Mohammed Saghir

Mohammed Saghir
Born	1952 (age 58–59) Khohestan
Detained at	Guantanamo
Alternate name	Mohammad Sanghir
ISN	143
Status	Repatriated in October 2002.

Mohammed Saghir (also transliterated Mohammed Sanghir) is an elderly Pakistani who was held by the U.S. military in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 143. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1952, in Khohestan, Pakistan.

When The Guardian interviewd Saghir, following his release, on October 22, 2002, they estimated he was in his sixties.^[2]

Saghir was one the first four detainees to be released from Guantanamo.^[3][4] He was the first Pakistani to be released from Guantanamo.

Saghir was released together with two even more elderly Afghan men, and one younger Afghan man.

Guantanamo documents

There are no documents about Mr. Sanghir. He was released before the Combatant Status Review Tribunals began.^[5]

Suing the USA

Saghir is suing the United States for $10.4 million dollars for the torture and abuse he reports he endured.^[6][7]

Le Monde interview

Sanghir reportedly still wears the green ID bracelet issed to him in camp delta.^[8] His bracelet says: US 9PK 0001 43 DP

According to Le Monde Mohmmed Sanghir said he had been in Afghanistan for three months prior to the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001.^[8] He was Captured in Kunduz, a Taliban enclave in the North of Afghanistan, with 250 other people, who were loaded into a large shipping container, for the trip to General Dostum's prison at Sheberghan: Sanghir said 50 of his companions died:

"They were screaming for water, they were banging their heads against the walls and there, right there beside me, they died."

Mohammed Sanghir said he was held for 45 days in Sheberghan before he was first interrogated.^[8] After several months in Afghanistan, where he was forcibly shaved, Sanghir said a female interrogator told him he was being sent to a better place. But, he reported, while still bound, he and his companions were thrown off the plane that took them to Guantanamo, and endured a brutal beating.

Mohammed Sanghir said he was interrogated twenty times while at Guantanamo^[8]:

"The questions were always the same, just presented in different ways. First, they showed me photographs of members of al-Qai'da to find out if I knew them; then they asked me if there were any al-Qai'da members around me; they wanted to know if I'd met bin Laden and if I'd be able to recognise him. The photos were of people who looked like Afghans or Arabs."

McClatchy News Service interview

On June 15, 2008 the McClatchy News Service published a series of articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives.^[9] Saghir was one of the former captives who had an article profiling him.^[10]

Mohammed Sagheer reports that when he was repatriated he found that his family had incurred debts of 1.2 million rupees in his absence—to search for his body, and to support themselves without his income.^[10]

Mohammed Sagheer acknowledged that he had traveled to Afghanistan with a group from the Tablighi Jamaat, a non-political religious organization that American counter-terrorism analysts tie to terrorism.^[10]

Mohammed Sagheer told his McClatchy interviewer that he was captured in a stream of refugees, not on a battlefield. He said he was shipped in a metal shipping container to General Dostum's Sherberghan prison.^[10] He said he saw many other captives die during the months he spent there. He describe religious persecution in Guantanamo. He participated in a hunger strike and was subjected to force-feeding.

See also

• Mohammed Sadiq another elderly prisoner held at Guantanamo
• Haji Faiz Mohammed elderly prisoner held at Guantanamo

References

1. ^ 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. 
2. ^ "'They interrogated us for hours'". The Guardian. October 22, 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/cuba/story/0,,821589,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-17.  mirror
3. ^ "Afghans Describe Life Inside Gitmo". CBS News. October 29, 2002. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/02/attack/main531326.shtml. Retrieved 2008-06-17.  mirror
4. ^ The oldest of the old: First 'hardcore' suspects freed from Camp Delta.. three Afghans, combined age 196. The Mirror. October 30, 2002. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12322925&method=full&siteid=50143. Retrieved 2008-06-17. 
5. ^ "Mohammad Sanghir – The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/143-mohammad-sanghir. Retrieved 17 January 2010. 
6. ^ "Pakistani says life in ruins after Guantanamo jail". Khaleej Times. September 11, 2006. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/September/subcontinent_September417.xml&section=subcontinent. Retrieved 2008-06-17.  - mirror mirror
7. ^ LHC to hear damages suit by former Guantanamo detainee, Daily Times, June 24, 2004
8. ^ ^{a b c d} "Cuba:Escape from Camp Delta". Le Monde. March 11, 2004. http://www.indexonline.org/en/news/articles/2003/1/the-guantnamo-archipelago.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-03. 
9. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 1". Miami Herald. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Tom Lasseter (June 15, 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Mohammed Sagheer". Miami Herald. http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/17. Retrieved 2008-06-16.  mirror

External links

• The Convoy of Death: Will Obama Investigate The Afghan Massacre Of November 2001? Andy Worthington
• McClatchy News Service - video

Persondata
Name	Saghir, Mohammed
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1952
Place of birth	Khohestan
Date of death
Place of death