Ireland takes in former Guantanamo prisoners from Uzbekistan

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IRELAND — On July 29, after a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney, Ireland's Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern announced that two Uzbekistan citizens who were imprisoned at Guantanamo will be transferred to Ireland. According to Ahern, they risk being subjected to persecution and torture again if they return to their country.

Several months ago, Amnesty International Ireland organised a campaign to transfer several Guantanamo prisoners to Ireland. One of them is Oybek Djabbarov, who was captured in northern Afghanistan in 2001. He had lived in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, with his family since 1999 and was a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The Uzbekistan government considers the IMU a terrorist organisation.

A native of the Namangan region, 30-year-old Djabbarov was freed by U.S. authorities in 2008 but did not want to return to Uzbekistan, fearing for his life and health and the safety of his wife and two children. Because no country in the world would accept him at that time, he remained at Guantanamo. According to 2006 Pentagon information, there were six Uzbekistan citizens held at Guantanamo.

The majority of Guantanamo prisoners will be transferred to other countries of the world. Several, including Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Albania, Latvia and Estonia, have already agreed to take in prisoners who are not their nationals.

Uighurs from China are among former prisoners sent to places other than their native countries. Four are now in Bermuda, and another 17, in accordance with a court decision that declared they must remain on U.S. territory, are temporarily located in the Republic of Palau.

[Ferghana.ru, CentrAsia.ru, Vesti.kz, AKIpress.org, Justice.ie, Amnesty.org]