Hamidullah Khan
Hamidullah Khan is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention by the United States in its Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan.[1][2][3][4][5] United Kingdom human rights group Reprieve reports he was just fourteen years old, when he was picked up in Pakistan.[6]
- "Hamidullah Khan, for example, was picked up while travelling from Karachi to his father's village in Waziristan to salvage the family's possessions during the ongoing military operation. He was just fourteen. He is currently being held at Bagram and his family are desperate for his return."
Daniel Morgan, writing for Newsweek Pakistan, reported that Hamidullah's family received a letter from him in 2010, where he said he had been cleared for release by a Bagram enemy combatant review.[2]
Human rights workers were able to initiate a court inquiry in Lahore for Hamidullah and six other Pakistani men.[4] The Pakistani government was ordered to send officials to interview the men. Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, reported that Hamidullah Khan was one of seven Pakistanis held in Bagram whose cases had been take up by Justice Project Pakistan.[5]
On June 27, 2012, the Lahore High Court admonished the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs for failing to confirm whether 31 captives the Americans were holding in Bagram were Pakistani citizens.[7] Sarah Belal, one of the lawyers acting on behalf of the first seven Pakistani captives known to be in US custody in Bagram informed the court that their nationality had already been confirmed by the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, and that the Americans were willing to consider repatriation, and that the delay in moving to the next stage was due to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs failing to give the Americans assurances that the men would not be abused upon their return.
In December, 2013, after Khan's return, Sarah Belal told The Guardian, that even after his repatriation, Khan's life had not improved.[8] After his return authorities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) also detained him, without charge, under conditions as brutal as those at Bagram. The Guardian explained that Pakistan has laws on its books, for FATA, known as the " frontier crimes regulations", that date back to the British Raj period, that allow individuals to be detained, without charge, for up to three years. Khan's indefinite detention in FATA is based on these regulations, so he had not been informed as to why he was detained.
Al Jazeera profiled Khan, in 2019, describing him as one of the individuals held in Bagram who has been unable to move beyond the abuse he went through there.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Asad Hashim (2019-09-25). "‘Free, but not free’: Tortured ex-Bagram inmates struggle to cope". Al Jazeera (Karachi, Pakistan). Archived from the original on 2020-09-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20200923221645/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/9/25/free-but-not-free-tortured-ex-bagram-inmates-struggle-to-cope. Retrieved 2024-03-29. "For many, the scars of the torture and abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of US and Afghan forces continue to haunt them, while reported harassment by Pakistani security agencies and police under anti-terrorism legislation has crippled their ability to lead a normal life."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Daniel Morgan (2011-08-19). "The Hard Cell: Activists make it more difficult for Islamabad to ignore the plight of Pakistanis detained in Afghanistan". Newsweek Pakistan. http://www.newsweekpakistan.com/scope/375?utm_source=Press+mailing+list&utm_campaign=52703ca7f4-2011_11_23_yunus_hearing&utm_medium=email. Retrieved 2011-11-29. "Hamidullah Khan disappeared in July three years ago. The then 14-year-old was on the road from Karachi to his home, outside Ladha in South Waziristan, after a military operation against the Taliban had concluded there. Hamidullah had set out to retrieve and truck back pieces of furniture for his family’s port-city dwelling. Somewhere between Dera Ismail Khan and Ladha, he vanished. His parents haven’t seen him since."
- ↑ "Bagram Airbase". Reprieve. 2011. http://www.reprieve.org.uk/cases/bagram/. Retrieved 2011-11-29. "Hamidullah Khan, for example, was picked up while travelling from Karachi to his father's village in Waziristan to salvage the family's possesions during the ongoing military operation. He was just fourteen. He is currently being held at Bagram and his family are desperate for his return." mirror
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Paddy McGuffin (2011-11-21). "Bagram detainee case reaches court". Morning Star. http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/112226. Retrieved 2011-11-29. "All seven are Pakistani citizens who are being held indefinitely at Bagram without access to lawyers and without having been informed of the evidence against them." mirror
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Andy Worthington (2011-12-16). "British Court Orders Release Of Bagram Prisoner Rendered By UK From Iraq, Held For Seven Years – OpEd". Eurasia Review. Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurasiareview.com%2F16122011-british-court-orders-release-of-bagram-prisoner-rendered-by-uk-from-iraq-held-for-seven-years-oped%2F&date=2012-08-28. "In addition to Yunus Rahmatullah, the case also involves Awwal Khan, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Fazal Karim, Amal Khan and Iftikhar Ahmad, who were “abducted from Pakistan and taken to Bagram, where they have been kept without charge or trial since 2003.” Reprieve added, “One prisoner is merely 16 years of age and was seized two years ago at the age of 14. Another was not permitted to speak to his family for six years, and is believed to be in a grievous physical and psychological condition.”"
- ↑ "Release of 9 Pakistanis at Bagram: UK-based NGO seeks govt’s help". Daily Times. 2012-05-12. Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytimes.com.pk%2Fdefault.asp%3Fpage%3D2012%5C%5C05%5C%5C12%5C%5Cstory_12-5-2012_pg7_24&date=2012-08-28. "Maryam said 14-year-old Hamidullah Khan was picked up on his way from Karachi to Waziristan. His family was desperate for his return, she added."
- ↑ Rana Tanveer (2012-06-27). "LHC warns MoFA of strict action over Bagram detainee repatriation". Pak Tribune. Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftribune.com.pk%2Fstory%2F399990%2Flhc-warns-mofa-of-strict-action-over-bagram-detainee-repatriation%2F&date=2012-08-28. "He also took the Ministry’s representative to task for the department’s inability to compile basic details for Pakistanis who had already spent several years in Bagram."
- ↑ Jon Boone (2013-12-05). "Bagram inmate's tearful return to Pakistan fails to end legal limbo". The Guardian (Peshawar). Archived from the original on 2013-12-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20131205141147/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/bagram-hamidullah-khan-return-pakistan-legal-rights. Retrieved 2024-03-29. "Their lawyers are angry the men were handed over to Pakistan's shadowy and much-criticised tribal justice system that is only followed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), a troubled region bordering Afghanistan."
