Abd Al Rahim Abdul Rassak Janko
Encyclopedia
A Syria
n-Kurd, Abd Al-Rahim Abdul Rassak al-Janko (عبدالرحیم عبدالرسک الجنکو) was a 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.
When a videotape of al-Janko's 2000 interrogation on charges of sodomy and espionage against the Taliban was discovered by American forces in the rubble of Mohammed Atef
's house; the Bush administration released the video, which showed al-Janko breaking down in tears, but stripped the tape of its audiotrack and falsely declared that it was a "martyrdom video
", claiming that al-Janko spoke of dying as a martyr following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Although the Department of internally acknowledged the video to be his filmed interrogation by the Taliban, the American government publicly continued labelling it as a "martyrdom" recording, and added al-Janko to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
. Amnesty International
condemned the use of a video showing al-Janko being interrogated by militants as proof of his association with them as "kafkaesque".
While held at Guantanamo, his captors noted that "as a result of his [Taliban] imprisonment, [he] could not have participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces", and noted that "it is unlikely [he] would ever ever be trusted by an Islamic militant group", but tribunals nevertheless repeated classified him as a "enemy combatant
". Medical staff also wrote that he suffered from depression, had attempted suicide, and was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder
; the United States thus assessed him as a "high threat from a detention perspective" and noted that he had 112 discipline infractions in his file for throwing food, failing to follow instructions, exposing his sexual organs and possession of food contraband. Al-Janko maintains that the BPD diagnosis was intended to mask his Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
arising from his mistreatment and captivity by the Taliban and United States.
On June 20, 2008 he became the first Guantanamo detainee to demand in a U.S. federal court that the military show evidence that justified his detention The judge ruled that the American argument in favour of holding al-Janko in continued captivity "defies common sense".
He was quietly released by the United States in 2009, after seven years' captivity, and is currently living in Antwerpen, Belgium
.
in 1990, and his stepmother and siblings brought him to Ajman a couple years later.
al-Janko attended Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in the Emirates from 1998–2000, studying law and literature, together with Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari
and Abd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri
.
Al-Jenko told interrogators he was invited to a college party at a local hotel however, by Prince Fisal Sudid Qasmi, before he left. He says that when he arrived, group sex
was underway and he participated in the orgy; but Qasim later blackmailed him, threatening to expose the videotape to his stepfather or the media, unless al-Janko would agree to spy on professors and students advocating travel for jihad
. He later retracted this statement as being coerced under torture, and dismissed his admissions of drug addiction, homosexuality and spying as all being false.
al-Janko later told his lawyers he ended up in Afghanistan after running away from his "strict Muslim [step]father". whom he complained was "controlling, abusive and violent" and "ran away" six months after the alleged blackmail began, telling interrogators that he had unsuccessfully spoken to the embassies of Canada, Syria and the United States, seeking an opportunity to leave the Emirates behind, but eventually colleagues at the Mosab bin Omer Center, in the Mishref neighbourhood of Ajman
, convinced him he could travel to Afghanistan by simply posing as an illegal Afghan migrant worker in the UAE, and then apply to Western countries for asylum as an Afghan refugee. al-Janko claims he successfully impersonated an illegal worker, and successfully got himself "deported" to Afghanistan at the expense of the Emirati government.
In Afghanistan, al-Janko used the name Dujana al-Kurdi, and spent 18–45 days at Al Farouq training camp
, where he claims to have spent his time doing "menial chores" such as chopping wood, cleaning weapons and hauling water, until a commander named al-Saidi turned him over to Atef and Saif al-Adl at the Ghulam Bachi safehouse on suspicion he was a spy. Al-Janko maintains this was likely because the day he was ordered to prepare to fight on the front line
s, he requested permission to leave the camp, fearing for his safety.
Other parts of his life, such as allegations his stepfather was a terrorist, that he was working as a spy for the governments of Israel, the United States or UAE were suspected of simply "trying to please his interrogators" or "protect his family members from...retribution".
