Murat Kurnaz

Bio provided by Wikipedia External link to the source of this bio

Murat Kurnaz is a Turkish citizen and legal resident of Germany who was held in extrajudicial detention by the United States at its military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan and in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba for five years. Although born in Germany, as a child of guest workers Kurnaz was required by German law to apply for citizenship after becoming 18, which he had in process when he was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001. He was 19 years old at that time.

By early 2002 intelligence officials of the United States and Germany had largely concluded that the accusations against Kurnaz were groundless, but he was detained for nearly five more years. He was released and arrived in Germany on August 24, 2006.

Kurnaz says that he was tortured during detention in Kandahar and Guantanamo. In testimony via videolink in 2008 to a United States Congressional hearing, he described having suffered electric shock, simulated drowning, and days spent chained by his arms to the ceiling of an airplane hangar at Kandahar.