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Ehsanullah is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 523.

McClatchy News Service interview

On June 15 2008 the McClatchy News Service published a series of articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. Ehsanullah was one of the former captives who had an article profiling him.

Ehsanullah acknowledged having once served as a Taliban foot-soldier, but stated he was an involuntary conscript. He said he abandoned his post as soon as he learned that the Taliban government had collapsed, and was trying to make his way home, when he was captured by Northern Alliance soldiers.

He said he and other captives, taken at the same time, were sold to the Americans for a bounty.

"The commander told the Americans that he had arrested high-ranking Taliban and got $5,000 for each of us."

According to Ehsanullah:

"There was no training. They said, 'This is the trigger; pull it.'"

Ehsanullah was interviewed by telephone because he feared local Taliban sympathizers learning he had met with a foreigner.

Ehsanullah was held for less than a year.

The McClatchy reporters found that local security officials had never heard of him.

Ehsanullah was held in both the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Kandahar detention facility, prior to being transferred to Guantanamo. He reported being physically abused in American custody in Afghanistan, and he reported witnessing an American GI throwing a Koran into a bucket of excrement.

Ehsanullah said conditions were better in Guantanamo, no one beat him, he was interrogated infrequently, and when he was:

"They kept asking me why I was arrested," he said. "They told me that the (northern alliance) commander had sold me to them, and they were trying to figure out what the truth was."

References

1. OARDEC (May 15 2006). "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Tom Lasseter (June 15 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 7". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2008-06-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. Tom Lasseter (June 15 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 2". McClatchy News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
4. Tom Lasseter (Wednesday June 18, 2008). "U.S. hasn't apologized to or compensated ex-detainees". Myrtle Beach Sun. Retrieved 2008-06-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
5. Tom Lasseter (June 15 2008). "Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees". McClatchy News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
6. Tom Lasseter (June 16 2008). "Documents undercut Pentagon's denial of routine abuse". McClatchy News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
7. Tom Lasseter (June 19 2008). "Deck stacked against detainees in legal proceedings". McClatchy News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
8. Tom Lasseter (June 16 2008). "U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases". McClatchy News Service. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror
9. ^ Tom Lasseter (June 15 2008). "Guantanamo Inmate Database: Ehsanullah". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2008-06-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) mirror

• Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
• People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp
• Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States