, who accused him of espionage on behalf of Israel, the United States and the UAE, as well as drug addiction and homosexual sodomy. He was turned over to the Taliban on May 1 for 25 years' imprisonment at Sarposa prison
, after allegedly confessing to Atef that he was guilty, and that Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
was "the Iraqi emir of the espionage ring". al-Karim was subsequently also arrested by the Taliban, and eventually also transported to Guantanamo alongside al-Janko.
In July 2000, the Taliban printed a transcript of the confession, which included the statements that al-Janko had been corrupted by an "evil acquaintance" who introduced him to Sony Playstation, pornography
and fictitious Israeli spymaster "Shamoyel Anty". They also played the video of al-Janko's confession on Emirati television, shaming his family and causing his stepfather to denounce him.
pointed out had gone straight from Taliban custody to American custody.
Tim Reid
, writing in The Times
recorded how he met al-Janko in January 2002, when he was stranded in Kandahar
, after his release from two years in brutal Taliban custody.
Reid described finding al-Janko, and four other foreign prisoners, as the only remaining occupants of a Taliban prison, which had been abandoned and emptied after the Taliban's collapse.
While sitting in the Sarposa prison for the weeks between the Taliban's departure, and the Americans' entrance, al-Janko met with photojournalist Thorne Anderson, Michael Ware
of Time Magazine, Pierre Lhuillery of AFP
and Tim Reid
of The Times
, most of whom would later submit to the courts their observations that al-Janko had clearly been physically tortured and was mentally instable at they met him. Ware took up al-Janko's cause and sought international assistance in aiding him, as did Reid, not expecting that the Americans would take them into captivity.
, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
vowing to die as martyrs. A video of Al-Rahim was also found in the rubble, of his interrogation - ostensibly following torture - by Atef himself. The vidow showed his reaction to Atef's questioning of his sexuality, and claims that he had spied on behalf of the Americans and Israelis.
In response, on January 17, 2002 the FBI released to the public the first Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information list, in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks. The videos were shown by the FBI without sound, ostensibly to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists, although it turned out that in actuality the audiotrack would have vindicated al-Janko from the American claims.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians... These men could be anywhere in the world." Ashcroft added that an analysis of the audio suggested "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts."
On that day, Ramzi bin al-Shibh was one of the only four known names among the five. Ashcroft said not much was known about any of them except bin al-Shibh. The other initial known three are still featured in compiled video clips on the FBI site, in order of appearance, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
, al-Janko, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
. The fifth subject was identified a week later as Abderraouf Jdey
.
al-Janko, along with three others, was later removed by the FBI from the official count on the main page of the Seeking Information list. By February 2, 2003, the FBI rearranged its entire wanted lists on its web site, into the current configuration. The outstanding five martyr video suspects (including Jdey's Montreal
associate Boussora) were moved to a separate linked page, titled "Martyrdom Messages/video, Seeking Information Alert" (Although both Jdey and Boussora were later returned to the main FBI list page). Around this time the FBI also changed the name of the list, to the FBI "Seeking Information - War on Terrorism", to distinguish it from its other wanted list of "Seeking Information," which the FBI already uses for ordinary fugitives, those who are not terrorists.
, extreme temperatures, stress position
s, striking him and threatening to remove his fingernails. Like Ibn Shaykh al-Libi, al-Janko was among those who, following enhanced interrogation or torture, falsely agreed with interrogators that Saddam Hussein
was supporting al-Qaeda.
Under the command of Col. Wade Dennis, American soldiers comprising an IRF
team allegedly beat al-Janko and broke his knee, necessitating knee surgery in the base hospital. He later passed two kidney stone
s, but was refused medical treatment, ostensibly causing kidney damage.
In 2007, al-Janko wrote a suicide note
addressed to his lawyer, noting "Let it be known to you that I am crying while writing this letter because of hopelessness and distress. I don’t know what to do. You and my family members are free and I am imprisoned and captive moving from one prison to another. I ask you to forgive me about
whatever I do, but I have no other way to express my hopelessness". His suicide attempt resulted in fractured vertabrae, loss of bodily functions and severe pain. One source suggests he attempted suicide 17 times during his imprisonment.
