Think Progress

Gitmo detainee dies of natural causes for first time ever.

On Dec. 30, 2007, Abdul Razzaq Hekmati, passed away from cancer, making him the first detainee to die of natural causes at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hekmati, who regarded as a “war hero” in his native Afghanistan for opposing both the Russians and the Taliban, was captured in 2003 and held in Guantanamo until his death. Afghan officials say that Hekmati’s plight “demonstrates the enduring problems of the tribunals at Guantánamo.”



39 Responses to “Gitmo detainee dies of natural causes for first time ever.”

  1. Snowball says:

    So how many have died of unnatural causes? We’ll never know.


  2. Mugsy says:

    Opposed the Taliban. Interesting.

    If we know this, why was he in Gitmo? And what about that “excellent care” the detainees are supposedly receiving?

    A Right-wing jackboot might point out that “with the state of medical care in Afghanistan, he probably would of died much sooner”.

    Huzzah. So instead of dying free in his own country surrounded by his family, he dies in captivity alone like a rat in a cage.

    Thank goodness the U.S. military was there o protect us from him. :(


  3. RUCerious says:

    Geebutz, you’d think that with terminal cancer, this guy would be shipped home to die with a smidgen of dignity????

    WTF has happened to us?


  4. Fred says:

    WTF has happened to us?
    good question ruc…
    They are dying of old age now……..in addition to……


  5. Zooey says:

    Life sentence….and never even charged.


  6. wisedup says:

    I wonder how bush and cheney sleep at night,knowing all they have killed………………..


  7. Joefriday says:

    WTF has happened to us?

    Comment by RUCerious — February 4, 2008 @ 10:45 pm

    George Bush!


  8. Joefriday says:

    Test

    The quickbrownfoxjumps.

    to see if I read that stuuf right.


  9. Joefriday says:

    I guess not. Needed spaces maybe.


  10. Theresa says:

    So how many have died of unnatural causes? We’ll never know.

    Sure, we know. All the rest of them.


  11. kimmy says:

    First to die of natural causes?
    What is natural in the US.
    Is this the new way for the executions of detainees?
    Natural causes?
    Think about it!
    Think about the truth that isn’t there.
    Think about the US following international laws.
    Wont happen.


  12. mudsharks buddy says:

    I don’t know about you,but fighting against the Russians and the Taliban…..should’ve made him an allie……who knows at this point.?


  13. GSD says:

    Obviously he’s the worst of the worst. Just like the 12 year olds we have in custody.

    But remember how happy the Bush Cultists claimed they were when US troops let Iraqi children out of Saddams’ jails!

    America the pitiful.

    -GSD


  14. Fred says:

    Dies of natural causes for first time ever? As opposed to what? The second time ever? How many times has this guy died?

    I wonder if he still gets his 72 year old virgin?

    Comment by Gin

    one of the compassionate conservatives has checked in……
    in response to his unsufferable inhumanity I would say as opposed to killed or tortured to death……..

    gin you remind me of a 10 year old boy pulling the legs off of bugs……did you honestly never grow up to be a man?


  15. Fred says:

    sorry…mispelled insufferable

    in response to his insufferable inhumanity I would say as opposed to killed or tortured to death……..

    which is what we are world famous for now.


  16. SWBob says:

    I can’t imagine the anger of this man and his family toward the Unitied Sates. It is inhuman to keep him based on the “evidence” presented thus far, but then to hold him while he dies of cancer is the most callous of actions possible. When one is dying of cancer, family becomes a resource of immeasurable value. Depriving him of this resource will ensure generations of family hatred toward America. The longer bush/cheney continue to keep Gitmo running, the greater the shame on America. It is time for Americans to stand up to this anti-American facility and demand it close and those responsible be brought up on charges.


  17. Merlin says:

    I wonder how bush and cheney sleep at night,knowing all they have killed………………..

    Comment by wisedup — February 4, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

    You assume they have a conscience! They are psychopaths or sociopaths. They have no connection to the human condition or human life. They see everything through the narrow lens of their own desire. And the rest of us are little more than something to be used in that pursuit.


  18. katy says:

    just found this… shutting down for the night…
    but –
    cancer is “natural causes”???


  19. toasterhead says:

    Too bad he wasn’t on the other side of the fence. They have a ton of good doctors in Cuba.


  20. Jackie says:

    Does anyone really care that the United States has tortured, raped, killed and now let die innocent people. Now it’s more important to hear what’s happening to Britney. More innocent prisoners have died at the hands and orders of the President and Vice President of the United States. Now a time will come when this action will be done to Americans as the bible says what you give you get back 7 times.


  21. Juan C. says:

    They have a ton of good doctors in Cuba.
    Comment by toasterhead

    And they have become revolutionary in cancer treatment with urinetherapy.


  22. Lefty Patriot says:

    Cuba’s healthcare is better than the USA’s.


  23. VerbalKint says:

    did you honestly never grow up to be a man?

    Comment by Fred — February 4, 2008 @ 11:30 pm

    Bedwetters like this freak don’t have a clue what it means to be a man. They are emotionally stunted boys, for life.


  24. Daddy-O says:

    I hate to make an out for a sociopath like George W. Bush, but life in his Bubble really is strange.

    He just doesn’t think about the deaths of people he’s caused. He isn’t reminded, and nobody would dare. And since he’s so incurious, he’s a natural for the part of Puppet President. Which he is.

    But the Buck Stops with him. Sociopath in a Bubble or not.

