Tariq Khan (Guantanamo detainee)
Tariq Khan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pakistan |
| Occupation | Real estate broker |
| Known for | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp |
Tariq Khan is a Pakistani national who was subjected to extrajudicial detention at the United States' Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba for a period exceeding one year. He was transferred to Guantanamo on 16 June 2002 and subsequently released back to Pakistan on 16 July 2003.
McClatchy News Service interview
On 15 June 2008, the McClatchy News Service released a series of articles derived from interviews with 66 individuals formerly held at Guantanamo.[1] Among these accounts was that of Tariq Khan, who at the time of the interview was employed as a real estate broker in Pakistan.[2]
Khan recounted that in November 2001 he traveled to Quetta, located near the Afghanistan border, with the intention of purchasing cigarettes. During the month of Ramadam, he joined a group of religious devotees at a mosque, unaware that they intended to cross into Afghanistan. He stated:
Approximately nine days later, his party was apprehended near Mazari Sharif.[2] He described being detained in overcrowded shipping containers by forces under General Dostum, where numerous detainees succumbed to suffocation and gunfire. Khan endured several months confined in a small cell within Dostum's prison located in Sherberghan, where prisoners had to alternate sitting due to severe overcrowding. Following this, he spent six months in American custody at the Kandahar detention facility.
During the course of the interview, Khan’s demeanor became more reserved, and he refrained from discussing topics such as Koran desecration or conditions at Guantanamo, explaining that he feared retaliation from Pakistani security agencies who required him to report daily.[2]