, an Iraqi refugee, Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
, said that after al-Janko had been arrested, tortured and interrogated by the Taliban, he had fingered al-Karim as an accomplice in the fictitious American spy ring - leading to their mutual imprisonment by the Taliban, and transfer to American imprisonment two years later.
In total, records show that al-Janko's statements to interrogators were used as evidence against a total of 20 other detainees at Guantanamo.
Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco's behalf.
The United States Department of Defense
published the unclassified dossiers from 179 captives' Combatant
Status Review Tribunals.
But they did not publish Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco's dossier.
On June 16, 2008 the United States Supreme Court declined to consider his mandamus
request.
He now lives, under an assumed identity and reliant on social assistance, in the city of Antwerpen as a formal resident of Belgium.
and Barack Obama
for orchestrating and overseeing his torture, from being urinated on to lengthy sleep deprivation, harsh interrogations and severe beatings. The lawsuit also said that he tried to commit suicide in Guantanamo 17 times.
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n-Kurd, Abd Al-Rahim Abdul Rassak al-Janko (عبدالرحیم عبدالرسک الجنکو) was a student in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
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
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, 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.
When a videotape of al-Janko's 2000 interrogation on charges of sodomy and espionage against the Taliban was discovered by American forces in the rubble of Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef
Mohammed Atef was the alleged military chief of al-Qaida, although his role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years...
's house; the Bush administration released the video, which showed al-Janko breaking down in tears, but stripped the tape of its audiotrack and falsely declared that it was a "martyrdom video
Martyrdom video
Martyrdom videos are video recordings, generally from Islamist activists who are about to take part in a suicide attack and expect to die during their intended actions. They typically include a statement by the person preparing to be a martyr for their cause. While they are generally of amateur...
", claiming that al-Janko spoke of dying as a martyr following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Although the Department of internally acknowledged the video to be his filmed interrogation by the Taliban, the American government publicly continued labelling it as a "martyrdom" recording, and added al-Janko to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list
The FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list is the third major "wanted" list to have been created by the United States Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation to be used as a primary tool for publicly identifying and tracking down suspected terrorists operating against...
. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
condemned the use of a video showing al-Janko being interrogated by militants as proof of his association with them as "kafkaesque".
While held at Guantanamo, his captors noted that "as a result of his [Taliban] imprisonment, [he] could not have participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces", and noted that "it is unlikely [he] would ever ever be trusted by an Islamic militant group", but tribunals nevertheless repeated classified him as a "enemy combatant
Enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
". Medical staff also wrote that he suffered from depression, had attempted suicide, and was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder described as a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person , characterized by depth and variability of moods.The disorder typically involves unusual levels of instability in mood; black and white thinking, or splitting; the...
; the United States thus assessed him as a "high threat from a detention perspective" and noted that he had 112 discipline infractions in his file for throwing food, failing to follow instructions, exposing his sexual organs and possession of food contraband. Al-Janko maintains that the BPD diagnosis was intended to mask his Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
arising from his mistreatment and captivity by the Taliban and United States.
On June 20, 2008 he became the first Guantanamo detainee to demand in a U.S. federal court that the military show evidence that justified his detention The judge ruled that the American argument in favour of holding al-Janko in continued captivity "defies common sense".
He was quietly released by the United States in 2009, after seven years' captivity, and is currently living in Antwerpen, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Life prior to imprisonment
Al-Janko was born in Turkey, the fourth son of 11 children, and was four years old when his Kurdish parents were killed by Turkish troops in 1980. He was subsequently taken to Syria by his stepparents for the next ten years, before his Salafist stepfather took a teaching position in Ajman, UAEAjman
Ajman , also spelt Ujman, is one of the seven emirates constituting the United Arab Emirates . With an area of just 260 square kilometres , Ajman is the smallest emirate by area...
in 1990, and his stepmother and siblings brought him to Ajman a couple years later.
al-Janko attended Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in the Emirates from 1998–2000, studying law and literature, together with Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari
Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari
Fayiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari is a Kuwaiti citizen who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay since 2002. He has been charged with war crimes.The US Department of Defense reports he was born on June 3, 1975 in Kuwait City....
and Abd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri
Abd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri
-Summary of Evidence memo:A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared forAbd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri'sAdministrative Review Board,on20 April 2005.The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention....
