Kandahar Five

Last updated

The Kandahar Five is a term used to refer to five men who had been held, for years, in a Taliban prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, only to end up in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. [1] [2]

Several of the men were interviewed by international reporters during a brief period of partial freedom when they were held in a refugee camp following the liberation of the prison by Northern Alliance forces, who freed 1500 men. They men say they ended up being traded or sold to the Americans in return for a bounty. [1]

According to the Associated Press, in June 2007 Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a Department of Defense spokesman defended some of the men's continued detention: [1]

Multiple reviews and designations have been conducted since each unlawful enemy combatant was captured, to include during initial detention overseas to lengthy procedures at Guantanamo,

Abd Al Rahim Abdul Rassak Janko (Syrian Kurd)
  • Imprisoned by the Taliban on suspicion of spying. [1] He is being defended by Steve Sady of Portland, Oregon, who says, he "provided valuable testimony to U.S. investigators on Taliban abuses and should have received protection." [1] Suffering from PTSD, he is being treated with medication. [2]
Jamal Udeen Al-Harith (UK)
  • Claims he paid a driver to take him from Pakistan to Iran, without realizing that his driver would take a shortcut that would take him through Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized him as an American spy, based on his British passport. [3]
  • Went directly from custody in a Taliban jail to US custody. Repatriated in March 2004 and immediately released.
Sadik Ahmad Turkistani
  • 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. [4]
Airat Vakhitov (Russia)
  • Fled Russia for Tajikistan, in 1999, to avoid harassment by the Russian authorities; was forced by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, to travel to Afghanistan; when he was thrown into prison because the Taliban suspected he was a Russian spy. [5] Repatriated in February 2004, he lives in Tatarstan, Russia and works as a freelance writer under a pseudonym. He has been intermittently detained and harassed by authorities. [1]
Abdul Hakim Bukhary

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Salam Zaeef</span> 2000–2001 Afghan ambassador to Pakistan

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef is an Afghan diplomat who was the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moazzam Begg</span> British Pakistani formerly held in Guantanamo Bay

Moazzam Begg is a British Pakistani who was held in extrajudicial detention by the US government in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, for nearly three years. Seized by Pakistani intelligence at his home in Pakistan in February 2002, he was transferred to the custody of US Army officers, who held him in the detention centre at Bagram, Afghanistan, before transferring him to Guantanamo Bay, where he was held until January 2005.

Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, born Ronald Fiddler also known as Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, was a British citizen who reportedly died carrying out a suicide bombing in Iraq in February 2017.

Lahcen Ikassrien is a citizen of Morocco who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Ikassrien's Guantanamo ISN was 72. The Department of Defense reports that Ikassrien was born on October 2, 1972, in Targist, Morocco.

Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the early twenty-first century War on Terrorism, refers to foreign nationals the United States detains outside of the legal process required within United States legal jurisdiction. In this context, the U.S. government is maintaining torture centers, called black sites, operated by both known and secret intelligence agencies. Such black sites were later confirmed by reports from journalists, investigations, and from men who had been imprisoned and tortured there, and later released after being tortured until the CIA was comfortable they had done nothing wrong, and had nothing to hide.

Sadik Ahmad Turkistani is an ethnic Uyghur born and raised in Taif, Saudi Arabia and an opponent of the Taliban. Held by the Taliban in Kandahar prison in Afghanistan, he was briefly freed when they were overthrown in late 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani</span>

Musab Omar Ali al Madoonee is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khairullah Khairkhwa</span> Information Minister of Afghanistan since 2021

Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa is the current Afghan Minister of Information and Culture and a former Minister of the Interior. After the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, he was held at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for 12 years. He was released in late May 2014 in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban five. Press reports have referred to him as "Mullah" and "Maulavi", two different honorifics for referring to senior Muslim clerics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabir Jubran Al Fayfi</span> Al-Qaeda terrorist

Jabir Jubran Al Fayfi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba on allegations he trained and fought with al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Haq Wasiq</span> Afghan Director of Intelligence since 2021

Abdul Haq Wasiq is the current Director of Intelligence of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since September 7, 2021. He was previously the Deputy Minister of Intelligence in the former Taliban government (1996–2001). He was held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from 2002 to 2014. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 4. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1971 in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy Alkinani is a citizen of Egypt who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 287. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reported that he was born on October 28, 1956, in Shubrakass Egypt.

