Jawed Ahmad (Jojo) was an Afghan reporter working for Canadian media outlet
CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
who was arrested by American troops and declared an
enemy combatant, while working with
NATO at
Kandahar Airport on October 26, 2007.
[
Ahmad was then held in military custody at the detention facility at the United States Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan for 11 months without access to a lawyer. As a result of advocacy by his friends and family, and a habeas corpus petitio]
filed by the International Justice Network
The International Justice Network (IJNetwork) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protection of human rights and the rule of law throughout the world. They provide direct legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses through a global net ...
, Jojo was released on September 21, 2008 after almost a year of being held in U.S. custody.
Early life
Jawed started working as a tailor's apprentice at twelve years old.[
]
Jawed earned 75 cents a day. He used the money he earned to pay for schooling.
His education, and language skills, allowed him to start working as a translator for United States forces shortly after the overthrow of the Taliban.
Jawed was later to work for independent security firms.[
In 2006 Jawad started working as a translator and "fixer" for Canadian journalists.][
]
Capture
Jawed was captured on October 26, 2007.[
]
Jawed reported on his release that he was captured after receiving a request to come to Kandahar Air Field to complete a survey on opinion survey of Afghan journalists from a GI who represented himself as a Public Affairs Officer.[
American officials claimed the 22-year-old native of Kandahar was carrying phone numbers and videos of Taliban officials.][
]
He appeared before a military review, which determined there was "credible information" and is held at Bagram Airbase
Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of above sea leve ...
.[
]
His brother, Siddique, has been in contact with him during his detention, due to the efforts of the International Red Cross.[
]
According to his brother, he has been beaten since being detained.[
]
Captives in the Bagram Theater Detention Facility do not have Combatant Status Review Tribunals convened to confirm their combatant status. According to Eliza Griswold in '' The New Republic'' their status is determined by the base commander, who may convene a more secret, less formal, less thorough procedure called an "Enemy Combatant Review Board
An enemy or a foe is an individual or a group that is considered as forcefully adverse or threatening. The concept of an enemy has been observed to be "basic for both individuals and communities". The term "enemy" serves the social function of d ...
".[
]
According to Grizwold:
The '' Washington Post'' reported on June 29, 2008 on comments Tina Monshipour Foster
Tina Monshipour Foster in 2008
Tina Monshipour Foster is an Iranian-American lawyer and director of the International Justice Network.
Legal career
Prior to working in the field of human rights, Foster worked at Clifford Chance LLP in Ne ...
made about Jawed Ahmad's detention in Bagram.[
]
Release
Jawad Ahmad was released, without explanation, on September 22, 2008.The Road to Guantanamo
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'' and said he was subjected to the same kind of treatment as the captives whose homicides in US custody were described in the film.[
He described being hooded, bound, slammed into walls and beaten. One of the beatings broke two of his ribs.
Jawad said he was subjected to ]sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either chronic or acute and may vary ...
. In an interview with the BBC he states "When I landed first of all they stood me in snow for six hours, it was too cold - I had no socks, no shoes, nothing. I became unconscious two times.".
Jawad said his interrogators insisted he was a spy for the Taliban, Iran and Pakistan,[
that his family had all been captured and had already confessed, and that he was being held because his Canadian employers had insisted on it.
After his release, Jawad told journalists that he was told he was going to be sent to Guantanamo.][
]
Jawad reported that Koran desecration remained routine at Bagram.
Death
On March 10, 2009, Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
(RWB) issued a statement
See also
* Bagram torture and prisoner abuse
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Jawed
Journalists held in extrajudicial detention in the War on Terror
Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees
Afghan journalists
Kandahar detention facility detainees
Bagram captives' habeas corpus petitions
2009 deaths
1986 births
20th-century journalists