.
Al-Jenko told interrogators he was invited to a college party at a local hotel however, by Prince Fisal Sudid Qasmi, before he left. He says that when he arrived, group sex
Group sex
Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Group sex can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders...
was underway and he participated in the orgy; but Qasim later blackmailed him, threatening to expose the videotape to his stepfather or the media, unless al-Janko would agree to spy on professors and students advocating travel for jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
. He later retracted this statement as being coerced under torture, and dismissed his admissions of drug addiction, homosexuality and spying as all being false.
al-Janko later told his lawyers he ended up in Afghanistan after running away from his "strict Muslim [step]father". whom he complained was "controlling, abusive and violent" and "ran away" six months after the alleged blackmail began, telling interrogators that he had unsuccessfully spoken to the embassies of Canada, Syria and the United States, seeking an opportunity to leave the Emirates behind, but eventually colleagues at the Mosab bin Omer Center, in the Mishref neighbourhood of Ajman
Ajman
Ajman , also spelt Ujman, is one of the seven emirates constituting the United Arab Emirates . With an area of just 260 square kilometres , Ajman is the smallest emirate by area...
, convinced him he could travel to Afghanistan by simply posing as an illegal Afghan migrant worker in the UAE, and then apply to Western countries for asylum as an Afghan refugee. al-Janko claims he successfully impersonated an illegal worker, and successfully got himself "deported" to Afghanistan at the expense of the Emirati government.
In Afghanistan, al-Janko used the name Dujana al-Kurdi, and spent 18–45 days at Al Farouq training camp
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
, where he claims to have spent his time doing "menial chores" such as chopping wood, cleaning weapons and hauling water, until a commander named al-Saidi turned him over to Atef and Saif al-Adl at the Ghulam Bachi safehouse on suspicion he was a spy. Al-Janko maintains this was likely because the day he was ordered to prepare to fight on the front line
Front line
A front line is the farthest-most forward position of an armed force's personnel and equipment - generally in respect of maritime or land forces. Forward Line of Own Troops , or Forward Edge of Battle Area are technical terms used by all branches of the armed services...
s, he requested permission to leave the camp, fearing for his safety.
Other parts of his life, such as allegations his stepfather was a terrorist, that he was working as a spy for the governments of Israel, the United States or UAE were suspected of simply "trying to please his interrogators" or "protect his family members from...retribution".
Imprisonment by Taliban
In January 2000, after only weeks in Afghanistan, al-Jenko was taken into custody by al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, who accused him of espionage on behalf of Israel, the United States and the UAE, as well as drug addiction and homosexual sodomy. He was turned over to the Taliban on May 1 for 25 years' imprisonment at Sarposa prison
Sarposa prison
The Sarposa prison is a high security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, used to hold Taliban militants and other criminals including drug traffickers...
, after allegedly confessing to Atef that he was guilty, and that Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.Al Karim's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 653....
was "the Iraqi emir of the espionage ring". al-Karim was subsequently also arrested by the Taliban, and eventually also transported to Guantanamo alongside al-Janko.
In July 2000, the Taliban printed a transcript of the confession, which included the statements that al-Janko had been corrupted by an "evil acquaintance" who introduced him to Sony Playstation, pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and fictitious Israeli spymaster "Shamoyel Anty". They also played the video of al-Janko's confession on Emirati television, shaming his family and causing his stepfather to denounce him.
Transfer from Taliban to US custody
Janko was one of nine American prisoners the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
pointed out had gone straight from Taliban custody to American custody.
