Global InformationAirat Vakhitov information
| Airat Vakhitov | |
|---|---|
 Airat Vakhitov | |
| Citizenship | Russian[1] |
| Detained at | Guantanamo |
| Charge(s) | no charge, extrajudicial detention |
| Occupation | imam |
Aiat Nasimovich Vahitov, also spelled Ayrat Wakhitov or Vahidov (Tatar: Айрат Вахитов, romanized: Ayrat Waxitov) is an ethnic Tatar citizen of Russia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba.[2][3] He was repatriated with six other Russians in February 2004. Fluent in Arabic, Pashto, Persian, Urdu and Russian, he also spoke basic English.[4]
Vakhitov spoke publicly on June 28, 2005 about torture in Guantanamo when he announced he was planning to sue the United States for his mistreatment.[citation needed] Geydar Dzhemal, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia, reported that he was hosting Vakhitov, and another former Guantanamo detainee, Rustam Akhmyarov, following threats by security officials.[5] According to Dzhemal the security officials had visited Vakhitov, and warned him that he should only talk about torture in Guantanamo Bay, not Russian torture. Dzhemal reported that security officials subsequently seized Vakhitov and Akhmyarov from his apartment on August 29, 2005. He called their seizure a kidnapping because they refused to show their identification. He predicted that the pair would be arrested on trumped up charges, to curtail their human rights activities.
The pair were released from detention on September 2, 2005.[6]
On May 15, 2006 the Department of Defense released its first full official list of all the Guantanamo detainees who were held in military custody.[7] Airat Vakhitov's name is not on that list. The list includes an individual named Aiat Nasimovich Vahitov who was born on March 27, 1977, on Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russia.
Russian authorities released the detainees after investigations into whether they had broken any Russian laws. In 2005 he was once more detained in Russia under suspicion of organising terror acts in Tatarstan but released after two months, and immediately left to Middle East. In 2011 he published a video titled "39 ways of helping the jihad and taking part in it". In June 2016 he was arrested in Turkey for involvement in the Atatürk Airport attack.[8]
- ^ Voice of America reports he denounced his Russian citizenship, when he left Russia and sought refugee status, and that his current (2016) citizenship status was unknown.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Jurist2005-08-31was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Hrw2007-03was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Begg, Moazzam. "Enemy Combatant", 2006. pp. 120
- ^ Russian Talibs Found Through London Archived 2016-08-17 at the Wayback Machine, Kommersnt, August 29, 2005
- ^ Former Guantanamo Prisoners Freed From Russian Jail. Mosnews, September 2, 2005
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
DoDList2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Tatarstan-born Airat Vakhitov detained in Turkey over terror act in Istanbul airport". Archived from the original on 2016-08-29.