ISN# 581 – 21 pages -Detainee: S (Pakistani)

Reasons for Detention:

He was a member of the Taliban, and held a high-ranking position as a military judge, in which position he tortured, maimed, and murdered Afghani nationals.

Detainee’s position:

He says that he has previously also been accused of being Deputy Foreign Minister and of being a prison guard in Kandahar named Bacha. He says he once went to Afghanistan for two days to attend a funeral. He says he is a chicken farmer. He also worked part-time providing religious instruction a local school.

In January 2002, Pakistani authorities came to his house looking for looted artifacts. He had none, and they took him to the police station, where they demanded bribes. He would not pay, so they put him in jail for 36 days, then identified him as a person they were looking for, who had a similar name. His testimony is supported by letters from a brother and a son in Pakistan.

DZ Conclusions:
He seems to have evidence confirming his identity as different from that of the Taliban judge. No evidence that he is that person he is accused of being is cited. His statements of not seeing weapons in many years seem to be an exaggeration, and may possibly have been taken by the tribunal as impeaching his entire testimony. Reading this transcript, however, I find no real evidence against him, and am obliged to suppose that he is not the person he is accused of being. I would release him.