Polad Sabir Sirajov

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Polad Sabir Sirajov is a citizen of Azerbaijan who is held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1]

Contents 1 Recruitment 2 Release 3 References

According to a complete list of the names of the remaining Guantanamo detainees published on April 20, 2006 Sirajov's name is spelled Poolad T. Tsiradzho. ^[2] Sirajov's detainee ID number is 89.

According to a second list of all the Guantanamo detainees, published on May 15, 2006, Sirajov was born on May 6, 1975.^[3]

Sirajov graduated in 1992 from Turkey's Arciyaz University.^[1] He then worked, as a translator, for a Turkish construction company.^[4]

According to his family Sirajov disappeared on February 16, 2001.^[1] They are skeptical that he voluntarily joined up with a radical group because he wasn't particularly religious. The ICRC says he was captured at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan.

[edit] Recruitment

Gamat Suleyman, the head of the Baku's Abu Bakr mosque, denied reports that said Polad had been recruited through the mosque.^[5] Suleyman said that with thousands of worshipers he didn't know all of them personally, but he denied that "Wahabism, which is followed by radicals, including the leader of the Al-Qaeda terror cell bin Laden, has never been propagandized at Abu Bakr."

Rafig Aliyev, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations, stated that 54 people had been arrested in the Mosque in the past, and that Wahabism is still promoted there.^[5] He expressed skepticism that a sole individual could contact bin Laden, without help.

[edit] Release

The Azeri-Press Information Agency reported on May 25, 2006 that Sirajov requested that he be released to Russia, not Azerbaijan.^[6]

The Azeri-Press Information Agency quotes Elchin Behbudov of the Azerbaijan Committee Against Torture, who stated on June 1, 2006, that Sirajov was receiving rehabilitation treatment in a third country.^[7] Behbudov said that Sirajov was expectected to be returned to Russia, not Azeribaijan, when his treatment was complete.

Sirajov has been reported to be on his way to the Netherlands.^[8][9]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Azerbaijani Guantanamo detainee is Baku resident Polad Sabir Sirajov, Today Azerbijan, April 23, 2006
2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense
3. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
4. ^ Azerbaijani Guantanamo detainee to be handed over to Azerbaijan soon, Azerbijan Press Agency, April 24, 2006
5. ^ ^{a b} Bin Laden's alleged aide Azeri, AzerNews, March 13, 2006
6. ^ ICRC representatives visit Azerbaijani Guantanamo detainee Polad Sirajov, Azeri-Press Information Agency, May 25, 2006
7. ^ Azerbaijani accused of linking with al-Gaeda not proved to commit crime, Azeri-Press Information Agency, June 1, 2006
8. ^ Azerbaijani citizen Polad Sirajov detained in Guantanamo will be handed over to Netherlands, Azeri-Press Information Agency, June 20, 2006
9. ^ Azerbaijani Guantanamo detainee will be handed over to Netherlands, Today.AZ, June 20, 2006