Hayatullah

Who is Hayatullah?

Hayatullah is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Bagram Theater Internment Facility. He was interviewed by the New York Times in November 2007, and gave an account being held for 28 months, first in "the black prison" and then in Bagram.

According to his account Hayatullah was a pharmacist, with no association with or knowledge of the Taliban's activities, who was apprehended because he had the same name as a Taliban leader, Hajji Hayatullah.

Hayatullah described being held for forty days in "the black prison", which he believed was near the main prison at Bagram. He said that when he was held there, in July 2007, the walls were concrete blocks, but that he was told, by captives who had been held there a long time, the walls had originally been covered in plywood that had been painted black. He said that, unlike bagram, each captive was kept in a cell of his own. He described how the lack of natural light meant that the captives didn't know when it was day or night, and so they didn't know when to say their prayers. He said that the International Committee of the Red Cross was not allowed to visit the black prison.