Mohammed Nayim Farouq Explained

Mohammed Naim Farouq
Date Of Release:July 2003
Id Number:633
Charge:No charge (held in extrajudicial detention)
Status:Repatriated -- DIA claims he has returned to the fight.

Mohammed Naim Farouq (born 1960) is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 633. Mohammed Naim Farouq is named on a "most wanted" poster issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and a press release entitled: "Ex-Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight".[2] [3]

Identity

Aliases

The "most wanted" poster lists four aliases.

Alleged terrorist affiliation

The most wanted poster claims Farouq is affiliated to both the Taliban and al Qaeda.It asserts he has been a Taliban militia leader.

On July 16, 2007, the Department of Defense issued a press release entitled: Ex-Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight.[4] The press release stated:

McClatchy interview

On June 15, 2008, the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Farouq.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] According to the McClatchy report, Farouqwas the leader of a gang of bandits prior to his capture and transport to Guantanamo, with no ties to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.[12]

Abdul Jabar Sabit, Afghan Attorney General, interviewed Mohammed Naim Farouqin Guantanamo, and characterized him as a "rural gangster". Mohammed Naim Farouq, on the other hand, described himself as the leader of a kind of vigilante militia, who were trying to keep order in their region. He said that he and his family clashed with the Taliban, during their regime, but, eventually they "realized that I am from a big tribe ... so we came to an agreement."

The McClatchy report said Mohammed Naim Farouq became the head of Security for Zormat District, following the Taliban's ouster, noting: "It's not clear whether the new, U.S.-backed government appointed Farouq to that position or, more likely, whether he just had more guns than anyone else in the area." Mohammed Naim Farouq was apprehended after he confronted some American soldiers who had apprehended some of his men.

According to various Afghan officials, Farouq became a Taliban leader after his repatriation. He however maintained, during his interview, that he was just trying to keep order in his region.

Mohammed Naim Farouq reported routine abuse and humiliation by his American captors. He was not cooperative with his interrogators: "They asked me if I knew Osama bin Laden. I said, 'Fuck bin Laden and fuck your wife, too. Bin Laden came and destroyed our nation, and you came and destroyed our nation. But at least bin Laden was a Muslim and did not humiliate us like this."

Farouq told McClatchy reporters that he had opposed the Taliban when they were in power and that his tribal militia had struggled with them, that his brother had been driven into exile.

Farouq described being taken into American custody after questioning American GIs when they had taken some of his men into custody—even though he had identified himself as the District's Police Commander. Farouq described being repeatedly humiliated in the Kandahar detention facility and the Bagram Theater Detention Facility by being stripped naked: "they took me into interrogation completely naked. They asked me if I knew Osama bin Laden. I said, 'Fuck bin Laden and fuck your wife, too. Bin Laden came and destroyed our nation, and you came and destroyed our nation. But at least bin Laden was a Muslim and did not humiliate us like this." He described seeing an American soldier in Afghanistan throw a Koran into a bucket of excrement.

Accusations of Taliban and al-Qaeda associations

In May 2009, Elizabeth Bumiller of the New York Times, citing a leaked report leaked to her, asserted that Mohammed Naim Farouq had Taliban and Al Qaeda associations.[13] On May 26, 2009, the McClatchy News Service published a portion of their interview with Farouq. In the interview he said everyone in his province had welcomed the Americans and that he was the first person captured in his province. He said that the Hamid Karzai government had asked him to resume his job as District Chief, but that after years of humiliation while in US detention, he "had enough", and he declined.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006. OARDEC. OARDEC. United States Department of Defense. May 15, 2006. 2007-09-29.
  2. Web site: Most Wanted, Afghanistan/Pakistan . 31–32 . October 2006 . March 14, 2007 . Defense Intelligence Agency.
  3. News: Ex-Guantanamo Detainees who have returned to the fight. July 16, 2007. Department of Defense. 2007-07-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20070816051212/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070712formergtmo.pdf . 2007-08-16.
  4. News: Fact Sheet: Former GTMO Detainee Terrorism Trends . . 2008-06-13 . 2008-07-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080709112647/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080613Returntothefightfactsheet.pdf . 2008-07-09.
  5. News: Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 3 . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 15, 2008 . 2008-06-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110714055906/http://services.mcclatchyinteractive.com/detainees?page=3 . July 14, 2011.
  6. News: U.S. hasn't apologized to or compensated ex-detainees . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 18, 2008 . 2008-06-18 . dead . https://archive.today/20080619010921/http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/611/story/491372.html . June 19, 2008.
  7. News: Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 15, 2008 . 2008-06-20 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080615214204/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38771.html . June 15, 2008.
  8. News: Documents undercut Pentagon's denial of routine abuse . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 16, 2008 . 2008-06-20 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080619001329/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38776.html . June 19, 2008.
  9. News: Deck stacked against detainees in legal proceedings . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 19, 2008 . 2008-06-20 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080620122327/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38887.html . June 20, 2008.
  10. News: U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 16, 2008 . 2008-06-20 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080620001639/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/38775.html . June 20, 2008.
  11. News: Guantanamo Inmate Database: Mohammed Naim Farouq . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 15, 2008 . 2008-06-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080619034013/http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/35 . June 19, 2008. mirror
  12. News: Militants found recruits among Guantanamo's wrongly detained . . Tom Lasseter . Tom Lasseter . June 17, 2008 . 2008-06-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080622150723/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/story/38779.html . June 22, 2008.
  13. News: Did 'returning' terrorists become extremists in Guantanamo? . 2009-05-26 . Nancy A. Youssef . . 2009-07-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090601131951/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/68872.html . 2009-06-01.