Jon Mohammad Barakzai is an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

man who was held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Mohammed was repatriated in October 2002, together with three elderly men, two

is and a

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i.Afghans Describe Life Inside Gitmo
''

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

'', October 29, 2002 The men described being chained, for hours, during their interrogations. Mohammed said that he had been forcibly conscripted into the Taliban army, at gunpoint.Former Guantanamo Prisoners Say They Weren't Tortured
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', October 29, 2002Guantanamo prisoners tell of confinement & interrogations
''

The Daily Iowan ''The Daily Iowan'' is an independent, 6,500-circulation student newspaper serving Iowa City and the University of Iowa community. During the 2020–2021 academic year ''The Daily Iowan'' transitioned from printing daily to producing a print ...

'', October 30 2002 Some press reports stated that Mohammed, and the three elderly detainees released with him, were the first detainees to be released. Mohammed said he recognized some high level

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

leaders in the camp, such as Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former ambassador. He said that the detainees were shackled every time they were removed from their cells. Mohammed's companions said that they had no contact with their family during their American custody. Mohammed said he received a letter from his family just three days before his release.

The McClatchy interview

After a long legal battle the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

complied with a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

from

US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

Justice

Jed Rakoff Jed Saul Rakoff (born August 1, 1943) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was appointed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. Early ...

to release the names of all the Guantanamo detainees. The DoD released a list of all the captives who had been detained, in military custody, in Guantanamo. The name "Jan Mohammed" is missing from that list. On June 15, 2008, the

McClatchy News Service McClatchy Media Company, or simply McClatchy and MCC, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law. Originally based in Sacramento, California, United States, and known as The McClatchy Company, it b ...

published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy identified Jan Mohammed as Guantanamo captive 107, listed as "Jon Mohammad Barakzai". Mohammed described being sent to Sherberghan prison by General Dostum, where: Jan Mohammed described abuse while in the Afghan custody that preceded his US custody. He said he had to move, after he returned to Afghanistan, because local Taliban sympathizers suspected his early release was a sign that he was a US spy, or had collaborated with them.

References

External links

Many Held at Guantanamo Not Likely Terrorists - humanrights.ucdavis.edu

The Stories of the Afghans Just Released from Guantánamo: Intelligence Failures, Battlefield Myths and Unaccountable Prisons in Afghanistan (Part One)
Andy Worthington {{DEFAULTSORT:Barakzai, Jon Mohammad Year of birth missing (living people) Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Living people