Mohammed Omar (child detainee)

Mohammed Omar
Born	1986 (age 24–25) Larkana, Pakistan
Detained at	Guantanamo
ISN	540
Charge(s)	No charge (held in extrajudicial detention)
Status	Repatriated

Mohammed Omar is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 540. JTF-GTMO analysts estimate he was born in 1986 in Larkana, Pakistan.

Release

Mohammed Omar was one of the 201 captives who were released or repatriated prior to having their "enemy combatant status" confirmed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed ^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} Mohammed Omar was a madrassa student.

The McClatchy reporter was extremely skeptical of the rest of Mohammed Omar's story, and to that of another minor, also captured in Herat, on the opposite side of Afghanistan.^[9] According to the McClatchy reporter:

The two denied going to Afghanistan together or even being arrested together, but it seems highly unlikely that a boy from the Pakistani province of Sindh (Omar) and a boy from Punjab (Rahman) coincidentally ended up together in a western Afghan province in the middle of a war with equally flimsy stories.[9] In separate interviews, they each said they were held at Herat's central jail for three months, then transferred to American forces at Kandahar Airfield for five to six months before they were flown to Guantanamo.[9]

The McClatchy reporter stated that Mohammed Omar told him that his father had forced him to attend a Pakistani madrassa in Shahdadkot, Pakistan, Shahdadkot, Pakistan, and he decided to run away.^[9] He said an older man at the madrassa had told him he could get him into an acting academy, an offer that 17 years old, and a big fan of Bollywood films, he found attractive. However, once he left the madrassa his companion and some associiates pushed him into a car, and he was taken to Herat, against his will.

References

1. ^ "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 2006-05-15. 
2. ^ OARDEC (April 20, 2006). "list of prisoners". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
3. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 3". McClatchy News Service. http://services.mcclatchyinteractive.com/detainees?page=3. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror
4. ^ Tom Lasseter (Wednesday June 18, 2008). "U.S. hasn't apologized to or compensated ex-detainees". Myrtle Beach Sun. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/611/story/491372.html. Retrieved 2008-06-18.  mirror
5. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees". McClatchy News Service. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38771.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20.  mirror
6. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 16, 2008). "Documents undercut Pentagon's denial of routine abuse". McClatchy News Service. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38776.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20.  mirror
7. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 19, 2008). "Deck stacked against detainees in legal proceedings". McClatchy News Service. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38887.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20.  mirror
8. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 16, 2008). "U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases". McClatchy News Service. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38775.html. Retrieved 2008-06-20.  mirror
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Mohammed Omar". McClatchy News Service. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/34. Retrieved 2008-06-15.  mirror

External links

• The Pentagon Can’t Count: 22 Juveniles Held at Guantánamo Andy Worthington
• McClatchy News Service - video

Persondata
Name	Omar, Mohammed
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1986
Place of birth	Larkana, Pakistan
Date of death
Place of death