Murat Kurnaz

Murat Kurnaz
Kurnaz in 2011
Born (1982-03-19) 19 March 1982 (age 42)[1]
Bremen, West Germany
Detained at Kandahar Internment Facility, Guantanamo
ISN61
StatusTransferred to Germany

Murat Kurnaz (born 19 March 1982) is a Turkish citizen and legal resident of Germany who was held in extrajudicial detention[2] by the United States at its military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan and in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba beginning in December 2001. He was tortured in both places.[3][4] By early 2002, intelligence officials of the United States and Germany had concluded that accusations against Kurnaz were groundless.[5]

According to the BBC, Germany refused to accept him at that time, although the US offered to release him.[6] Kurnaz was detained and abused at Guantanamo for nearly five more years.[7][8] He published a memoir of his experience, Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo in German in 2007; translations to other European languages and English followed. In 2008 he testified in US Congressional hearings about treatment of detainees at the camp.[9] He and his family live in Germany.

  1. ^ https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82806-isn-61-murat-kurnaz-jtf-gtmo-detainee-assessment/12f5dbb790bebed8/full.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  2. ^ "AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: Disappeared: Five Years in Guantanamo". Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  3. ^ Murat Kurnaz (7 January 2012). "Notes from a Guantánamo Survivor". New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Christian Science Monitor: Guantánamo ex-detainee tells Congress of abuse". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  5. ^ Anton Dankert (26 September 2002). "Interrogation team has just reported in by telephone from the base in Washington" (PDF). The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 January 2008. Delegation head MA Räuker asks that - because of numerous noteworthy details - he be able to personally present Pt on September 30, 2002 upon his return.
  6. ^ Stephen Mulvey, "CIA flights controversy here to stay", BBC News, 16 February 2007; accessed 13 October 2017
  7. ^ "Turk Was Abused at Guantanamo, Lawyers Say", Washington Post, 25 August 2006
  8. ^ "Meeting Murat Kurnaz: A Visit with a Man Wrongly Detained at Guantanamo", Der Spiegel
  9. ^ "Guantanamo ex-detainee tells Congress of abuse", Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2008, accessed 24 January 2013