ACCESS TO FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEE RAHMIDDIN SHARIPOV (ISN

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001398 NOFORN SIPDIS STATE DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN AND S/GC E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2019 TAGS: PHUM PINR PTER KDRG TI SUBJECT: ACCESS TO FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEE RAHMIDDIN SHARIPOV (ISN 076) REF: (A) STATE 86558 (B) 2008 DUSHANBE 591 CLASSIFIED BY: NECIA L. QUAST, Charge' d Affairs, EXEC, DOS. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Per Reftel A request, on December 9, 2009, emboff visited Rahmiddin Sharipov in the Ministry of Justice pre-trial detention facility in Dushanbe where he is now held. The meeting took place in an office of the administration of the detention facility, with two officers of the facility present. ¶2. (C) In response to emboff's questions, Sharipov said he received the same treatment as other prisoners, did not have health problems, and was able to pray and otherwise practice his religion while in prison. He said he did not experience abuse from prison authorities or other prisoners. Sharipov said he was able to communicate with his family by mail. His parents visited him once a year; the infrequency of their visits was due to distance and expense of travel, as they lived in Isfara in northern Tajikistan, he said. Sharipov asked whether he could serve his sentence at a prison closer to his family. In response to emboff's question, he said his parents and other family members experienced no problems with or pressure from authorities in connection with Sharipov's detention at Guantanamo Bay, or his conviction by Tajik authorities for illegal border crossing and for service with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. ¶3. (C) Embassy conveyed reftel request to visit Sharipov to the Government of Tajikistan in August, 2009. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the lengthy delay in visiting Sharipov was because authorities moved him from a regular prison, where he was serving a 17 year sentence, to pre-trial detention after having committed a crime while in prison. The process of obtaining approvals to visit Sharipov in pre-trial detention was lengthy and confusing for all concerned. ¶4. (C) Emboff asked Sharipov what had happened in prison that had caused his return to pre-trial detention. He replied that he had tried to escape from prison, because he "did not agree" with his earlier conviction for illegal border crossing and for having served with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. ¶5. (C) Comment: Sharipov did not bear any visible marks of abuse, appeared to be in good health, and was animated during the meeting. He said his current imprisonment was "illegal" because he had done nothing wrong in the first place, and he wished to be in contact with an American lawyer he had known at Guantanamo named "Matthew O'Hara." He said he was "deceived" into going to Afghanistan, believing it was some sort of military service in Tajikistan, traveled to Tavildara (in central Tajikistan) and from there went by helicopter to Afghanistan in January 2001. He spent some time in Mazar e Sharif, where Abdul Rashid Dostum's forces captured him and "sold" him to American forces. Sharipov declined to say who had helped him move to Afghanistan. As in his meeting last year with emboff (Reftel B),Sharipov asked that his five years of detention at Guantanamo count in his current 17 year sentence in Tajikistan. He did not exhibit fear of his captors in emboff's presence, was open with his complaints, but casually agreed that his actual conditions of confinement were reasonable in the context of Tajikistan and no different from those of other prisoners. He referred to his detention at Guantanamo as "a sanatorium." End Comment. QUAST