Sahibzada Usman Ali

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Sahibzada Usman Ali is a citizen of Pakistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Shabidzada Usman Ali, and two other Pakistanis, were released on May 8, 2003.^[1]

He is notable because he was one of first Guantanamo captives to be released.

Only one other Pakistan detainee, elderly Mohammed Saghir, had been released prior to his release. ^[2][3] The two other Pakistanis released at the same time were Jehan Wali and Shah Muhammad. Shah Muhammad reported that he was housed in the camp's punishment cells merely because the camp was overcrowded.^[4][5] He reported that the isolation drove him to suicidal despair, and that he made four suicide attempts while in Guantanamo. Reporters who interviewed him a year later heard that he was still deeply affected by his stay.

[edit] Identity

The Department of Defense was forced, by a court order, to release a list of the identities of all the Guantanamo captives, by 6pm on March 3, 2006. The DoD finally complied on May 15, 2006, and released a list of 759 names.^[6] Sahibzada Usman Ali's name was not on that list. However, the list did contain a captive named Shabidzada Usman. The Department of Defense reports that Shabidzada Usman was born on March 5, 1982, in Malal, Pakistan.

[edit] References

1. ^ US releases three Pakistanis jailed in Guantanamo, Daily Times, May 14, 2003
2. ^ Afghans Describe Life Inside Gitmo CBS News, October 29, 2002
3. ^ The oldest of the old: First 'hardcore' suspects freed from Camp Delta. three Afghans, combined age 196, The Mirror, October 30, 2002
4. ^ Inmates Released from Guantanamo Tell Tales of Despair, New York Times, June 17, 2003
5. ^ People the law forgot, The Guardian, December 3, 2003
6. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006