Cases: Mohammed 'Yusuf' El Gharani (Guantánamo Bay)
Sent to Guantánamo at fourteen years of age
Mohammed El Gharani was just 14 years old when he was seized by the Pakistani authorities and sold to the US military for a bounty.
As a Chad national living in Saudi Arabia, his opportunities for education and advancement were extremely limited, so Mohammed left his home for Pakistan, hoping to learn English and train to work with computers.
There is no evidence that Mohammed ever travelled to Afghanistan, nor that he intended to do so. Nevertheless, he is now one of 20 juveniles that Reprieve has identified as being held in Guantánamo Bay.
Mohammed states that he has been terribly abused there – including having a cigarette stubbed out on his arm by an interrogator and being constantly abused by guards. He states that much of the abuse stems from his vocal objection to being called a ‘nigger’ by US military personnel.
The US authorities have explicitly misled the public about whether children are being held in Guantánamo Bay. On BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on 29 January 2004, Jon Manel interviewed Lieutenant Commander Barbara Burfeind at the Department of Defense in Washington:
BURFEIND: We don't plan on, er, detaining, em, juveniles at Guantánamo further. Er, I can't say in terms of the future of anywhere else.
JON MANEL: Why not at Guantánamo anymore?
BURFEIND: Em, they just, I've just been told that they are not planning on having juveniles at Guantánamo.
This was false. There are at least nine juveniles in Guantánamo Bay and five others have been released.
Mohammed is represented by Reprieve's Legal Director, Clive Stafford Smith, and by Reprieve’s Senior Counsel, Zachary Katznelson.
Letters to Mohammed should be sent to:
Mohammed El Gharani
ISN 269
Camp Delta
US Naval Base Guantánamo Bay
Washington, DC 20355
USA
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