Sha Mohammed Alikhel

Who is Sha Mohammed Alikhel?

Sha Mohammed Alikhel is a Pakistani who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. On 8 May 2003 Muhammad was released at the same time as two other Pakistanis, Jehan Wali and Sahibzada Usman Ali. He was 20 years old.

Muhammad is a baker from Dir, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Only one other Pakistani detainee, elderly Mohammed Saghir, had been released prior to his release.

Shah reported that he felt despair, and made four suicide attempts during his time in Guantanamo, even though suicide was against the tenets of Islam.

When The Guardian interviewed Muhammad, a year after his release, Muhammad reported ongoing after-effects from his incarceration: "The biggest damage is to my brain. My physical and mental state isn't right. I'm a changed person. I don't laugh or enjoy myself much."

The Guardian reports that Muhammad's first suicide attempt followed a month of solitary confinement in a punishment cell. Muhammad was not confined there because he had broken any of the camp rules — rather the camp's expansion meant they had run short of ordinary cells.

Muhammad reported having his suicidal impulses treated by involuntary injections with extremely powerful, long-lasting, psychoactive drugs.