Posted on 06/22/2016 3:57:19 AM PDT by Freelance Warrior
A professional-level Russian ballet dancer held at Guantanamo for nearly 14 years asked for a transfer from the prison.
The United States says Ravil Kamilevich Mingazov joined forces with extremist groups after 11 years in the Russian military as a logistics warrant officer. After two years with Russia's military ballet troupe, Mingazov spent his years of service doing passport control along the Mongolian border and managing food and cooking operations for a base of 1,500.
The U.S. says Mingazov left his military service over the government's treatment of Muslims, sparking his quest to join the al-Qaida affiliated Islamic movement of Uzbekistan.
The detainee's representative [Mr. Thompson] told the board that Mingazov was "increasingly bothered" that the military prevented him from performing the five mandatory Islamic prayers every day and denied him a halal diet. Mingazov's "peaceful" efforts to resolve such issues set off a chain of events that propelled his move from Russia to Tajikistan, a Muslim country, his representative told the board.
The U.S. has a different version of events, claiming Mingazov trained in Tajikistan with the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan before traveling to Afghanistan to join forces with extremist groups there. The U.S. says Mingazov was captured at an al-Qaida safe house, but that it has no information about him from other detainees concerning his pre-detention life.
The United States notes that Mingazov does not want to return to Russia. "RS-702 maintains a strong disdain for the Russian hovernment and does not want to be repatriated, claiming his treatment in Guantanamo is better than the treatment he received in Russia".
Thompson indicated that the United Kingdom, where Mingazov's son and other family members live, "would provide the highest levels of security assurances" if the detainees is cleared for transfer.
(Excerpt) Read more at courthousenews.com ...
Sorry for the language, it’s from the source article, though the news service claims they’re American.
Man, the world’s smallest violin is playing somewhere but I just can’t hear it.
OK, you can release the ballet dancer. But keep the mime ...
The inmates will miss the tutus and the prancing about the compound.
Just return him to Russia. I’m sure Putin will be glad to handle it for us.
I didn’t bother to read the article, but I assume this is about Rahm Emmauel ...
I have the perfect solution. House him in the cell with with Bradley Manning.
Yes, send him back to Mother Russia where he belongs. They will reeducate him much quicker than any United States university campus can.
At first glance I thought this was about Raul Emanuel.
Release him back to Russia on humanitarian grounds.
Russia has a military ballet troupe? Who knew.
While the Russian MoD really has a number of performing companies doing folk dancing/singing, a chorus and a symphonical orchestra.
I was imagining a super spy type group where the members make incredible leaps and other physical feats to root out terrorists. There goes that movie plot.
Let em all go, I mean it’s a religion of peace and all...BA BOOM!
Let em all go, I mean it’s a religion of peace and all...BA BOOM!
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