Cablegate: Ireland: Update On Ex-Guantanamo Detainees

VZCZCXRO6283
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHDL #0477/01 3161638
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121638Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUBLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0294
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0069
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT PRIORITY 0001
RUEHBL/AMCONSUL BELFAST PRIORITY 1106
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBLIN 000477

SIPDIS

STATE FOR S/GC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MARR EI
SUBJECT: IRELAND: UPDATE ON EX-GUANTANAMO DETAINEES

REF: LISBON 540

DUBLIN 00000477 001.2 OF 002

Classified By: Political-Economic Section Chief Dwight Nystrom. Reason
s 1.4(b/d).

1. (C) SUMMARY: The ex-Guantanamo detainees in Ireland are
performing most daily tasks on their own, but will require
"long-term" assistance before being able to integrate into
Irish society. The Irish have requested the help of the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) in arranging
for the immediate family of one ex-detainee to reunite with
him in Ireland. The other ex-detainee is living on his own
as an adult for the first time, and the Irish are concerned
about his adjustment. Our interlocutors describe both
ex-detainees as psychologically "damaged," and say they are
part of "world-wide network of ex-detainees" in regular
contact with one another. END SUMMARY.

---------------------------------
TO RECEIVE PERMANENT HOUSING SOON
---------------------------------

2. (C) On November 10 Poloff spoke with Diarmuid Cole,
Director General of the Office of the Minister for
Integration, and his deputy, Anne O'Gorman, about the two
Uzbek ex-Guantanamo detainees who arrived in Ireland on
September 26, Oybek Jabbarov and Shakhrukh Hamiduva. They
are currently living in the quarters provided to them
immediately after their arrival, a government-owned apartment
building for asylum seekers in Ballyhaunis, a small town in
County Mayo in the west of Ireland. They will move out of
their current quarters in three to four weeks. They will
then be settled in Galway, a city of 72,000 on the west
coast. Jabbarov will receive a house and Hamiduva an
apartment within walking distance of Jabbarov's residence.

-----------------------------------
DAILY TASKS PERFORMED INDEPENDENTLY
-----------------------------------

3. (C) Our interlocutors told us Jabbarov and Hamiduva were
performing most daily tasks on their own ) shopping,
cooking, etc. They have not visited the local mosque, as far
as our interlocutors know, but they shop in the town's halal
store and perform daily prayers. They have a two-hour
English class five days per week, but Jabbarov only takes one
hour because of trouble concentrating. They are also taking
a two-hour computer class twice a week. They are receiving a
stipend for daily expenses and have each been given a
television set, a laptop and a cell phone.

------------------------------
IRISH HELPING, NOT SUPERVISING
------------------------------

4. (C) The Irish are helping, but not supervising, the
ex-detainees. Their apartment building is guarded by a
private security firm, but the guards are there to protect
all the residents of the building (approximately 70 Congolese
refugees live in the building as well). An official from the
Office of the Minister of Integration is in the building
during working hours to assist any of the residents who need
it. Ministry officials have taken the ex-detainees on trips
to the west coast and to Dublin, to "get them out and
familiarize them with the country," and they have a general
practitioner who supervises their medical needs (such as, so
far, back pain and provision of eyeglasses to one of them).

-------------------
CONTACT WITH FAMILY
-------------------

5. (C) They call their families frequently, although Hamiduva
has had trouble reaching some of his family members, as they
are under government surveillance in Uzbekistan. With the
help of the International Organization for Migration (IOM),
Jabbarov's wife and two children have moved to a UNHCR camp
near Islamabad, and the IOM has applied for exit visas for
them so they can join Jabbarov in Ireland. The ex-detainees
have not indicated any interest in meeting other members of
the Uzbek exile community in Ireland and did not want to meet
with the International Committee of the Red Cross official,
now based in London, who had followed their cases in

DUBLIN 00000477 002.4 OF 002

Guantanamo.

--------------------------------------
EX-DETAINEES "DAMAGED" PSYCHOLOGICALLY
--------------------------------------

6. (C) Our interlocutors repeatedly described the
ex-detainees as "pretty damaged" psychologically. They
handle stress poorly, often calling to complain, sometimes
vociferously, whenever anything major or minor goes wrong.
Our contacts said Hamiduva is adjusting poorly to being out
of detention for the first time in his life as an adult. He
does not really know how to function as an adult, the Irish
said, and they are concerned that he might not adapt well to
moving to an apartment in Galway without immediate access to
Jabbarov. The Irish said Hamiduva might have particular
difficulty after Jabbarov's family joins him. When asked
whether the ex-detainees would be given job training, the
Irish said, "not for a long time." They said the
ex-detainees would be neither psychologically nor
linguistically prepared for job training for the foreseeable
future.

-------------------------------------
"WORLD-WIDE NETWORK" OF EX-DETAINEES?
-------------------------------------

7. (C) Our interlocutors reported that Jabbarov and Hamiduva
had become part of a "world-wide network" of ex-Guantanamo
detainees, talking by phone frequently with other
ex-detainees, particularly those in the Bahamas and Albania.
Our contacts said this had led to many allegations from
Jabbarov and Hamiduva that they were not being treated as
well in Ireland as ex-detainees in other countries.
FAUCHER

© Scoop Media