Why is this terrorist still breathing?
Posted on 06/28/2005 1:46:55 PM PDT by lizol
Russian Taliban Suspect Sues United States Created: 28.06.2005 18:10 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:10 MSK, 6 hours 31 minutes ago
Alexandra Zaitseva
Gazeta.ru
A former Guantanamo prisoner who is a Russian national filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government. This Tatarstan resident, Airat Vakhitov, issued a statement Tuesday that is capable of sparking a new wave of anti-American protests in Muslim countries.
In his lawsuit, which is being examined in a U.S. civil court, Vakhitov not only demands that the authorities admit to inhumane treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo camp, but insists that they acknowledge that a majority of the inmates are actually innocent. Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Vakhitov himself described the first lawsuit to be filed by a Russian “Talib” against the United States. Before Vakhitov, only British nationals have sued U.S. officers.
The timing of the lawsuit meanwhile couldn’t have been chosen better. In the United States, there is already an ongoing campaign to shut down the prison camp, while journalists have already uncovered evidence of torture and religious profanation directed at prisoners. Incidentally, Vakhitov also mentioned instances of the Koran being flushed down toilets.
Vakhitov, together with other Russian citizens, were sent to Cuba directly from Afghanistan. His story reminds one of a low-budget Hollywood blockbuster.
“While I was staying in Chechnya with a friend,” he recounted, he was taken hostage by Chechen militants. He expected that they would demand a ransom. Instead, the Chechens reportedly tortured him for several months trying to get a confession out of him that he was sent by Russian special forces. After Vakhitov escaped and returned home, the Moscow apartment bombings rattled the country. As a Muslim who had spent time in a militant camp in Chechnya, Vakhitov was an ideal suspect. This time in a Russian prison, officials demanded a confession that he had collaborated with separatists. He was released just before winter.
Not wanting to risk remaining in Russia, Vakhitov went to stay with relatives in Tajikistan. Then events became even more fantastic. Vakhitov and his friends were taken hostage by militants from the Islamist “Uzbekistan” movement, and took them to Afghanistan. In Kabul, the hostages were accused of collaborating with the FSB. The tortures and interrogations began anew.
That was in the fall of 2001. Afghanistan was attacked by the Americans. The regime in the country was overturned, while the prison where Vakhitov was being held had its flag changed.
Vakhitov and his friends were waiting to be rescued from day to day. But the U.S. military instead acted exactly like their Russian counterparts. After September 11, they needed culprits. And all Muslims became suspects.
Especially valuable were Arabs. According to Vakhitov, they were bought in Afghanistan for $5,000 each and taken to Guantanamo. “They sold everyone. Beggars off the street, the deaf, dumb, and blind. I had a 104-year-old man along with me. And once again, no court investigation,” Vakhitov says. And that was how he ended up in Cuba at the Delta camp.
“In Russia the torture is primitive. They mostly just beat me. They would hang me up, and burn me with cigarettes. At Guantanamo, the torture was more sophisticated than in Russian prisons. Our special forces are way behind in that sense. There was more psychological pressure: you couldn’t be left alone for a minute. We fought to have the toilet covered with a blanket. We went on hunger strikes to protest against officers trampling on the Koran and throwing it in the toilet.”
Gradually, Russians are beginning to use the experience of their Western colleagues. Vakhitov says that after the Americans handed him over to Russian prosecutors, he was blindfolded and kicked, then forced to kneel and told to “pray to Jesus Christ like a Christian.” Vakhitov said that the Americans honestly admitted that because they have a democracy, they could not use all the possible methods to draw out confessions, but that their Russian colleagues would be able to get to work on him.
After several months in a detention center, Vakhitov was found not guilty — once again without any trial — and released. “I’m trying to start a new life. Right now it’s hard. Recently someone called again from the FSB and told me to get out of the country. Soon there will be a big holiday in Tatarstan — Kazan will turn 1,000. They told me I don’t fit in.”
After all his time in confinement, Vakhitov decided to file a lawsuit against the U.S. government. His attorney is Clive Stefford Smith, the head of a British charity organization, Fairness in Exile. “I want them to publicly admit that they confined us unfairly. I want them to admit that we ended up in the camp because of the special forces,” Vakhitov said.
Besides the foreign attorney, several Russian public figures came out in support of Vakhitov.
“Two states, calling themselves democratic, having signed an agreement on mutual cooperation in the fight against terrorism, have decided that there are no rules in this fight,” said Our Choice party leader Irina Khakamada, who came to the press conference.
“The case of Airat and hundreds of others like him only shows that the government today is not interested in fighting terrorism.”
Looks like Pravda never takes a break even when it funnels stories to the Moscow Times.
Poor baby.
I'm thinking of moving my computer to the garden. Airat Vakhitov's story ought to make my roses really take off.
Him and the horse he rode in on.
They're very fond of those in Third World countries and the parts of EUrope that are also Third World countries but don't admit it.
LOVE that wording. Wandered in there as an innocent tourist, no doubt. Probably thought the makeshift madrassa was quaint little inn.
"I'm just an innocent tourist who make a simple mistake and the police are always PICKING on me!" Cut me a break.
Why is this terrorist still breathing?
Because he's suing the United States. Russia already had their Vietnam in Afghanistan and it's probably the hope of more than a few in the Kremlin that we do to. They'll take Vietnam in Iraq if they can't get a Vietnam in Afghanistan. Anyhow, it makes great press to cause the Prols to ignore their own problems and focus on hating the evil US. Putin must be thinking "Just like the good old days!"
Clive Stafford Smith is funded by Soros; Clive is also involved with a group called Reprieve.
Clive Stafford-Smith is a beneficiary of the George Soros Foundation. http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus_areas/justice_fellows/grantees/clive_stafford_smith
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.