Saturday, July 11, 2009
Umar Abdulayev
For Umar Abdulayev the only thing worse than spending seven years at Guantánamo Bay is going home to Tajikistan, which is why the detainee prefers to stay behind bars. The Bush and Obama administrations accused Abdulayev of having connections with al Qaeda, the Taliban and terrorist groups in Tajikistan, but then the Justice Department recently decided, after reviewing his case, to drop their opposition to his release. Fearing retribution back home, Abdulayev refuses to be shipped back to Tajikistan, which he fled when he was 13.
While being held at Guantánamo Abdulayev claims he was visited by Tajik intelligence agents who said they could arrange for his release if he agreed to spy on Muslim radicals in the former Soviet Republic. He said he balked at the deal, and the agents then threatened to retaliate if Abdulayev sets foot again on Tajik soil.
At one time Guantánamo held 12 Tajiks, including two other detainees Abdulayev says were approached by intelligence agents and who wound up serving 17-year prison sentences after they were sent home to Tajikistan. He is now the last Tajik remaining at the U.S. prison facility.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Guantánamo Captive: I Don't Want to Go Home (by Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald)
Omar Hamzayavich Abdulayev (New York Times)
Umar Abdulayev: Tajik Guantanamo Detainee in Need of Protection (Center for Constitutional Rights) (PDF)
Comments