DHAKA, 2 March 2007 — A man who spent five years at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay was released on bail yesterday after serving two months’ jail in Bangladesh, his lawyer said.
Mubarak Hussain Bin Abul Hashem, 32, was held for questioning over alleged “anti-state activities” in December, after being flown back from the US base in Cuba.
He was also charged with failing to produce a passport when he was repatriated to Bangladesh on a special US plane.
“He was released last night from Dhaka central jail after serving out his detention,” Mubarak’s lawyer Mohammad Jashimuddin said.
“His relatives later took him to his village home,” he added.
Police said earlier that Mubarak broke the law by overstaying in Pakistan on a tourist visa in 1998.
He was arrested in Pakistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and flown to Guantanamo — but was released after investigators there found no evidence he had links to militants.
Another Bangladeshi man is still being held at the controversial US prison camp, where the right to appear in court and other civil rights have been sharply curtailed.
Human rights groups and media reports have documented several cases of mistaken detention and abuse at the camp, where inmates are treated as prisoners of war under special US rules related to its “war on terror.”
Mubarak’s father, a Muslim cleric, has denied that his son was involved in any militant activities and accused the US authorities of destroying his life.
Human rights groups also rejected the new charge as a pretext to keep him in custody.
“This is a violation of his rights,” said Sultana Kamal, of the Bangladesh human rights group Ain-o-Salishi Kendro (Law and Justice Center). “It is not clear how this can have happened, but the case appears to be baseless,” added Elina Khan, of the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights.
Three Ambassadors to Be Dismissed
Bangladeshi ambassadors to Libya, Turkey and France will be recalled soon as the caretaker government has canceled the contracts of the three, two of them retired army generals.
Ambassador to Libya retired Maj. Gen. Jamil Uddin Ahsan, Ambassador to Turkey retired Maj. Gen. Rezzakul Haider and Ambassador to France Mahmud Hasan were on contract, which the caretaker government has decided not to renew.
The order of scrapping the contracts will take effect on April 1, said a government announcement issued yesterday.
