Talk by former Guantánamo detainee Murat Kurnaz

limerick | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Tuesday May 06, 2008 14:36 by John Lannon

Murat Kurnaz who was held in the Guantánamo Bay detention facility for almost five years will speak at the Quaker Meeting House, Southville, Gardens, Ballinacurra, Limerick, Sat May 10th, 8pm.

Murat Kurnaz spent almost five years as a prisoner in the so-called ‘war on terror', first in Kandahar in Afghanistan and then for over four and a half years in Guantánamo Bay. Following the publication of his book, "Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantánamo", he will visit Limerick next week to tell his personal story. It is a vivid insight to a world of illegal detentions, abuse of prisoners and solitary confinement that has become all too familiar over the last seven years.

Murat Kurnaz will speak at a public event in the Quaker Meeting House at 8pm 10 May (directions below). He will also attend a vigil at Shannon airport 11 May to highlight not only his own experience but to stand in solidarity with those that condemn the illegal practice of rendition (abduction).

The European Parliament has implicated Ireland in the practice of rendition. Rather than take measures to identify past violations of Irish territory, or prevent future violations, the Irish Government has simply denied any possibility that Irish airports or airspace could have been used by US rendition flights. It has continued to insist that it may legitimately rely on US “assurances” that Ireland has not and will not be used for rendition purposes. Such assurances are meaningless and are no substitute for effective preventative measures.

Venue for talk: Quaker Meeting House, Southville, Gardens, Ballinacurra, Limerick

All welcome. Admission is free.

Directions to venue: Coming from Limerick city centre towards Dooradoyle - after Punch's Cross turn right at the traffic lights (junction of Dooradoyle Rd. and Childers Rd.) into Southville Gardens. Take the first right and the Meeting House is at the end of this road.

Background

Murat Kurnaz was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1982, to a family of Turkish immigrants. He went to school in Bremen. He was interested in sports, played keyboard and guitar in a band with friends, attended the local mosque and became an apprentice shipbuilder.

After his marriage in 2001, Murat Kurnaz became an increasingly devout Muslim. Less than a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the USA, he went to Pakistan, telling his mother he wanted to "see and live the Qur'an".

He was arrested in Pakistan in mid-November 2001 and transferred to US custody in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In January 2002 he was flown to Guantánamo Bay, where he remained for almost five years. He says that during his imprisonment he suffered solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, physical abuse, and sexual humiliation.

Murat Kurnaz was released from Guantánamo in August 2006 and is now back with his family in his home-town of Bremen. The German authorities have dropped investigations into his case, for lack of evidence that he had any connection to terrorist organisations.