    For probably NOT the last time–WE are not responsible for Gitmo and the crimes of the Bush administration. THEY are. The only way I could have stopped him is if I shot the bastard, but without taking out Cheney at the same time…

    It’s pointless. Stop the self-flagellating, everybody who voted for Gore or Kerry. It’s not our fault. They’re sick, they were handed the Ultimate Power by people who stole both elections, and this mess is out of our hands.

    Until November.


  25. Bobwurst says:

    Daddy O

    True, but we’re still responsible to some extent. Mr Hekmati’s family doesn’t see a difference between those who voted for bush and those who voted for Kerry. Mr. Hekmati fought the Russian invaders, and Afghanistan’s version of the republican party: the taliban. We’ve done very little to stop bush in comparison. Yes, the leaders in the democratic party have sent sternly worded letters, Sen Leahy has frowned at low level officials, Sen Schummer did tell Mukasay how disappointed he is in him… Silence is consent.


  26. Brain From Planet Arous says:

    I wonder how bush and cheney sleep at night,knowing all they have killed………………..

    Comment by wisedup — February 4, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

    They think, “Blowing up frogs or people, what’s the difference?”


  27. Dumb_Fox says:

    If anyone hasn’t, do read the whole story.

    The moral of it is: you fight the Soviets, you defy the Taliban, you return from exile after the Taliban are removed, we arrest you forever and you die alone in captivity.

    Be a hero, get screwed. Or as I call it, getting Tillmanned.


  28. OhTheBillDotCom says:

    04 Feb 2008 Navy Lt. William Kuebler asked a military judge to throw out the charges against Canadian defendant Omar Khadr, who was shot and captured at age 15 in a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002. But a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, arguing for the prosecution, said that if Congress intended to exclude juveniles from the Guantanamo war court, it would have explicitly written that, because lawmakers knew Khadr could face charges. Instead, Congress wrote the law using the term “person,” which legally refers to “anyone born alive,” Justice Department attorney Andy Oldham said.


  29. 99Luf Balloons says:

    I can’t WAIT until we hear that TRAITOR Bush has DROPPED DEAD.

    There will celebrations throughout the WORLD, as well as in America by PATRIOTIC Americans that a piece of EVIL has gone to be with its

    MASTER Satan.

    Comment by Arn Gunnutes

    I PRAY FOR HIS RAPTURE EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY.


  30. 99Luf Balloons says:

    All I keep thinking is that eventually BUSH MUST DIE!


  31. Fred says:

    sorry…mispelled insufferable
    Comment by Fred — February 4, 2008 @ 11:38 pm

    Freddy, ask your mommy about spellcheck!

    Comment by Gin

    ha….I don’t think ginny likes me……..that’s hilarious….comes here….says dumb stuff….then gets huffy like a little one…….


  32. Fred says:

    30 about gg

    can’t wait to read the indictments against this one some day soon…..bound to happen.


  33. Bobwurst says:

    “Mr. Hekmati was “high in the Al Qaeda hierarchy,” acted as a smuggler and facilitator for it, and was “part of the main security escort for Osama bin Laden.” He was also accused of attending a terrorist training camp near Kandahar and of involvement in assassination attempts against Afghan government officials. Some hero.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Abdul_Razzak_%28Guantanamo_detainee_942%29

    Comment by good_golly ”

    The problem gigi is that all your “proof” comes from a one-sided kangaroo court. If you want people to believe you, you need to be transparent and allow everyone basic human rights, even the ones you think are criminals. Of course you don’t care about the rule of law, you’re a brownshirt.


  34. Dumb_Fox says:

    Comment by good_golly — February 5, 2008 @ 8:42 am

    Well gee, thanks for that. Those are the unproven charges that the Military laid against him. Now go read the Times article to find out the other side of the story.

    Stop at these quotes:

    “What he did was very important for all Afghan people who were against the Taliban,”

    “It was the Americans’ mistake. I know he had no relations with the Taliban.”

    Random quotes? No, these men were rescued from the Taliban by Mr Hekmati; one is now an Army general, the other a minister in the Karzai government.

    So yes, “some hero” indeed. Far more than you will ever become.


  35. Lefty Patriot says:

    Comment by good_golly — February 5, 2008 @ 8:42 am

    more lies from the right. never a truth, never a proof.


  36. JMOHR says:

    The real tragedy of GTMO arises from its use to hide the mistakes and incompetence of the bush administration. The broad sweeping net and bounties paid for turning the “enemy” over to US forces brought in many who were innocent. So you establish a prison for the worst of the worst. You torture to gain information and confessions. Then, it turns out that 2/3rds of those captured were innocent. You already face world condemnation for your practices. You need public support. What do you do?

    KEEP THE INNOCENT UNTIL THEY ROT TO HIDE YOUR MISTAKES


  37. normalasf says:

    Tortured Headline for the Tortured Prisoner?

    If he died of natural causes for the first time ever, what did he die of before? Grammar, please.


  38. tombaker says:

    great – how many more mujahadeen have we created with that brilliant move???


  39. Andy Worthington says:

    Thanks for posting a link to this article. I’m one of the co-authors. For further information about miscarriages of justice at Guantanamo, please visit my website, where you can also find information about my book “The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison”:
    I enjoyed some of the exchanges above. It amazes me how some people can miss the entire point of a story. Witnesses are found, and back-up is provided to demonstrate that Mr. Hekmati’s explanation of the jailbreak that freed a future Karzai government minister and a US-allied military commander was entirely valid, and some choose to believe unattributed counter-allegations produced under dubious circumstances.



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