Hammdidullah, a.k.a.Janat Gul, is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps as part of the War on Terror. American counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1973, in Sarpolad, Afghanistan.

Abdul Baseer Nazim is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to an Afghan prison.

A Syrian-Kurd, Abd al-Rahim Abdul Rassak al-Janko is a former student in the United Arab Emirates who traveled to Afghanistan in 2000, where he was captured by the Taliban who announced that he had confessed to plotting to murder Osama bin Laden, as well as spying against the Taliban on behalf of Israel and the United States. He was also denounced for "his sexual indiscretions with other young men" and accused of homosexuality. Following the Invasion of Afghanistan, al-Janko begged a British journalist to alert the Americans that he had been held prisoner by the Taliban for two years; however, he was taken from the Taliban prison by American forces, and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps where he spent seven years in detention.

Ali Abdul Motalib Awayd Hassan Al Tayeea is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 111. The Department of Defense reports that Al Tayeea was born in Baghdad, Iraq. The Department of Defense provided a birthday, or an estimated year of birth, for all but 22 of the 759 detainees. Al Tayeea is one of those 22. He was repatriated on January 17, 2009, after more than seven years without ever been charged.

Hajji Sahib Rohullah Wakil is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 798. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1962, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He has since been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to the American wing of the Pol-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. On November 18, 2019 the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated him for supporting activities of the ISIS branch in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Nabi Omari</span> Afghan politician and former Guantanamo Bay detainee

Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Omari is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held for nearly twelve years in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 832. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1968, in Khowst, Afghanistan. He arrived at the Guantanamo detention camps on October 28, 2002.

Kandahar Central Jail, also known as Sarpuza Prison or Sarposa Prison, is a minimum security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It has been historically used for the incarceration of common criminals of Kandahar Province. In the last two decades, the facility has also been used to hold up Taliban and other insurgents. The name "Sarpuza" is a historical neighborhood in the city of Kandahar. As of 2017, the prison has approximately 1,900 inmates, and its warden is Col. Abdul Wali Hesarak.

On January 16, 2010, the United States Department of Defense complied with a court order and made public a heavily redacted list of the detainees held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. Detainees were initially held in primitive, temporary quarters, in what was originally called the Bagram Collection Point, from late 2001. Detainees were later moved to an indoor detention center until late 2009, when newly constructed facilities were opened.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Paul Haven (June 30, 2007). "From Taliban jail to Gitmo – hard-luck prisoners tell of unending ordeal". San Diego Union Tribune . Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Tim Reid (January 16, 2009). "Guantánamo inmate tortured by al-Qaeda and entombed by the US". The Times . London. Archived from the original on December 18, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2009. In January 2002, shortly after the Taleban had fled Kandahar after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, I arrived in the city. Amid the chaos and confusion there was a bizarre scene playing out in the jail. The entire prison had been emptied, except for five men who had chosen to stay there because they had nowhere else to go. There was a man from Manchester called Jamal Udeen, two Saudis, a student from Tartarstan - and Mr al-Ginco. They became known as the "Kandahar Five".
  3. ↑ "The most hapless tourist in the world: It's no holiday when the Taliban deem you a spy and the US labels you a terrorist". The Age. March 13, 2004. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012. Next it was on to a backpacking trek through Afghanistan, where he was jailed by the Taliban as a suspected spy. Finally, he was rescued by American troops, only to be promptly packed off to a cage in Guantanamo Bay.
  4. ↑ Josh White, Robin Wright (December 14, 2005). "Detainee Cleared for Release Is in Limbo at Guantanamo". Washington Post . Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. He professed hatred for al Qaeda and the Taliban -- groups he said tortured him in prison -- and offered to help the United States. Intelligence officials and U.N. representatives told Turkistani they would seek to find him refuge, possibly in Pakistan, according to accounts he later gave his lawyers. Instead, Turkistani was taken to a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, where he was stripped, bound and thrown behind bars.
  5. ↑ "Thumbnails of the 9 men at Guantanamo Bay who were once Taliban prisoners". International Herald Tribune. June 30, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
  6. ↑ "Guantanamo Bay: The testimony". BBC News. March 4, 2006. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Said he was jailed by the Taleban as he was suspected of being a spy after admitting admiration for anti-Taleban warlord Ahmed Shah Massood.
  7. ↑ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 56-65
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.