Ahmad`s Story

Ahmad Abdulahad was one of several Uighurs unlawfully detained in Guantanamo bay in 2002. He is a transtibial amputee whose leg was amputated shortly after arriving at the Guantanamo camp. He was one of three Uighurs released to the tiny island of Palau in the pacific. With the prosthetic limb he had, he was barely able to stand for fifteen minutes. GJC were able to assist in replacing his prosthetic with the best that is available. 

 

Ahmad and his Uighur brothers fled their homeland in far-western China to escape persecution for their religious and political beliefs. They were unable to remain safely in bordering Central Asian nations (like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) which are notorious for forcibly returning Uighur expatriates to China. During the pre-war period, Uighur refugees from China often fled to Afghanistan, which offered a temporary refuge from the invariable risk of extradition they faced in other Central Asian states. 

In October 2001, they were living peacefully in Afghanistan, in particular, in Jalalabad and Kabul.  After the September 11 attacks, the United States began military operations in Afghanistan.  At this time, the U.S. military began distributing bounty leaflets throughout the border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan promising "wealth and power beyond your dreams" for the handover of "Taliban" and "murderers." 

In exchange for these financial rewards, local tribesmen and villagers were turning over anyone they could find.  Hundreds of men, including the Uighurs, were swept up in a conflict in which they took no part. The Uighur men like so many other foreign nationals, were sold to the U.S. military by Afghan and Pakistani bounty hunters for approximately $5,000 each.  They were subsequently transported to Guantanamo and detained,imprionsoned and tortured as "enemy combatants."  

After years of litigation, these Uighurs were granted the right to challenge their detention in a U.S. federal court.  The U.S. government has never charged them with a crime. The U.S. government has never made a single allegation that they were engaged in a terrorist act. In 2008, when forced by a federal judge to justify the basis of their detention, the government conceded it had none and abandoned its case against the Uighurs. Although the U.S government dropped the claim that they are "enemy combatants," They remained at Guantanamo for another 13 months.  Under domestic and international law, the U.S. government could not return them to China where they would likely be imprisoned, tortured, or even killed. 

 

Ahmad’s US-based legal team write:

As it turns out, our clients had been cleared for release from Guantanamo for years.  The U.S. Department of State was already engaged in diplomatic discussions -- for six years -- to resettle the Uighurs overseas.  The State Department had approached over 100 countries to provide asylum to our clients.  These efforts failed largely because of extensive diplomatic resistance from China to resettlement of the Uighurs abroad.  Our clients remained in Guantanamo for nearly a decade simply because they were refugees with nowhere to go. 

On October 31, 2009, after nearly eight years of unlawful imprisonment at Guantánamo, three of the Uighur prisoners, including Ahmad Abdulahad were released to the Republic of Palau -- a tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean lying 500 miles east of the Philippines.  The island contains 20,000 people.  Until recently, it contained no Uighur population.  The relocation to Palau is intended to be temporary.  Although there is no guarantee they will be permanently resettled elsewhere the search for a home where they can resettle permanently continues.  

Ahmad Abdulahad is a transtibial amputee.  Unfortunately for Ahmad, whose leg was amputated shortly after his arrival in Guantánamo Bay nearly eight years ago, he was never fitted with an appropriate prosthesis nor given the appropriate medical care that would allow someone in his condition to achieve full mobility.  Although he is only 38 years old, Ahmad uses crutches (in Guantanamo, they gave him a walker) to walk independently.  Ahmad regularly experiences significant pain in his residual limb.  With the prosthesis he was provided in Guantanamo, he cannot stand or walk comfortably for more than 15 minutes. 

Ahmad’s legal representatives were trying to raise money to provide Ahmad with high-quality medical care and a state-of-the-art prosthetic device.  They found an orthopedic surgeon -- who shared in a Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines -- and one of the world’s leading prosthetist -- who has worked with over 1,000 transtibial patients, has featured some of his complex patients on an eight-part series on the Discovery Health Channel, and is himself a former Olympic athlete. 

This nationally-renowned medical team has volunteered their time and services to make the very long journey to Palau (27 plus hours) to provide Ahmad the medical care he needs -- all pro bono.  The surgeon will evaluate of the health of Ahmad's residual limb and perform (if necessary) possible corrective surgery and the prosthetist will provide Ahmad with a newly functioning properly-fitted prosthetic leg. 

 

GJC are very pleased to announce that Amnesty International agreed to provide the final amount of the funding required for Ahmad`s prosthetic limb

 

Many thanks for your support with this project!

 

Our projects at GJC are ongoing, and we are always in need of funding to assist people worldwide. Please donate whatever you can no matter how small, as every little helps.

GJC Rebuilding Shattered Lives

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