United States The government of Afghanistan Its nationals intending to leave are advised not to travel to the country, which has been under Taliban rule since August 2021, due to the risk of torture, detention or kidnapping.
Some Americans acted once morest that advice, and last week the US State Department confirmed that two people traveling to Afghanistan and one US citizen already there The Taliban has apparently been arrested on false charges.
A US State Department spokesman identified them as Ryan Corbett, George Gleizman and Mahmoud Habibi.
However, the Taliban have admitted to detaining only two men, Ryan Corbett and George Glazeman.
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The Taliban said in a statement on Sunday: “The two American citizens violated the country’s law and have discussed this with the US authorities.”
A Taliban spokesman suggested that they were holding him in prison Guantanamo Bay They should be exchanged with Afghans in American custody.
Zabihullah Mujahid said earlier this month: ‘Our prisoners are also in America and also in Guantanamo. We should release our prisoners in exchange for them.’
This military prison near Cuba, notorious for its humiliating and alleged abuse of prisoners, was established by the George W. Bush administration following 9/11 and once housed more than 200 Afghans. Most of whom have not been charged and have no legal recourse to challenge their detention. Voice of America reported at the beginning of this year that there is only one Afghan prisoner left.
What do we know regarding the three Americans in Taliban custody?
Ryan Corbett
New York-based Ryan Corbitt launched a company called Bloom Afghanistan in 2017, with the aim of boosting the country’s private sector through business advisory services, microfinance loans and evaluation of international development projects. was They wanted to help Afghans start their own businesses.
But when the Taliban drove out Western forces and captured Kabul, he fled the country with his pregnant wife and children.
He apparently returned to Afghanistan to train ‘Bloom Afghanistan’ staff but was detained in August 2022 despite having a visa. The State Department said last year that he had been wrongfully detained.
Ryan Corbett’s lawyer, Ryan Feehy, told The Independent that the Taliban had given no reason for his detention but had allowed him to make eight ‘frustrating and difficult’ calls to his wife over the past 22 months.
The lawyer said: ‘Along with severe torture, they are deprived of food, nutrients, sunlight and contact with any human being. We have been told that he suffered several fainting spells and has lost a lot of weight while in Taliban custody.’
The lawyer claimed that his client, Ryan Corbitt, is being held in a small cell in the basement.
The Taliban have not even granted consular access to Ryan Corbett. The Independent previously reported that they do not provide adequate medical care to prisoners they call ‘Western colleagues’ who are injured during torture.
“We call it hostage diplomacy because on the one hand they want to join the international community but on the other they reject the established principle of the consular service, which allows representatives of other countries to take care of prisoners in prison,” said Ryan Fahey. and allow to take care of safety.’
Ryan Corbett’s wife told The Independent it was a race once morest time to repatriate him before it was too late given reports of his deteriorating health. He called on US President Joe Biden to ‘do the hard work needed to free Ryan.’
Lawyer Ryan Feehy said the Taliban were making a mistake in thinking they might get their people out of Guantanamo by ‘targeting an innocent person and family’.
He said: ‘This is a step backwards, not forwards, and the Taliban will gain nothing from this deal.’
The lawyer pointed out that the US government has a considerable advantage over what the Taliban want. He said: ‘The Taliban want legitimacy as an independent authority in Afghanistan, they want to be part of the international community, they want sanctions lifted and they want to be taken seriously. Like Russia and like Iran, the choice is to recognize the rule of law and establish a legal system of criminal justice.
“But the Taliban don’t want to be part of the international community themselves by imprisoning and torturing foreign nationals like Ryan Corbitt in basements without transparency.”
George Glazman
George Gleizman, 65, traveled to Afghanistan in December 2022 to explore the culture and artefacts there. He was on a five-day vacation from his job as an airline mechanic for Delta Airlines in Atlanta.
He has reportedly spent the last 18 months in a small underground cell with other prisoners. He has been in solitary confinement intermittently and his health is deteriorating.
George Glitzman went to Afghanistan in 2022 (James Foley Foundation)
His distress came to light following the US Congress passed a resolution last Tuesday calling for his release, stating that ‘George Gleizman was only allowed to be with his family for a total of 54 minutes during his detention. He was allowed occasional phone calls and had limited in-person meetings with representatives of Qatar, the U.S. protectorate in Afghanistan.
The resolution said the Taliban had detained George Gleizman “without charging him with any crime or allowing him due process in a court of law.”
Their families fear that they may not survive the detention.
The US Secretary of State said last October that George Glazeman had been wrongfully detained.
His wife, Alexander Glazman, has urged the Taliban to release him on humanitarian grounds. He was a tourist visiting Afghanistan as part of his plan to visit 100 countries.
Mahmoud Habibi
Mahmoud Habibi apparently paid the price for the July 31, 2022, US attack that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
The Taliban likely assumed that Mahmoud Habibi’s employer, the US Federal Aviation Administration, was involved in the attack, but did not charge the civil aviation expert with a crime.
Mahmoud Habibi used to work for the US Federal Aviation Administration (James Foley Foundation).
In March, the US Congress passed a resolution calling for his release, publicizing his arrest. Mahmoud Habibi was born in Afghanistan but holds US citizenship.
He was arrested on August 10, 2022, when the Taliban searched his home and confiscated his laptop and documents.
Habibi’s wife, with whom he also has a daughter, has had no contact with him since his imprisonment by the Taliban.
The congressional resolution said he was allegedly in the custody of the General Directorate of Intelligence, but the Taliban denied having him in custody.
His sister Amina Nawaz told PBS: ‘He might have lived anywhere but he preferred to stay there, work for his country and work for the future of Afghanistan.’
US lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to “ask the Taliban to respect Mahmoud Habibi’s human rights and provide him with full, uninterrupted and regular health and safety checks while in custody.”
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2024-07-18 11:56:56
