Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp numbered fifteen, according to a 2011 study by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas at the University of California Davis.[1] The U.S. State Department had publicly acknowledged twelve.[2] The US Department of Defense defined minors at Guantanamo as those below the age of 16, whereas they are defined as below the age of 18 in international law. Three juveniles aged below 16 were held in Camp Iguana, but others between 16 and 18 were put into the general population and treated as adults. These included Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15 when captured and one of the youngest detainees, 16 when transported to Guantanamo.
May 2008 report to the United Nations
editOn May 15, 2008 the American Civil Liberties Union published a report that the George W. Bush administration had submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.[3] The report stated that the USA had apprehended 2500 juveniles, 2400 of them in Iraq. It said that a total of ten juveniles had been held in the Bagram Theater Detention Facility in Afghanistan and that eight juveniles had been held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.[4][5][6][7]
List of known juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps
editDepartment of Defense documents acknowledge that at least fifteen children were at one time imprisoned at Guantanamo:[2]
| Name | ISN | Date of birth | Transferred to Guantanamo | Age in years at transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Ismail | 930 | -- -- 88 | 07 Feb 02 | 13 - 14 |
| Assad Ullah | 912 | -- -- 88 | -- Dec 02 | 13 - 14 |
| Naqib Ullah | 913 | -- -- 88 | -- Jan 03 | 14 - 15 |
| Mohammed el Gharani | 269 | -- -- 86 | 09 Feb 02 | 15 - 16 |
| Mohammed Omar | 540 | -- -- 86 | 11 Jun 02 | 15 - 16 |
| Shams Ullah | 783 | -- -- 86 | 27 Oct 02 | 15 - 16 |
| Omar Ahmed Khadr | 766 | 19 Sep 86 | 27 Oct 02 | 16 |
| Yussef Mohammed Mubarak al Shihri | 114 | 08 Sep 85 | 16 Jan 02 | 16 |
| Abdul Samad | 911 | -- -- 86 | 06 Feb 03 | 16 - 17 |
| Abdul Qudus | 929 | -- -- 86 | 07 Feb 03 | 16 - 17 |
| Ibrahim Umar al Umar | 585 | -- -- 85 | 15 Jun 02 | 16 - 17 |
| Abdul Salam Ghetan (al Shehri) | 132 | 14 Dec 84 | 20 Jan 02 | 17 |
| Yasser Talal Al Zahrani | 093 | 22 Sep 84 | 20 Jan 02 | 17 |
| Khalil Rahman Hafez (Hafez K. Rahman) | 301 | 20 Feb 84 | 07 Feb 02 | 17 |
| 'Abd al Razaq (Abdullah Razzaq) | 067 | 18 Jan 84 | 17 Jan 02 | 17 |
In addition, the UC Davis report lists six detainees who might have been 17 at the time of transfer to Guantanamo:[2]
| Name | ISN | Date of birth | Transferred to Guantanamo | Age in years at transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohamed Jawad | 900 | -- -- 85 | 06 Feb 03 | 17 - 18 |
| Qari Esmhatulla | 591 | -- -- 84 | 10 Jun 02 | 17 - 18 |
| Sajin Urayman | 545 | -- -- 84 | 13 Jun 02 | 17 - 18 |
| Faris Muslim al Ansari | 253 | -- -- 84 | 17 Jun 02 | 17 - 18 |
| Peta Muhammed | 908 | -- -- 84 | 05 Aug 02 | 17 - 18 |
| Mahbub Rahman | 1052 | -- -- 85 | 21 Nov 03 | 17 - 18 |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ "More youth at Guantánamo than U.S. claimed". UC Davis News Service. June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Guantanamo's Children: The Wikileaked Testimonies". UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas. Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ Walter Pincus (May 15, 2008). "U.S. Has Detained 2,500 Juveniles as Enemy Combatants". Washington Post. p. A11. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Frank Jordans (May 22, 2008). "US to review Gitmo juvenile numbers". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "U.S. criticized for handling of child detainees in Iraq". CNN. May 21, 2008. Archived from the original on August 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Lisa Schlein (May 21, 2008). "US Defends Policy Of Detention For Juveniles in Iraq, Afghanistan". Voice of America. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ Frank Jordans (May 21, 2008). "Group criticizes US military for child detentions". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.