Tim Reid
Tim Reid
Timothy L. "Tim" Reid is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati , Marcel "Downtown" Brown on Simon & Simon , Ray Campbell on Sister, Sister and William Barnett on That 70's Show...
, writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
recorded how he met al-Janko in January 2002, when he was stranded in Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
, after his release from two years in brutal Taliban custody.
Reid described finding al-Janko, and four other foreign prisoners, as the only remaining occupants of a Taliban prison, which had been abandoned and emptied after the Taliban's collapse.
While sitting in the Sarposa prison for the weeks between the Taliban's departure, and the Americans' entrance, al-Janko met with photojournalist Thorne Anderson, Michael Ware
Michael Ware
Michael Ware is an Australian journalist formerly with CNN and was for several years based in their Baghdad bureau. He joined CNN in May 2006, after five years with sister-publication Time Magazine...
of Time Magazine, Pierre Lhuillery of AFP
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
and Tim Reid
Tim Reid
Timothy L. "Tim" Reid is an American actor, comedian and film director best known for his roles in prime time American television programs, such as Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati , Marcel "Downtown" Brown on Simon & Simon , Ray Campbell on Sister, Sister and William Barnett on That 70's Show...
of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, most of whom would later submit to the courts their observations that al-Janko had clearly been physically tortured and was mentally instable at they met him. Ware took up al-Janko's cause and sought international assistance in aiding him, as did Reid, not expecting that the Americans would take them into captivity.
Discovery of interrogation video
On January 14, 2002, five video cassettes were recovered from the rubble of the destroyed home of Mohammad Atef outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. The tapes showed Abderraouf JdeyAbderraouf Jdey
A Canadian citizen, Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey was found swearing to die as a shaheed on a series of videotapes found in the rubble of Mohammed Atef's house in Afghanistan...
, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan was self-implicated on videotape as a possible terrorist in 2002, and has since then been wanted by the United States Department of Justice's FBI, which is seeking information about his identity and whereabouts...
, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani was a Saudi member of al-Qaeda who appeared cradling a rifle, in a 2002 videotape in which he promised a "martyrdom" attack...
vowing to die as martyrs. A video of Al-Rahim was also found in the rubble, of his interrogation - ostensibly following torture - by Atef himself. The vidow showed his reaction to Atef's questioning of his sexuality, and claims that he had spied on behalf of the Americans and Israelis.
In response, on January 17, 2002 the FBI released to the public the first Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information list, in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks. The videos were shown by the FBI without sound, ostensibly to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists, although it turned out that in actuality the audiotrack would have vindicated al-Janko from the American claims.
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians... These men could be anywhere in the world." Ashcroft added that an analysis of the audio suggested "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts."
On that day, Ramzi bin al-Shibh was one of the only four known names among the five. Ashcroft said not much was known about any of them except bin al-Shibh. The other initial known three are still featured in compiled video clips on the FBI site, in order of appearance, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan
Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan was self-implicated on videotape as a possible terrorist in 2002, and has since then been wanted by the United States Department of Justice's FBI, which is seeking information about his identity and whereabouts...
, al-Janko, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani
Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani was a Saudi member of al-Qaeda who appeared cradling a rifle, in a 2002 videotape in which he promised a "martyrdom" attack...
. The fifth subject was identified a week later as Abderraouf Jdey
Abderraouf Jdey
A Canadian citizen, Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey was found swearing to die as a shaheed on a series of videotapes found in the rubble of Mohammed Atef's house in Afghanistan...
.
al-Janko, along with three others, was later removed by the FBI from the official count on the main page of the Seeking Information list. By February 2, 2003, the FBI rearranged its entire wanted lists on its web site, into the current configuration. The outstanding five martyr video suspects (including Jdey's Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
associate Boussora) were moved to a separate linked page, titled "Martyrdom Messages/video, Seeking Information Alert" (Although both Jdey and Boussora were later returned to the main FBI list page). Around this time the FBI also changed the name of the list, to the FBI "Seeking Information - War on Terrorism", to distinguish it from its other wanted list of "Seeking Information," which the FBI already uses for ordinary fugitives, those who are not terrorists.
