Tariq Mahmood (detainee)

Last updated
Tariq Mahmood
Born Birmingham, United Kingdom
Arrested2003-10, 2004-2(?)
Rawalpindi
ISI
Released2004
Citizenship United Kingdom
Detained at Rawalpindi
Charge(s)released after 5 month without charges
Occupationtaxi driver
Children2

Tariq Mahmood is a British Pakistani man who was captured in Islamabad by Pakistani security forces in October 2003. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] His family reports that Tariq was tortured, while in Pakistani custody, with the knowledge or cooperation of UK and American security officials.

Contents

Background

Tariq Mahmood is a married father of two from Sparkhill, Birmingham. [2] The former taxi driver flew to Pakistan in 2001 to settle a land dispute over a family home there. [8]

Arrest

In October 2003, Mahmood was held on suspicion of being associated with a "banned organization" under the Security of Pakistan Act, Section 10, [9] and was not given immediate access to courts despite his British citizenship. [10]

Mahmood was initially assigned a 10 November 2003 court date in Islamabad, and made court appearances over the following four weeks. [9] [10] However, despite the ongoing legal process, his whereabouts became unclear by early 2004. [8] [11] Pakistani security reportedly turned him over to American forces, prompting fears he would be sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. [2] In February 2004, Pakistani intelligence sources indicated Tariq Mahmood had been transported to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, a "stepping stone" to Guantanamo Bay. [12]

Human Rights Watch listed him as one of 39 ghost detainees in 2005, who are not given any legal rights or access to counsel, and who are likely not reported to or seen by the International Committee of the Red Cross. [13]

On February 19, 2004, The Guardian listed the nine UK citizens then known to have been held in Guantanamo. [14] They listed him as a possible 10th UK citizen held in Guantanamo. His presence in Guantanamo has never been confirmed. [15]

According to articles from The Guardian quoted in a report by a committee of the UK Parliament, Tariq is believed to have made his home in Dubai following his release in 2004. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa al-Hawsawi</span> Saudi Arabian terrorist most dangerous

Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi is a Saudi Arabian citizen. He is alleged to have acted as a key financial facilitator for the September 11 attacks in the United States.

<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.

Shafiq Rasul is a British citizen who was a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamdouh Habib</span> Former Guantanamo Bay detainee

Mamdouh Habib is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and military authorities. He was sent by extraordinary rendition from Pakistan to Egypt after his arrest. He was held the longest at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as an enemy combatant. Finally released without charges in January 2005, Habib struggled to have his account of his experiences believed, as he alleged he had been tortured by the CIA, Egyptians, and US military, at times with Australian intelligence officers present. For some time, each of the governments denied his allegations, but they have gradually been confirmed.

The 2005 Quran desecration controversy began when Newsweek's April 30, 2005, issue contained a report asserting that United States prison guards or interrogators had deliberately damaged a copy of the Quran. A week later, The New Yorker reported the words of Pakistani politician Imran Khan: "This is what the U.S. is doing—desecrating the Quran." This incident caused upset in parts of the Muslim world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binyam Mohamed</span> Ethiopian Guantanamo detainee

Binyam Ahmed Mohamed, also referred to as Benjamin Mohammed, Benyam Mohammed or Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, is an Ethiopian national and United Kingdom resident, who was detained as a suspected enemy combatant by the US Government in Guantanamo Bay prison between 2004 and 2009 without charges. He was arrested in Pakistan and transported first to Morocco under the US's extraordinary rendition program, where he claimed to have been interrogated under torture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omar Deghayes</span> Libyan citizen

Omar Amer Deghayes is a Libyan citizen who had legal residency status with surviving members of his family in the United Kingdom since childhood. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He was held by the United States as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay detention camp from 2002 until December 18, 2007. He was released without charges and returned to Britain, where he lives. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 727. Deghayes says he was blinded permanently in one eye, after a guard at Guantanamo gouged his eyes with his fingers. Deghayes was never charged with any crime at Guantanamo.

Asif Iqbal is a British citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention as a terror suspect in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps in Cuba from early 2002 to 9 March 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaker Aamer</span> Saudi citizen held in Guantanamo Bay from 2001–2015

Shaker Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Aamer is a Saudi citizen who was held by the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba for more than thirteen years without charge.

Richard Dean Belmar is a British man who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was first detained in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Bagram Theater Internment Facility, then Guantanamo. He was not charged, and was returned to the United Kingdom on 25 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamil el Banna</span> Palestinian-Jordanian held by the US 2002–07 (born 1952)

Jamil Abdul Latif el-Banna, born 28 May 1962, is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, with refugee status in the United Kingdom, who had been living in north-west London. He was abducted in November 2002 by the CIA from The Gambia while on a business trip, and suffered extraordinary rendition to Bagram, Afghanistan, where he was held and interrogated by the CIA until March 2003. He was transferred to military custody at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in March 2003, and held there until 19 December 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guantanamo Bay detention camp</span> United States military prison in southeastern Cuba

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Gitmo, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. As of March 2022, of the 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11 attacks, 741 had been transferred elsewhere, 30 remained there, and 9 had died while in custody.

