Rights Group: Afghan was taken to Guantanamo aged 12…
KABUL (Reuters) – An Afghan who has spent over six years at the U.S. military‘s Guantanamo Bay prison was only around 12 years old when he was detained, not 16 or 17 as his official record says, an Afghan rights group said on Tuesday.
Interviews with the family of Mohammed Jawad, who like many poor Afghans does not know his exact age or birthday, showed he was probably not even a teenager when he was arrested in 2002, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said.
The U.S. military, however, disputed the commission’s assertion, saying its records stated that Jawad was 18 when he was transferred to the prison at a U.S. Naval base on Cuba.
“Based on a number of factors, to include a bone scan, the government has maintained that Jawad was 18 when he arrived at Guantanamo in 2003,” said Navy Commander J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.
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