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Journalism of Courage
The family of one of the youngest prisoners ever held at Guantanamo plans to sue the US government to compensate him for mistreatment and an adolescence lost to nearly seven years in a cell,his lawyers said on Thursday.
Mohammed Jawad returned to Afghanistan this week after a military judge ruled that he was coerced into confessing that he threw a grenade at an unmarked vehicle in the capital in 2002.
Afghan police delivered Jawad into US custody and about a month later he was sent to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay. Jawad and his family say he was 12 when arrested,and that he is now 19. The Pentagon has said a bone scan showed he was 17 when taken into custody. His defence lawyers decline to give an exact age for Jawad,but say photos taken in Guantanamo showed that he had not gone through puberty.
I was an innocent child when they put me in prison, Jawad said.
Lawyers and family members say he was submitted to various types of torture while imprisoned,including sleep deprivation and beatings.
The family plans to sue for compensation in US courts,said Maj Eric Montalvo,one of the military lawyers who was defending Jawad. Montalvo said he will aid in the process but will not necessarily file the suit.
I will not allow him not to be assisted, Montalvo said,explaining that Jawad needs intensive psychological counseling and tutoring to make up for his lack of schooling. Jawad said he wants to become a doctor because he was impressed by the way doctors at Guantanamo helped people.
Justice Department officials have said the criminal investigation of Jawad is still open but his transfer back to Afghanistan makes prosecution unlikely. The judge who ordered him released said the governments case was full of holes.
Jawad flew on Monday to the main US base outside Kabul and then by helicopter to the Afghan Defence Ministry. President Hamid Karzai welcomed Jawad home in a private meeting at his palace. Jawad said Karzai expressed joy that he had been released.
In a statement,the Afghan President also said he hoped that improvements to the justice system would soon mean the Afghan government can prosecute its own citizens accused of attacking US forces.
All cases of accused Afghans should be investigated by Afghans,inside the framework of Afghan rules and laws, he said.
Relatives say they did not learn that Jawad had been arrested until nine months after he disappeared when he was sent by an uncle to fetch tea in 2002. Nine months later,the family received a letter from him through the Red Cross saying he was in Guantanamo.