Imprisonment by the United States
al-Janko was held at Kandahar Air Base from January 2002 through May 2002, and was then transferred to Guantanamo's detention camps in May 2002. al-Janko claims that, while at the Air Base, interrogators subjected him to sleep deprivationSleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
, extreme temperatures, stress position
Stress Position
"Stress Position" is a fourth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It reintroduces Detective Mike Logan back into the Law & Order franchise.-Plot summary:...
s, striking him and threatening to remove his fingernails. Like Ibn Shaykh al-Libi, al-Janko was among those who, following enhanced interrogation or torture, falsely agreed with interrogators that Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
was supporting al-Qaeda.
Under the command of Col. Wade Dennis, American soldiers comprising an IRF
Initial Reaction Force
The Initial Reaction Force , also known as the Internal Reaction Force or Extreme Reaction Force to inmates, is a type of small scale riot squad in U.S. military prisons such as the Camp Delta detention center of Guantanamo Bay...
team allegedly beat al-Janko and broke his knee, necessitating knee surgery in the base hospital. He later passed two kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
s, but was refused medical treatment, ostensibly causing kidney damage.
In 2007, al-Janko wrote a suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
addressed to his lawyer, noting "Let it be known to you that I am crying while writing this letter because of hopelessness and distress. I don’t know what to do. You and my family members are free and I am imprisoned and captive moving from one prison to another. I ask you to forgive me about
whatever I do, but I have no other way to express my hopelessness". His suicide attempt resulted in fractured vertabrae, loss of bodily functions and severe pain. One source suggests he attempted suicide 17 times during his imprisonment.
Coerced denouncements of other prisoners
During his testimony at his own Combatant Status Review TribunalCombatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
, an Iraqi refugee, Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim
Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.Al Karim's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 653....
, said that after al-Janko had been arrested, tortured and interrogated by the Taliban, he had fingered al-Karim as an accomplice in the fictitious American spy ring - leading to their mutual imprisonment by the Taliban, and transfer to American imprisonment two years later.
In total, records show that al-Janko's statements to interrogators were used as evidence against a total of 20 other detainees at Guantanamo.
Habeas corpus
A writ of habeas corpus, Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco v. Robert M. Gates, was submitted onAbdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco's behalf.
The United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
published the unclassified dossiers from 179 captives' Combatant
Status Review Tribunals.
But they did not publish Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco's dossier.
On June 16, 2008 the United States Supreme Court declined to consider his mandamus
Mandamus
A writ of mandamus or mandamus , or sometimes mandate, is the name of one of the prerogative writs in the common law, and is "issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly".Mandamus is a judicial remedy which...
request.
Relocation To Belgium
Under the Obama Administration, Janko was quietly released to Belgium on October 7 or 9, 2009 becoming the third Guantanamo captive transferred to the European nation. Belgium requested the United States not disclose al-Janko's identity at the time of release.He now lives, under an assumed identity and reliant on social assistance, in the city of Antwerpen as a formal resident of Belgium.
Complaint for Damages
In October 2010, Janko sued George BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
for orchestrating and overseeing his torture, from being urinated on to lengthy sleep deprivation, harsh interrogations and severe beatings. The lawsuit also said that he tried to commit suicide in Guantanamo 17 times.
External links
- Ex-Guantanamo prisoner sues US The Sydney Morning Herald
- Ex-Guantanamo detainee sues U.S. for damages Reuters, October 7, 2010
- Freed Guantanamo detainee sues U.S. military over alleged torture The Washington Post, October 6, 2010
- Why Did It Take So Long To Order The Release From Guantánamo Of An Al-Qaeda Torture Victim? Andy WorthingtonAndy WorthingtonAndy Worthington is a British historian, journalist, and film director.He has published three books, and been published in numerous publications.In 2009 Worthington was the co-director of a documentary about the Guantanamo detainees....
June 24, 2009 - Andy Worthington Discusses Guantánamo on Democracy Now!
- Judge Richard Leon’s unclassified opinion
- Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)