D%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F06-11-2009%2F0005042776%26EDATE%3D&date=2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Andy Worthington (2009-06-11). "Guantánamo’s Youngest Prisoner Released To Chad". Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andyworthington.co.uk%2F2009%2F06%2F11%2Fguantanamos-youngest-prisoner-released-to-chad%2F&date=2009-06-12.
- ^ "Two Guantanamo detainees sent to Iraq, Chad". Briebart. 2009-06-11. Archived from the original on 2009-09-29. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Farticle.php%3Fid%3DCNG.76a9923fcee1e34171463147bed5ee69.ff1%26show_article%3D1&date=2009-09-29. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Luke Baker (2009-06-11). "U.S. frees Guantanamo detainee seized when a teenager". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2FtopNews%2FidUSLB13601920090611%3Fsp%3Dtrue&date=2009-06-11.
- ^ "Guantanamo man left in Chad limbo". BBC News. 2009-07-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8128319.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
External links
- Ex-Gitmo detainee struggles to build life in Chad
- Mohammed El-Gharani, Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, speaks to al-Jazeera - video
- Jo Becker (June 24, 2008). "The war on teen terror". Salon magazine. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/06/24/juveniles_at_gitmo/. Retrieved 2008-06-24. mirror
- Guantanamo conditions 'deteriorate' - english.aljazeera.net
- Guantánamo’s Youngest Prisoner Released To Chad Andy Worthington June 11, 2009
- Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child Andy Worthington January 15, 2009
- Judge Richard Leon’s unclassified opinion
- Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)
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