DUSHANBE, November 3, 2008, Asia-Plus — An official website of the US Department of Defense (
www.defenselink.mil
) reported on October 31 that two detainees had been transferred out of the US military’s detention facility at Guantanamo Bay US military detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba one to Tajikistan and the other to Kazakhstan.
The detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes, the Pentagon said in a statement, without identifying the two.
“The transfer is a demonstration of the United States” desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary,” the Pentagon said.
The Department of Defense has determined – through its comprehensive review processes – that approximately 60 detainees at Guantanamo are eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these detainees is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.
Since 2002, more than 520 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Algeria, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and Yemen.
In the meantime, the directorate for foreign military cooperation with the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the MFA information department said that they have not yet had information about the Guantanamo inmate transfer.
We will recall that the Supreme Court in Dushanbe on August 17 2007 sentenced two Tajik citizens who spent six years incarcerated at the U.S. military”s detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to 17-year prison sentences. The sentencing of the two 26-year-old men, identified as Muqit Vohidov and Ruhniddin Sharopov, followed their conviction of illegally crossing the border and being members of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Supreme Court Judge Musammir Uroqov told reporters that Vohidov and Sharopov illegally crossed the Tajik border into Afghanistan in early 2001 to join IMU fighters. Both men were detained in Afghanistan in 2002 by U.S. Army Special Forces and were repatriated to Tajikistan from Guantanamo in March 2007.
In a similar case, the Supreme Court in March 2007 sentenced Ibrohim Nasriddinov, also a former Guantanamo inmate, to a 23-year prison term on murder and weapons charges and charges of belonging to both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Nasriddinov pleaded guilty to all charges. He committed a contract murder using a handmade explosive device in Khatlon’s Danghara district in 2000, and in order to escape punishment fled to Afghanistan and joined terrorists. He underwent military training in Afghanistan and Pakistan for several years. In 2006, he was detained in Konduz by U.S. Special Forces and sent to Guantanamo.
