Mohammed el Qarani (Number 269)

from Heems – Juveniles at Gitmo Lyrics on Rap Genius

Mohammed el Qarani, is a citizen of Chad and native of Saudi Arabia born in 1986, in Medina.

He was one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp with an estimated age of 15–16 years when he was detained for seven years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps.

His Internment Serial Number 269

Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith identified Al Qarani as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison.

The Independent said Qarani was accused of plotting with Abu Qatada, in London, in 1999 – when he was a 12 year old, living with his parents, in Saudi Arabia.

On January 14, 2009 U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Gharani because the evidence that he was an enemy combatant was mostly limited to statements from two other detainees whose credibility had been called into question by US government staff. Qarani’s attorney Zachary Katznelson said after the ruling “Judge Leon did justice today. This is an innocent kid when he was seized illegally in Pakistan and should never have been in prison in the first place.”

Historian Andy Worthington, reporting on April 25, 2008, in the Lebanon Daily Star, described abuse Al Qaranhi reports experiencing:

sleep deprivation;
Having a cigarette extinguished on his body;
having freezing cold water thrown on him;
being suspended by his arms, with his feet hanging free from the floor, for extended periods of time;
having a soldier hold his penis in his hand, hold a pair of scissors, and threaten to cut it off.

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