Moderator: 1 revision

2026-05-16T20:09:28Z

1 revision

GreenC bot: Removed 1 archive link. Wayback Medic 2.1

2017-02-09T17:15:21Z

Removed 1 archive link. Wayback Medic 2.1

New page

{{Infobox War on Terror detainee
| name = Arkin Mahmud
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1964|07|01}}
| birth_place = [[Ghulja, China|Ghulja]], [[China]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| detained_at = [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo]]
| id_number = 103
| group =
| alias =
| charge = No charge (unlawfully detained)
| penalty =
| status = Transferred to [[Switzerland]]
| occupation =
| spouse =
| parents =
| children = two
}}
'''Arkin Mahmud''' is an [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]] refugee best known for the seven and a half years he spent in the [[United States]] [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]s, in [[Cuba]].<ref name=DoDList2>
{{Cite web
|url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf
|format=PDF
|title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006
|author=[[OARDEC]]
|publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]]
|date=May 15, 2006
|accessdate=2007-09-29
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184034/http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf
|archivedate=30 September 2007
|deadurl=yes
|df=
}}</ref>

[[Joint Task Force Guantanamo]] [[counter-terrorism]] analysts reports Mahmud was born on July 1, 1964, in [[Ghulja, China|Ghulja]], China.

Arkin traveled to [[Afghanistan]] in order to look for his younger brother [[Bahtiyar Mahnut]].<ref name=WashingtonPost2009-09-28>
{{Cite news
| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/27/AR2009092703076_pf.html
| title=2 Brothers' Grim Tale Of Loyalty And Limbo: To Leave Guantanamo Means Abandoning Family
| publisher=[[Washington Post]]
| date=2009-09-27
| author=Del Quentin Wilber
}}</ref>
He is one of approximately twenty-two captives from the Uighur ethnic group.<ref name=AsiaTimes041104>
{{Cite news
| url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FK04Ad02.html
| title=China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo
| publisher=[[Asia Times]]
| author=
| date=November 4, 2004
| accessdate=2008-03-28
| quote=
}}</ref>
By the summer of 2009 Arkin's mental health had deteriorated so profoundly he wasn't offered sanctuary in Palau. For some time in 2005 during his stay in Guantanamo he was held in [[solitary confinement]].

He won his [[habeas corpus]] in 2008. Judge [[Ricardo Urbina]] declared his detention as unlawful and ordered to set him free in the [[United States]].

Until his transfer to [[Switzerland]] on March 23, 2010 Arkin Mahmud had been held at Guantanamo for more than seven and a half years despite it became clear early on that he like the other [[Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo|Uyghurs in Guantanamo]] was innocent.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/103-arkin-mahmud | work=The New York Times | title=Arkin Mahmud - The Guantánamo Docket}}</ref>

==Writ of habeas corpus==
{{Expand section|date=August 2011}}
A [[writ of habeas corpus]], Arkina Amahmud v. George W. Bush, was submitted on Arkina Amahmud's behalf.<ref name=GuantanamoHabeasArkinaAmahmudvGeorgeWBush>
{{Cite web
| url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/publicly_filed_CSRT_records_698-814.pdf#31
| title=Arkina Amahmud v. George W. Bush
| date=20 September 2005
| pages=31–52
| publisher=[[United States Department of Defense]]
| accessdate=2007-12-16
}}</ref>

==Mental health==
In July 2009 the [[Pacific Ocean]] country of [[Palau]] offered sanctuary to all the remaining [[Uyghur captives in Guantanamo]], except Arkin.<ref name="WashingtonPost2009-09-28"/>
Arkin's younger brother Bahtiyar declined the invitation of sanctuary in Palau in order to stay with Arkin.
Due to reports from camp guards that Arkin had broken the camp's rules from 2005 he was held in [[solitary confinement|isolation]] from other captives.

Arkin told [[Elizabeth Gibson]], his habeas counself, ''"I know I'll die in here. In China, at least I would have a trial and sentence."''<ref name=WashingtonPost2009-09-28/>

