Muhammad Hamid Al Qarani
Encyclopedia
Mohammed el Gharani is a citizen of Chad
who was detained for seven years in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
.
El Qarani is a native of Saudi Arabia
and American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1986, in Medina
, Saudi Arabia
.
On June 15, 2005
Human Rights
lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
identified Al Qarani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.
According to Smith Al Qarani was born in November 1987.
On May 28, 2006 The Independent
said Al Qarani was accused of plotting with Abu Qatada
, in London, in 1999 – when he was a 12 year old, living with his parents, in Saudi Arabia
.
On January 14, 2009 U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Al Qarani because the evidence that he was an enemy combatant was mostly limited to statements from two other detainees whose credibility had been called into question by US government staff.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011402511.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Al Gharani was one of the detainees whom they profiled.
The Globe reported that Al Gharani was alleged to have been part of a cell, in London, led by Abu Qatada
, "circa 1998" – when Al Gharani was 11 or 12 years old.
According to the Globe:
Al Gharani's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith
pointed out that Al Gharani had never traveled to England.
Smith also offered an example of how allegations arose against Al Gharani due to the DoD's lack of qualified translators.
In Al Gharani's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' is a tomato. In his translator's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' meant money. His translator asked Al Gharani where he would go to get money, back home, and Al Gharani dutifully listed all the grocery stalls where he could buy tomatoes.
The camp commander, Admiral Harry Harris, called the suicides, "an act of asymetrial warfare". One reaction of the camp authorities to the suicide was to seize all their papers, even their confidential communication with their lawyers. Leaks from the camp authorities fueled rumors that the camp authorities had reason to believe that detainee's lawyers had actively conspired with the detainees in arranging the suicides. The camp authorities claimed that one of the suicide notes was written on stationary that the camp authorities made available to detainee's lawyers.
The Washington Post reports that the lawyer camp authorities have focussed their suspicion on was Clive Stafford Smith.
Stafford Smith reports that his client Mohammed el-Gharani, one of the youngest of the Guantanamo detainees, has been interrogated, at length, trying to establish a tie between him and the suicides.
In a letter to the Associated Press
Stafford Smith wrote:
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, Stafford Smith claims: "...soldiers have threatened to move el-Gharani to Camp 5, a maximum-security facility, if he does not implicate Stafford Smith in the suicides.".
Historian Andy Worthington
, reporting on April 25, 2008, in the Lebanon Daily Star, described abuse Al Qaranhi reports experiencing.
The abuse Al Qaranhi reports include:
Leon dismissed all the US allegations that Al Garani had been observed in Afghanistan, because there was no evidence to support them—other than denunciations from two other captives—captives whose credibility he questioned.
But instead, he phoned former captive, recently released Al Jazeera
journalist Sami Al Hajj.
He told Al Hajj that conditions had worsened after the election of United States President Barack Obama
.
Al Qarani was repatriated less than two months after the call, on June 13, 2009.
reported that they had repatriated an Iraqi captive
and a Chadian captive from Guantanamo to their home countries.
Andy Worthington
, the author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that he was still not free after his repatriation, that he being held by Chadian security forces, who described his Chadian detention as a formality.
Reuters
reports that Commander
Jeffrey Gordon
continued to insist that Al Garani was older than he claimed.
The BBC reports that after his repatriation Al Garani has not been able to receive any official identity documents, because Chad officials are not sure he is actually a citizen.
They report that since Al Garani grew up in Saudi Arabia he is unable to speak to any other Chadians in their local language.
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
who was detained for seven years in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
El Qarani is a native of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1986, in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
.
On June 15, 2005
Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Adrian Stafford Smith OBE is a British [see talk] lawyer who specialises in the areas of civil rights and the death penalty in the United States of America....
identified Al Qarani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.
According to Smith Al Qarani was born in November 1987.
On May 28, 2006 The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
said Al Qarani was accused of plotting with Abu Qatada
Abu Qatada
Abû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
, in London, in 1999 – when he was a 12 year old, living with his parents, in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
.
On January 14, 2009 U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Al Qarani because the evidence that he was an enemy combatant was mostly limited to statements from two other detainees whose credibility had been called into question by US government staff.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011402511.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Boston Globe investigations
On July 14, 2006 the Boston Globe reported on investigations they made to test the credibility of the allegations against Guantanamo detainees.Al Gharani was one of the detainees whom they profiled.
The Globe reported that Al Gharani was alleged to have been part of a cell, in London, led by Abu Qatada
Abu Qatada
Abû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
, "circa 1998" – when Al Gharani was 11 or 12 years old.
