Tom Johnson is a Portland lawyer, working for the firm, Perkins Coie.Distant Justice: How a Portland lawyer is trying to help one Guantánamo detainee return to his life as a fruit trader
, ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Willame ...

'', August 9, 2006 Johnson volunteered to serve as a lawyer to a Guantanamo detainee, a 33-year-old citizen of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

named

Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev or Elham Battayav (born 7 November 1973) was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 84. He was born in Abaye, Kazakhst ...

. Batayev describes being kidnapped by fundamentalist Muslims allied to the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

during a trip to

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

to sell fruit, who then traded him to the Taliban, who used him as a kitchen slave. Summarized transcripts (.pdf) from

's''

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were esta ...

'' - pages 47 Following the American bombing, everyone fled the Taliban camp where he was held. Batayev described fleeing and subsequently being captured by fundamentalist Muslims allied to the US in return for a bounty.

References

Biography at Perkins Coie
Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Oregon lawyers Guantanamo Bay attorneys People associated with Perkins Coie University of Michigan alumni University of North Carolina School of Law alumni {{US-law-bio-stub