==Granted asylum in Switzerland ==

Switzerland granted [[political asylum]] to Arkin Mahmud and Bahtiyar Mahnut on February 4, 2010.<ref name=AndyWorthington2010-02-04>
{{cite news
|url=http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/02/04/swiss-take-two-guantanamo-uighurs-save-obama-from-having-to-do-the-right-thing/
|title=Swiss Take Two Guantánamo Uighurs, Save Obama from Having to Do the Right Thing
|author=[[Andy Worthington]]
|date=2010-02-04
|accessdate=2010-02-04
|quote=Not mentioned publicly was the fact that, until Jura accepted the men’s asylum claims, one of them, Arkin Mahmud, appeared to stuck at Guantánamo, his only way out being to hope that the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the Uighurs’ case last year, would overturn last February’s appeals court ruling, and allow cleared prisoners who cannot be repatriated into the United States.
|deadurl=bot: unknown
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5tG9qzMAB?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andyworthington.co.uk%2F2010%2F02%2F04%2Fswiss-take-two-guantanamo-uighurs-save-obama-from-having-to-do-the-right-thing%2F
|archivedate=2010-10-05
|df=
}}
</ref><ref name=SwissRadio2010-10-04a>
{{cite news
|url=http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/wrsnews/ex-guantanamo-detainees-thank-jura.shtml?21159
|title=Ex-Guantanamo detainees thank Jura
|publisher=[[World Radio Switzerland]]
|date=2010-10-04
|accessdate=2010-10-05
|quote=They say that six months after their arrival in Switzerland, they are gradually acclimating to their new lives, but that the trauma of their experiences is still present.
|deadurl=bot: unknown
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5tG1JaG2J?url=http%3A%2F%2Fworldradio.ch%2Fwrs%2Fnews%2Fwrsnews%2Fex-guantanamo-detainees-thank-jura.shtml%3F21159
|archivedate=2010-10-05
|df=
}}
</ref><ref name=SwissRadio2010-10-04b>
{{cite news
|url=http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/uighur-brothers-in-jura-six-months-later.shtml?21161
|title=Uighur brothers in jura six months later
|publisher=[[World Radio Switzerland]]
|date=2010-10-04
|accessdate=2010-10-05
|quote=Switzerland granted Arkin and Bahtiyar Mahmud asylum on humanitarian grounds. The brothers now live in canton Jura and, a short while ago, met the media for the first time.
|deadurl=bot: unknown
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5tG2NYFUg?url=http%3A%2F%2Fworldradio.ch%2Fwrs%2Fnews%2Fswitzerland%2Fuighur-brothers-in-jura-six-months-later.shtml%3F21161
|archivedate=2010-10-05
|df=
}}
</ref><ref name=SwissInfo2010-10-04>
{{cite news
|url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Uighurs_adjusting_to_new_life_in_Switzerland.html?cid=28468058
|title=Uighurs adjusting to new life in Switzerland
|publisher=[[SwissInfo]]
|author=
|date=2010-10-04
|page=
|accessdate=2010-10-05
|quote=The two Uighurs arrived in canton Jura on March 23 with one living in the town of Delémont and the other in Courroux. They were admitted to Switzerland on humanitarian grounds.
|deadurl=bot: unknown
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5tGBLlQvQ?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swissinfo.ch%2Feng%2Fpolitics%2FUighurs_adjusting_to_new_life_in_Switzerland.html%3Fcid%3D28468058
|archivedate=2010-10-05
|df=
}}
</ref><ref name=AndyWorthington2010-10-07a>
{{cite news
| url = http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/10/07/guantanamo-uighur-brothers-happy-in-switzerland-but-struggling-to-adapt-to-new-life/
| title = Guantánamo Uighur Brothers "Happy" in Switzerland, But Struggling to Adapt to New Life
| publisher =
| author = [[Andy Worthington]]
| date = 2010-07-10
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20101011122049/http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/10/07/guantanamo-uighur-brothers-happy-in-switzerland-but-struggling-to-adapt-to-new-life
| archivedate=2010-10-11
| accessdate = 2014-02
| deadurl = No
| quote =
}}
</ref>
Swiss authorities helped them settle in [[Canton of Jura]]. Historian [[Andy Worthington]], author of ''[[The Guantanamo Files]]'' commented that Switzerland's grant of Asylum preserved the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] [[United States President|Presidency]] from political embarrassment, because all the Uyghurs had been offered a new home, except for Arkin Mahmud, and that the Swiss offer of asylum would complicate the habeas petitions of the four remaining Uyghur captives who had declined to agree to accept refugee status in Palau.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/10/09/from-guantanamo-to-the-united-states-the-story-of-the-wrongly-imprisoned-uighurs/ From Guantánamo to the United States: The Story of the Wrongly Imprisoned Uighurs] [[Andy Worthington]] October 9, 2008
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100623230325/http://ccrjustice.org/files/2008-10-09%20Kiyemba%20corrected%20release%20order%20(2008-10-09).pdf Judge Ricardo Urbina’s unclassified opinion (redacted version)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100620091607/http://ccrjustice.org/files/2008-10-07%20Kiyemba%20-%20Uighur%20hearing%20transcript.pdf MOTIONS/STATUS HEARING - UIGHURS CASES BEFORE THE HONORABLE RICARDO M. URBINA]
* [http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=37082 Taking On Guantánamo] Connecticut Law Tribune, May 10, 2010
* Human Rights First; [http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/Habeas-Works-final-web.pdf Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010)]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{ListUyghurCaptives}}
{{WoTPrisoners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmud, Arkin}}
[[Category:Chinese extrajudicial prisoners of the United States]]
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Uyghurs]]
[[Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 20:09, 16 May 2026
(No difference)

Arkin Mahmud - Revision history

Moderator: 1 revision

GreenC bot: Removed 1 archive link. Wayback Medic 2.1