Tajik captives held in Guantanamo

On May 15 2006 the United States Department of Defense acknowledged that there have been 12 Tajik captives held in Guantanamo. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] The Guantanamo Bay detainment camps were opened on January 11 2002 at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.The Bush administration asserted that all captives taken in the "global war on terror" could be held there, in extrajudicial detention, without revealing their names. So far as the captive's families and friends would know, they would just disappear.

However, the Associated Press had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the names of all the captives.The Department of Defense filed justifications for why they should not be obliged to release the information the Associated Press requested. They justified keeping the information secret not to protect the United States "national security", but merely because they were concerned to protect the captive's privacy.

The Department of Defense exhausted their legal appeals and were forced, by a court order, to release the identities of all the Guantanamo captives.

Press Reports

The magazine "Mother Jones" published a feature article, entitled: "The Man Who Has Been to America: One Guantanamo detainee's story". [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/09/man_who_has_been_to_america.html The Man Who Has Been to America: One Guantanamo detainee's story] , "Mother Jones", September/October 2006 issue] The article was based on an interview with Muhibullo Abdulkarim Umarov, a Tajik from a village named "Alisurkhon".Umarov said he and a neighbor from his village, were captured while visiting a third neighbor from his village at his University in Pakistan.Umarov named his two neighbors, Mazharudin and Abdughaffor. He said they too had been sent to Guantanamo. Mazharudin is named on the official list, but Abdughaffor is not.Umarov told "Mother Jones" that Mazharudin and Abdughaffor were released on March 31 2004 at the same time he was.

On January 19 2007 the Government of Tajikistan acknowledged that the United States had transferred ten Tajikis from Guantanamo to Tajikistan.cite web
url=http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=298772
date=January 19 2007
title= US releases 10 Tajiks from Guantanamo prison
accessdate=January 21
accessyear=2007
publisher=sharewatch] cite news
url=http://www.regnum.ru/english/769342.html
title=US financial assistance to Tajikistan in 2006 totaled over $30 mln
date=January 21 2007
publisher=Regnum
accessdate=2007-01-21] The Government of Tajikistan did not release the identities of the transferred men. The Government of Tajikistan also said they did not know how many Tajiks remain in Guantanamo.

The US Department of Defense acknowledged holding twelve Tajiks in Guantanamo. [http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", May 15 2006] The DoD acknowledged convening Combatant Status Review Tribunals for six of the Tajiks held in Guantanamo. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/detainee_list.pdf list of prisoners (.pdf)] , "US Department of Defense", April 20 2006] The DoD said they convened a Combatant Status Review Tribunal for every captive who was still in Guantanamo in 2005.

A March 1, 2007 press release announced that the Department of Defense had returned three Tajiks back to Tajikistan.cite web
title=Detainee Transfer Announced
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10562
date=March 1, 2007
publisher=US Department of Defense
accessdate=March 1
accessyear=2007]

i don't know anything about this

List of Tajiks who the DoD has acknowledged they have held in Guantanamo

* Alleged to have fought with the Taliban. [http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_mar05.pdf#71 Summary of Evidence (.pdf)] prepared for Mehrabanb Fazrollah's "Combatant Status Review Tribunals" - September 30 2004 - page 71]
* Was in Afghanistan returning from visiting his son in Pakistan. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_4_0320-0464.pdf#30 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Mehrabanb Fazrollah's"Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 30-34] cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB_Round_1_Factors_000099-000196.pdf#16
title=Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Fazrollah, Mehrabanb
date=November 3 2005
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
pages=pages 16-17
accessdate=2007-10-03]
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83 || Yusef Nabied || 8/5/1963 || . |
* No Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened.
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90 || Sobit Valikhonovich || 11/13/1969 ||
|
* Said his interrogators kept insisting his name was Jumma Jan, and that he was a Uzbek, when his real name was Zain al Abedin, and he was a Tajik. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_28_1949-2000.pdf#41 Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] , from Jumma Jan's "Combatant Status Review Tribunal" - pages 41-52]
* Said he had only had a single 20 minute interrogation since he arrived in Guantanamo. [http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/ARB_Transcript_Set_2_585-768.pdf#32 Summarized transcript (.pdf)] , from Jumma Jan's "Administrative Review Board hearing" - page 32]

Tajik captives who were not listed properly

There are Combatant Status Review Tribunal trasncripts for two Tajik captives that aren't list properly.

A Combatant Status Review Tribunal transcript marked with the ISN 1037 said he was a father, from Tajikistan, who was crossing Afghanistan, by foot, after a visit to Pakistan to see his son. However captive 1037 is said to be an Afghan, born in 1980.

Another transcript from an Unknown Tajiki captive in Guantanamo had his ISN redaceted. He told his Tribunal he had been twenty when captured, and was about 23 when he had his Tribunal.

Tajik captives missing from the official list

On August 7 2007 Radio Free Europe reported that a former Tajik captive named "Mukit Vohidov" had been repatriated from Guantanamo to Tajikistani custody, in March 2007, and was about to stand trial.The report also stated that another former Tajik captive named "Ibrohim Nasriddinov" had recently stood trial, been convicted, and received a 23 year sentence.

References