Siddeeq Noor Turkistani

Saddiq Ahmad Turkistani is an ethnic Uyghur born and raised in Saudi Arabia and an opponent of the Taliban. A prisoner of the Taliban, he was briefly freed when the they were overthrown, but was then promptly captured by the Americans and shipped to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402125.html Detainee Cleared for Release Is in Limbo at Guantanamo] , "Washington Post", December 14 2005]

In a list of the names of detainees the Department of Defense released on May 15 2006 Turkistani's place of birth was given as Taif, Saudi Arabia. [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] Unusually, his date of birth was given as "UNKNOWN". His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 491.

Turkistani was imprisoned by the Taliban for four and a half years, because he was alleged to have been involved in a plot to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Turkistani admits being opposed to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, but he denies that he was involved in any plots. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402125.html Detainee Cleared for Release Is in Limbo at Guantanamo] , "Washington Post", December 14 2005]

Read into the Senate records

During a debate on Senator Lindsey Graham's motion to prevent detainees having access to the US courts Senator Jeff Bingeman had several "Washington Post" articles on the plight of the Uyghur detainees read into the Senate Record. [http://bingaman.senate.gov/news/stlvrecord.cfm?id=252668 Guantanamo Prisoners] , "US Senate", December 21 2005] One of the articles focussed on Turkistani's plight. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR2005121402125.html Detainee Cleared for Release Is in Limbo at Guantanamo] , "Washington Post", December 14 2005]

No official American sources have said why Turkistani was captured, why he was held, or why he was shipped to Guantanamo Bay.

CSRT-Nocite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000400-000499.pdf#16
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Turkistani, Sadik Ahmad
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=OARDEC
date=10 December 2004
accessdate=2008-08-22
page=page 16
quote= ]

:

No record of Turkistani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal has been made public.

Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Turkistani was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/guantanamo/nlec/ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants"] , "Washington Post"] They report that Turkistani is one of several still not released.

On May 10 2006 Radio Free Asia quoted from an interview with Abu Bakker Qassim, one of the five Uighurs who had been transported to Albania on May 5 2006. [http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2006/05/10/uyghur_guantanamo/ Guantanamo Uyghurs Try to Settle in Albania] , "Radio Free Asia", May 10 2006] Qassim said he left four innocent detainees behind at Camp Iguana: a Russian, an Algerian, a Libyan, and a man who had been born in Saudi Arabia to Uighur exiles.

Kiyemba v. Bush

Turkistani had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf.cite web
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/OK_v_Bush/govt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf
title=Respondents' response to Court's August 7, 2006 order
date=August 15 2006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-23] Turkistani's habeas petition was amalgamated with Kiyemba v. Bush.

Turkistani's Garden

Turkistani is reported to have told his lawyer, Sabin Willett, that he and fellow prisoners had planted a garden with seeds saved from their rations. [http://uhrp.org/articles/7/1/Guantanamo-Bay-prisoners-plant-seeds-of-hope-in-secret-garden/Guantanamo-Bay-prisoners-plant-seeds-of-hope-in-secret-garden.html Guantanamo Bay prisoners plant seeds of hope in secret garden] , "Uyghur Human Rights Project", April 29 2006] [http://www.aljazeeramagazine.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_id=10788 Guantanamo prisoners planting seeds of hope] , "Al Jazeera", May 1 2006] Turkistani and the other men in Camp Iguana had to cultivate their clandestine garden with plastic spoons.

Transfer to Saudi Arabia

On June 25 2006 14 men were transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia.cite web
url=http://www.fotofest.org/guantanamo/SaudiReport.pdf
title=The Saudi Repatriates Report
author=Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman
date=March 19 2007
accessdate=April 21
accessyear=2007] While some press reports described these men as 14 Saudis, others described them as 13 Saudis, and a Turkistani who had been resident in Saudi Arabia. [http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1175544.php/Thirteen_Saudis_and_a_Turkistani_return_to_Saudi_from_Guantanamo Thirteen Saudis and a Turkistani return to Saudi from Guantanamo] , "Middle East News", June 25 2006]

Turkistani and other former Taliban prisoners

Turkistani was one of nine former Taliban prisoners the "Associated Press" pointed out had gone from Taliban custody to American custody.cite news
url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070630-0908-guantanamo-alwaysaprisoner.html
title=From Taliban jail to Gitmo – hard-luck prisoners tell of unending ordeal
author=Paul Haven
publisher=San Diego Union Tribune
date=June 30, 2007
accessdate=2007-07-01]

References