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MOHAMMED EL-GHARANI, aged 14 and of Chadian parentage, went to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia in 2001 to learn English. Travelling on a Chadian passport with faked personal data facilitated by a sympathetic consular official — he was a minor — he stayed in Karachi with relatives.
His life was organised around English classes, football and prayers until one day, three months after 9/11, he was detained outside a mosque because of his Saudi accent. After a period of incarceration, interrogation and torture by Pakistani security officials he and dozens of others were each sold as “confirmed” terrorists to the US for $5,000.
Naively, El-Gharani believed that US officials would soon realise that he was innocent, release him and allow his return to Saudi Arabia. He had a rude awakening in store.
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Groups are urging the US government to secure the 16-year old’s release as his mental and physical health decline dramatically after nine months inside Ofer prison, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
