ACCESS TO FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEE MUQUIT VOHIDOV (ISN

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001132 C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - //Secstate added as action// ZUI HSD SIPDIS STATE DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN AND S/GC E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/8/2019 TAGS: PHUM PINR PTER KDRG TI SUBJECT: ACCESS TO FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEE MUQUIT VOHIDOV (ISN 090) CLASSIFIED BY: AMBASSADOR KEN GROSS, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Per Ref A request, on October 8, 2009, emboff visited Muquit Vohidov (AKA Sobit Vahidov) in High Security Penitentiary Number 1 in Dushanbe. The meeting took place in the Prison Commander's office, with Prison Commander Colonel Tabarali Inomov and two other prison officers present. ¶2. (C) Emboff asked Vohidov whether his treatment in prison differed from that of other prisoners, whether he had adequate food, access to medical care, contact with his family, and in general whether his conditions of confinement were fair in comparison with other prisoners. ¶3. (C) A visit to the other prisoner requested in Ref A, Rahmiddin Sharipov, was not possible on this occasion. Prison officials told Emboff that Sharipov had committed a crime in prison and had been transferred to an investigative holding facility. They said the embassy would have to make a separate request to the Prosecutor's office to gain access to him. Emboff contact the MFA later in the day, and the MFA North America desk said it was working on making this second visit happen. ¶4. (C) As with last year's access request, this one took about six weeks from initial request to actual visit. At one point the Ministry of Justice simply denied the request forwarded by the MFA. MFA contacts said this was the result of personnel changes at the Justice Ministry - new MOJ staff unfamiliar with the access agreement between the United States and Tajikistan simply refused an unfamiliar request. Later, the process was delayed by a week because of the absence from work of an MOJ official who was, apparently, the only one who could authorize the visit. Such delays are common in Tajikistan's bureaucracy. ¶5. (C) Comment: Vohidov was sullen, spent much of the interview looking at the floor, and resisted answering questions. His behavior matched that described in Ref A in last year's meeting. He several times responded to emboff by saying he had already answered these questions at the last visit by an embassy officer (Ref B),and would not answer them again. When pressed by emboff, he briefly said he had no serious complaints, was allowed to practice his religion, could see his family "if they visited," and his health was good. The prison officers present urged Vohidov to be more forthcoming, and they said he enjoyed the same privileges as other prisoners, including food brought in by his family and periodic communication with family. ¶6. (C) Vohidov appeared to Emboff to be in good physical health, and showed no physical signs of mistreatment. While obviously hostile to emboff and sometimes despondent in manner, he walked upright and with assurance into the interview, saluted the officers present, and wore a clean prison uniform. When told the interview was over, he saluted the prison officers again and walked out with a noticeable air of defiance. End Comment GROSS