Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev or Elham Battayav (born 7 November 1973) was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. [1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 84. He was born in Abaye, Kazakhstan.
Batayev was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and he was transferred to Kazakhstan on 15 December 2006. [2]
On 9 August 2006 Batayev's lawyer, Tom Johnson, of Portland, Oregon, was profiled by the Willamette Week . [3] Johnson remarked on how Batayev continued to keep his hopes up that he would eventually be released.
Elham Battayav is one of the sixteen Guantanamo captives whose amalgamated habeas corpus submissions were heard by US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton on 31 January 2007. [4]
The Portland, Oregon law firm Perkins Cole issued a press release on 18 December 2006 announcing Ihlkham Battayav's release. [5] The press release stated:
The Perkins Coie team of Fortino, Tom Johnson and Cody Weston began representing Battayav, pro bono, in late 2004. The team made five trips to Guantanamo, numerous trips to the Kazakh embassy in Washington, D.C., and a trip to Kazakhstan to meet with his family, the Kazakh press and potential witnesses.
The Miami Herald reports that three of the four Kazakh detainees in Guantanamo were repatriated and set free on 21 December 2006. [6] According to the Herald the two other released men were Abdullah Tohtasinovich Magrupov and Yakub Abahanov.
On 15 June 2008, the McClatchy News Service published a series of article based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. [7] Ilkham Batayev was one of the men they interviewed. [8] The McClatchy report stated that Ilkham Batayev said he couldn't bring himself to talk about his Guantanamo experiences, or how he came to be in Afghanistan.
But the McClatchy report characterized previous reports Ilkham Batayev had offered earlier—to a journalist in 2001, to his Tribunal, and to his lawyer—as inconsistent. [8]
The McClatchy article quoted Ilkham Batayev's lawyer, Thomas R. Johnson Jr., about the credibility of his assertion that fighters in the Uzbekistan Islamic Movement could have kidnapped him, and press-ganged him, into involuntary service in Afghanistan. [8] Johnson thought that the Tribunal officers discounted this part of his story as incredible, because it was outside their experience, and they simply couldn't imagine it was credible, in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan:
"He was kept at Guantanamo because U.S. officers at (his tribunal hearing) or the interrogators found this to be an outlandish account. Of course this doesn't happen: People aren't kidnapped and taken to other countries to fight wars."
Saad Madi Saad al Azmi is a Kuwaiti citizen. He was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantánamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, and later repatriated on November 4, 2005. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that al-Azmi was born on May 29, 1979, in Doha, Kuwait.
Adil Kamil Abdullah Al Wadi is a citizen of Bahrain who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Al Wadi's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 60. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Wadi was born in 1964, in Muharraq, Bahrain.
Taj Mohammed 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 902. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate Mohammed was born in 1981. He was repatriated in 2006.
Akhtiar Mohammad is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1036. Intelligence analysts estimate that Mohammad was born in 1953, in Kundarkhiel, Afghanistan.
Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr is a citizen of Jordan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Fethi Boucetta is a citizen of Algeria, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 718. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on September 15, 1963, in Algiers.
Tom Johnson is a Portland lawyer, working for the firm, Perkins Coie.
Allah Muhammed Saleem(also transliterated as Alaadinn Muhammad Salim) is a citizen of Egypt who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 716. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that he was born on January 13, 1967, in Al-Bajoor, Egypt.
Mohammed Naim Farouq 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 633. Mohammed Naim Farouq is named on a "most wanted" poster issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and a press release entitled: "Ex-Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight".
Jon Mohammad Barakzai is an Afghan man who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Mohammed was repatriated in October 2002, together with three elderly men, two Afghanis and a Pakistani. The men described being chained, for hours, during their interrogations.
Mahmud Sadik is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 512.
Ehsanullah 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 523. He worked as a farmer before he was recruited into being a guard for the Taliban. He served as a guard in Nahreen for the Taliban. After three months of working as a guard, the Northern Alliance took over the facility and he was sent to US forces. Eventually he was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on June 12, 2002, for his supposed knowledge of leadership of the Taliban in the area. He was recommended for release on September 27, 2002, by Michael Dunlavey, because he was not a threat to the United States nor could provide information of terrorist activity.
Asadullah Jan is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 47. Joint Task Force -- Guantanamo analysts estimate he was born in 1981. However, he says he was only sixteen when he was captured in 2001.
Niam Kuchi is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 931. Joint Task Force Guantanamo estimate that he was born in 1940 in Logar, Afghanistan.
Munir Naseer is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 85.
Ejaz Ahmad Khan is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.
Tariq Khan is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.