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Pak Court issues notices to US on ex-Guantanamo prisoner`s appeal

IRNA

Islamabad, Nov 4, IRNA -- A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued notices 
to US authorities on appeal from former Pakistani prisoner in 
Guantanamo Bay, Mohammed Sagheer, in which he has called for 
dlrs 10.4 million in compensation, his lawyer said. 
Sagheer was freed from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last November -- the 
first Pakistani released from the prison currently holding about 600 
inmates. 
His legal notice, was sent by Pakistani lawyer Mohammed Ikram 
Chaudhry through Civil Judge Mohammad Arshad Ali, to the US assistant 
secretary of state, US defense secretary, US secretary law and 
Pakistan`s secretary interior. 
They had been asked to respond through their representatives on 
December 18. 
"I had no option but to sue the American government as my illegal 
detention has caused sufferings for my family, and I have lost 
everything and my business is destroyed," Sagheer told a news 
conference in the presence of his lawyer. 
Lawyer Chaudhry told reporters that he will also file the case in 
Washington as the circumstances arrive. "I will pursue the case till 
the last." 
He said he has also discussed the issue with human rights groups. 
Sagheer told reporters that he was kept in a small cell in 
solitary confinement and being caged and was served alcohol-laced 
drinks, forbidden by his religion, Islam. 
According to Sagheer, he was arrested by Dostam militia men in 
Kunduz in November 2001 and was then shifted to Shibergan prison in a 
container. Later his American captors flew him to Kandahar airport and
then to Guantanamo in Cuba. 
He said US officials in Guantanamo promised to pay him equal to 
the salary of American soldiers, but when he was brought to Pakistan 
he received only dlrs 100. 
He also said he was also promised by Pakistani officials a payment
of dlrs 2,000 but he has not received more than dlrs 100. 
Sagheer said he was taken to Guantanamo Bay in shackles and held 
there for about 10 months during which he was initially in solitary 
confinement and not allowed to pray, until a hunger strike by inmates 
led to a relaxation of the rules. 
He said he faced relentless questioning, almost entirely about 
Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network. 
The notice said that for 10 months while in American custody at 
Guantanamo, Sagheer suffered mental shock, financial loss, physical 
victimization, estrangement and religious victimization. 
/TSH/AH/210 
End