Mohamed Anwar Kurd

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Mohamed Anwar Kurd
Born 1979
Other names Mohamed Anwarkurd
Citizenship Iran
Occupation electronics technician

Mohamed Anwar Kurd is a citizen of Iran who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1]

Background

According to Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, Anwarkurd had never been a combatant, but was what he claimed to be, an electronics dealer, first captured by the Taliban, and then captured by the Northern Alliance.[2][3]

The Department of Defense reports that Kurd was born on March 4, 1979, in Zahedan, Iran.

Mohamed Anwar Kurd arrived at Guantanamo on June 12, 2002, and was repatriated to Iran on August 19, 2005.[4][5]


Official status reviews

Initially the Bush Presidency asserted that no captive apprehended during the "war on terror" was entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions. However, in 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that the captives were entitled to be advised of the allegations that justified their detention, and to be given an opportunity to try to refute those allegations.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants

In 2004, in response to the Supreme Court's ruling, the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.

According to Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, described how Anwarkurd told his Tribunal how he traveled to Afghanistan to buy discount electronics for the electronics shop his family operated in Iran.[2][3] He described being seized by the Taliban, and fearing that he would be summarily executed as a spy if he admitted he was from Iran he claimed he was an Afghan -- and instead ended up being summarily conscripted. He claimed he was not considered sufficiently reliable for military duties, and merely served in a support role, until he was captured by the forces of Northern Alliance leader General Dostum, shortly after the US invasion. Worthington speculated that Anwarkurd was a survivor of Dostum's convoy of death.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[6][7][8] Kurd's assessment was two pages long, and recommended transfer to Iran.[9] It was signed by Geoffrey D. Miller and was dated April 8, 2003.

According to Worthington, the 2003 assessment cleared Anwarkurd of being affiliated with al Qaeda, or of being a Taliban leader.[3] Worthington quoted directly from Miller's assessment:

“Based on current information, detainee [676] is assessed as being neither affiliated with al-Qaida nor a Taliban leader. Moreover … the detainee has no further intelligence value to the United States and will not be seen for further intelligence purposes. [He] has not expressed thoughts of violence nor made threats toward the US or its allies during interrogations or in the course of his detention. Based on the above, detainee does not pose a future threat to the US or its interests.”[3]

References

  1. OARDEC (2006-05-15). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006". United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Andy Worthington (2009-02-07). Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six “Ghost Prisoners”ns-part-one-and-six-ghost-prisoners/ "The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six “Ghost Prisoners”". http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/the-guantanamo-files-website-extras-11-the-last-of-the-afghaThe Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (11) – The Last of the Afghans (Part One) and Six “Ghost Prisoners”ns-part-one-and-six-ghost-prisoners/. Retrieved 2012-07-14. "Two Iranians were also captured at this time, and were probably seized close to the Iranian border and sold to the Americans. 20-year old Bakhtiar Bameri (released in September 2004) went to Afghanistan to buy stereo parts but was accused of fighting with the Taliban, and 22-year old Mohammed Anwarkurd (released in August 2005) also went to Afghanistan on a shopping expedition. He said that he had gone to buy electronic equipment for his brother, because it was cheaper than in Iran and could be sold for a profit, but was seized by the Taliban, who stole his money and conscripted him." 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Andy Worthington (2011-09-11). "WikiLeaks and the Guantánamo Prisoners Released After the Tribunals, 2004 to 2005 (Part Four of Five)". http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/09/12/wikileaks-and-the-guantanamo-prisoners-released-after-the-tribunals-2004-to-2005-part-four-of-five/. Retrieved 2012-07-14. "although Anwarkurd “convinced the Taliban leaders at the guesthouse that he was unfit for the frontlines.” He added that he “spent approximately two months at the guesthouse before the Taliban fled to Kunduz to regroup when Mazar-e-Sharif fell to the Northern Alliance,” when he “and the other inhabitants of the guesthouse traveled to a military base in Kunduz,” and, soon after, surrendered to General Dostum, a prominent Northern Alliance commander. As a result, he was probably part of “the convoy of death,” when many prisoners (probably numbering in the thousands) died en route to Dostum’s prison at Sheberghan while being transported in containers, although this was not mentioned by the Task Force." 
  4. "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)". Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original on 2009-12-21. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhumanrights.ucdavis.edu%2Fresources%2Flibrary%2Fdocuments-and-reports%2Fgtmo_heightsweights.pdf&date=2009-12-21. 
  5. Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Mohamed Anwar Kurd". New York Times. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/676-mohamed-anwar-kurd. Retrieved 2012-07-14. 
  6. Christopher Hope, Robert Winnett, Holly Watt, Heidi Blake (2011-04-27). "WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed -- Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose". The Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Fwikileaks%2F8471907%2FWikiLeaks-Guantanamo-Bay-terrorist-secrets-revealed.html&date=2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-07-13. "The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America’s own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world’s most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website." 
  7. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8476672/WikiLeaks-The-Guantanamo-files-database.html. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
  8. "Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Mohamed Anwar Kurd, US9IR-000676DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wikileaks-files/guantanamo-bay-wikileaks-files/8477096/Guantanamo-Bay-detainee-file-on-Mohamed-Anwar-Kurd-US9IR-000676DP.html. Retrieved 2012-07-14. 
  9. Geoffrey D. Miller (2003-04-08). "Recommendation for Transfer out of DoD Control (TRO) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9AG". Joint Task Force Guantanamo. http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/pdf/ir/us9ir-000676dp.pdf. Retrieved 2012-07-14.  16x16px Media related to File:ISN 676's Guantanamo detainee assessment.pdf at Wikimedia Commons