Mohamed Jawad - Repatriation

Repatriation

Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reports that Jawad was repatriated on August 24, 2009. Jawad was first sent to the Pul-e-Charkhi prison, a former Soviet facility, where the United States built an American wing in 2007.

Major Eric Montalvo, a former Defense counsel, said that Jawad was scheduled to meet with President Hamid Karzai, and would then be released into the custody of an uncle, Hajji Gul Naik. Montalvo who had flown to Afghanistan at his own expense because the Department of Defense would not authorize him to help aid Jawad arrival, said: "It's still not over until he can walk free, but he is almost there. I don't trust anything until I see him in his house with his family."

An article published in The National on October 15, 2009 contained quotes from Jawad in Afghanistan:

A photograph of before his ordeal shows a boy virtually unrecognisable from the 19-year-old man who, after his release in the summer, described being stripped naked, choked, slammed against walls and often held in isolation during this time. "The people who are in jails are all Muslims. The Americans are not respecting their religion and they are not respecting them as humans," he said. Now back in Kabul, he finds himself caught up in a war that has grown noticeably fiercer in the years he has been away. "The situation will get worse because it's impossible to finish fighting with fighting," he said. "It's impossible to clean blood with blood."