Week-ending 9 July 2021
Ravil Mingazov, a Muslim Tartar who spent 15 years without charge in Guantánamo Bay prison camp before being transferred to the United Arab Emirates in January 2017, may now be subjected to forced repatriation to Russia where he faces a “substantial risk of torture” according to UN human rights experts. At the time of his transfer, his family and legal team were reportedly given assurances he would be freed within a few months. A panel of UN experts, including Nils Melzer, special rapporteur on torture and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, said: “We are seriously concerned that instead of releasing him in accordance with the alleged resettlement agreement between the US and the UAE, Mr Mingazov has been subjected to continuous arbitrary detention at an undisclosed location in the UAE, which amounts to enforced disappearance. Now, he risks being forcibly repatriated to Russia despite the reported risk of torture and arbitrary detention based on his religious beliefs.”
Sources:
The Guardian, 3 July 2021: A former Guantánamo detainee is facing forced repatriation from the United Arab Emirates to Russia where he faces a “substantial risk of torture” according to UN human rights experts. Ravil Mingazov is a Muslim Tartar who spent 15 years without charge in the US prison camp on Guantánamo Bay before being transferred to the UAE in January 2017. The conditions of the transfer were kept secret, but his family and legal team were given assurances that he would be freed after a few months. Those assurances were not kept.
‘UAE: UN experts condemn forced return of ex-Guantanamo inmate to Russia despite torture risk,’ OHCHR, 2 July 2021: UN human rights experts* today expressed serious concerns about the imminent forced repatriation of former Guantanamo detainee Rival Mingazov from the United Arab Emirates to Russia, saying he faced substantial risk of torture and ill-treatment upon his return.