According to the Globe:
- "Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman, said the date referred to when 'Abu Qatada became active.' He maintained that it was possible that Gharani had been a part of the cell before his arrest at 14."
Al Gharani's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Adrian Stafford Smith OBE is a British [see talk] lawyer who specialises in the areas of civil rights and the death penalty in the United States of America....
pointed out that Al Gharani had never traveled to England.
Smith also offered an example of how allegations arose against Al Gharani due to the DoD's lack of qualified translators.
In Al Gharani's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' is a tomato. In his translator's dialect of Arabic 'zalati' meant money. His translator asked Al Gharani where he would go to get money, back home, and Al Gharani dutifully listed all the grocery stalls where he could buy tomatoes.
Questioning over the June 10th 2006 suicides
The Department of Defense reported, on June 10, 2006, that three detainees committed suicide.The camp commander, Admiral Harry Harris, called the suicides, "an act of asymetrial warfare". One reaction of the camp authorities to the suicide was to seize all their papers, even their confidential communication with their lawyers. Leaks from the camp authorities fueled rumors that the camp authorities had reason to believe that detainee's lawyers had actively conspired with the detainees in arranging the suicides. The camp authorities claimed that one of the suicide notes was written on stationary that the camp authorities made available to detainee's lawyers.
The Washington Post reports that the lawyer camp authorities have focussed their suspicion on was Clive Stafford Smith.
Stafford Smith reports that his client Mohammed el-Gharani, one of the youngest of the Guantanamo detainees, has been interrogated, at length, trying to establish a tie between him and the suicides.
In a letter to the Associated Press
Associated 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...
Stafford Smith wrote:
- "The interrogator said I told my clients to kill themselves, and word was passed to the three men who did commit suicide."
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, Stafford Smith claims: "...soldiers have threatened to move el-Gharani to Camp 5, a maximum-security facility, if he does not implicate Stafford Smith in the suicides.".
Historian Andy Worthington
Andy Worthington
Andy 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....
, reporting on April 25, 2008, in the Lebanon Daily Star, described abuse Al Qaranhi reports experiencing.
The abuse Al Qaranhi reports include:
- sleep deprivation;
- having a cigarette extinguished on his body;
- having freezing cold water thrown on him;
- being suspended by his arms, with his feet hanging free from the floor, for extended periods of time;
- having a soldier hold his penis in his hand, hold a pair of scissors, and threaten to cut it off.
Writ of habeas corpus
On January 14, 2009 US District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered Al Qarani's released.Leon dismissed all the US allegations that Al Garani had been observed in Afghanistan, because there was no evidence to support them—other than denunciations from two other captives—captives whose credibility he questioned.
First phone call home
Muhammad Al Qarani was allowed his first phone call home on April 16, 2009.But instead, he phoned former captive, recently released Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
journalist Sami Al Hajj.
He told Al Hajj that conditions had worsened after the election of United States President 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...
.
Al Qarani was repatriated less than two months after the call, on June 13, 2009.
Repatriation
On June 11, 2009 the Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
reported that they had repatriated an Iraqi captive
Iraqi captives in Guantanamo
Nine Iraqi citizen were held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Eight of them have been repatriated, four as late as 2009. Among them Abdul Hadi al Iraqi the last Iraqi citizen in Guantanamo.-Iraqi detainees at Guantanamo Bay:...
and a Chadian captive from Guantanamo to their home countries.
Andy Worthington
Andy Worthington
Andy 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....
, the author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that he was still not free after his repatriation, that he being held by Chadian security forces, who described his Chadian detention as a formality.
Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
reports that Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Jeffrey Gordon
Jeffrey D. Gordon
Jeffrey D. Gordon is a communications consultant to several conservative Washington, DC-based think tanks. Gordon is also a contributing columnist to Fox News, AOL News, the Washington Times and other media outlets. Previously, he was a Commander in the United States Navy.-Naval career:He was...
continued to insist that Al Garani was older than he claimed.
The BBC reports that after his repatriation Al Garani has not been able to receive any official identity documents, because Chad officials are not sure he is actually a citizen.
They report that since Al Garani grew up in Saudi Arabia he is unable to speak to any other Chadians in their local language.
External links
- Ex-Gitmo detainee struggles to build life in Chad
- Mohammed El-Gharani, Guantánamo’s youngest prisoner, speaks to al-Jazeera - video mirror
- Guantanamo conditions 'deteriorate' - english.aljazeera.net
- Guantánamo’s Youngest Prisoner Released To Chad 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 11, 2009 - Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child 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....
January 15, 2009 - Judge Richard Leon’s unclassified opinion
- Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)