The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

acknowledges holding four Kazakh detainees in Guantanamo. A total of 778 detainees have been held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

in the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

since the camps opened on January 11, 2002. The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. Only nineteen new detainees, all "high value detainees" have been transferred there since the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

's ruling in

Rasul v. Bush ''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corpus ...

. As of January 2008, the camp population stand at approximately 285.

Release negotiations

Kazakhstan's First Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abuseitov confirmed, on January 16, 2003, that Kazakh security officials had interviewed two Kazakhstan citizens in Guantanamo. He described the two detainees as "young", and stated that Kazakhstan had appealed to the USA for their release. In November 2003, the

Central Asia Caucasus Institute Analyst Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

reported that Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev Kazakhstan had been negotiated with the USA for the release of its citizens. The Minister stated:

Kazakh detainees in Guantanamo

Ambassador Ordway's 22 May 2007 press briefing

American ambassador John M. Ordway addressed the Kazakhstani detainees in Guantanamo during a May 22, 2007, press briefing at the

Kazakhstani Press Club The demographics of Kazakhstan enumerate the demographic features of the population of Kazakhstan, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects ...

. Ordway confirmed that one detainee the USA considered a citizen of Kazakhstan remained in Guantanamo. He stated that it was against US policy to compensate former detainees. He asserted detainees were not detained any longer than necessary for US national security.

October 2008 repatriation

On October 31, 2008, the Department of Defense announced two detainees were repatriated to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The DoD withheld the two men's names.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazakhstani Detainees In Guantanamo * Lists of Guantanamo Bay detainees by nationality Kazakhstan–United States relations