Khaled Ben Mustafa is a citizen of France who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. The Department of Defense reports that Mustafa was born on January 9, 1972, in Lyon, France. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 236.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdu Ali al Haji Sharqawi</span> Yemeni alleged Al-Qaeda associate (born 1974)

Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj, also known as Riyadh the Facilitator, is a Yemeni alleged Al-Qaeda associate who is currently being held in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

Saud Memon was a Pakistani businessman from Karachi dealing in yarn and textiles. Memon was said to own the Al-Qaeda safe house in Karachi where American journalist Daniel Pearl was killed. Memon was wanted by law-enforcement agencies in the Pearl case for supposedly providing the place where Pearl was beheaded and subsequently buried. However, Memon was never formally charged.

Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, filed suit in 2004 in the United States District Court in Washington, DC against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charged that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command. The plaintiffs each sought seek compensatory damages for torture and arbitrary detention while being held at Guantánamo.

Tarek Dergoul is a citizen of the United Kingdom of Moroccan origin who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He spent six or seven months in US custody in Afghanistan, prior to his arrival at Guantanamo on 5 May 2002. After he was repatriated to the United Kingdom on 8 March 2004, he asserted that conditions in US detention camps were brutal, and he was coerced to utter false confessions.

Cage is a London-based advocacy organisation which aims to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror. Cage highlights and campaigns against state policies, developed as part of the War on Terror. The organisation was formed to raise awareness of the plight of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere and has worked closely with former detainees held by the United States and campaigns on behalf of current detainees held without trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruhal Ahmed</span> British citizen (born 1981)

Ruhal Ahmed is a British citizen who was detained without trial for over two years by the United States government, beginning in Afghanistan in 2001, and then in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. His Internment Serial Number was 110. Ahmed was returned to the United Kingdom in March 2004, where he was released the next day without charges.

References

  1. ↑ "Opinion No. 29/2006" (PDF). United States Department of State. United Nations Human Rights Council, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. 2005-12-08. pp. 6, 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  2. 1 2 3 O'Neill, Sean; Britten, Nick (2003-10-30). "Briton 'to be taken to Guantanamo Bay'". The Telegraph online. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  3. ↑ Agence France-Presse, "Pakistan grills detained British al-Qaeda suspect", November 10, 2005
  4. ↑ O'Neill, Sean (2005-01-05). "Five still held without help or hope". The Times . Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  5. 1 2 Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights, House of Commons, House of Lords (2009-08-30). Allegation of UK complicity in torture: twenty-third report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes and oral and written evidence. UK Stationery House. pp. 8, 47, 50. ISBN   978-0-10-844485-2 . Retrieved 2011-12-11. Tariq Mahmood, a UK-born man who disappeared in Pakistan in 2003 and who it is now thought lives in Dubai. Family members claim Mr Mahmood was tortured while held in Pakistan in 2003-2004 and that the UK was involved.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ "Fabricating Terrorism: British complicity in renditions and torture" (PDF). Cageprisoners. 2006. Retrieved 2011-12-14. During his interrogations with MI6, various threats were made against him if he did not comply. Particularly worrying for Tariq, was that he was threatened with death for not co-operating.
  7. ↑ "Fabricating Terrorism II: British complicity in renditions and torture" (PDF). Cageprisoners. 2009. Retrieved 2011-12-14. While he was being held by the Pakistanis, he was kept bound and hooded; however, from the accents of those who were interrogating him, he could quite easily discern that there were Pakistani, American and British interrogators questioning him.
  8. 1 2 Lisa Mccarthy; Evening Mail (2003-11-07). "My brother is innocent". icBirmingham. The Birmingham Post. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  9. 1 2 "Blair asked to help terror suspect". BBC News online. 2003-11-25. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  10. 1 2 "پاکستانی برطانوی حراست میں" [Briton in Pakistani Custody] (in Urdu). BBC News Urdu online. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  11. ↑ "Breakthrough Over Detainee". icBirmingham. The Birmingham Post. 2003-11-08. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  12. ↑ Armadeep Bassey; Sunday Mercury (2004-02-29). "Mystery of the 'lost' Muslims". icBirmingham. The Birmingham Post. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  13. ↑ "List of 'Ghost Prisoners' Possibly in CIA Custody". Human Rights Watch. 1 December 2005. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  14. ↑ "Full list: Britons held at Guantanamo". The Guardian . 2004-02-19. Retrieved 2011-12-12. Tariq Mahmood, 30, from Birmingham, was arrested in Pakistan in October on suspicion of involvement with al-Qaida and he could be the 10th Briton held at the base, but justice pressure group Fair Trial Abroad said his whereabouts were currently unknown. mirror
  15. ↑ "Pakistan holds British al-Qa'eda suspect".
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.