Taliban lawyer calls for compo over Guantanamo detention

A lawyer for one of the men released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl has told SBS he is calling for his client to be compensated for his 12 year detention.

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Guantanamo Bay (File: AAP)

A lawyer for one of the so-called Taliban Five released from Guantanamo Bay wants his client to be compensated for his detention at the facility.

Khairullah Khairkhwa is said to be the most senior of the men exchanged for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl. He is described in US government documents, that were released by WikiLeaks, as being of high risk and high intelligence value.

But lawyer Frank Goldsmith says Mr Khairkhwa was a Taliban political figure, and hadn't been charged with any offences by US authorities in the 12 years he was detained in Guantanamo Bay.

SBS reporter Kristina Kukolja speaks with Frank Goldsmith.



"Providing some form of compensation and some form of assistance in re-adjusting to the civilian life in their country would be an appropriate thing to do," he said.

"It's the least we can do for men that we detained, I believe, unjustly in most cases for as long as we have detained them."

"In 12 years, nearly 12 and a half years of captivity, at Guantanamo he was never charged with a single crime and certainly never convicted of anything. Really, he was never accused of having the blood of Americans on his hands."

Mr Goldsmith says the US Department of Defence first proposed the transfer of his client to Qatar in 2011 as a gesture of goodwill to restart peace talks with the Taliban.

He believes there was no legal justification for his client's detention, and his client should be compensated.

Both US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry have publicly defended the decision to swap five Guantanamo detainees for Bergdahl.

Bergdahl was captured in June, 2009 after he disappeared from his infantry unit and was held for nearly five years.

 

Read: Why I helped free the Taliban from Guauntanamo Bay, by Frank Goldsmith for Time.


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Source: SBS Radio

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