Mohammed Mussa Yakubi: Allegations of Abuse

pp. 21968-21969

Detainee: An hour after arriving at the compound, they [American and Afghan Forces] took me to interrogation. They asked me if I had any weapons. I told them that I did have a weapon [AK-47] at home. I told them the weapon I had at home had belonged to my family for a long time. I also told them about the RPG rounds I had. I told them that the RPG rounds belonged to the [Afghan] Government. I relayed to them that the Government knew that I had the rounds. The translator was speaking to me in Pashtu. I told them I could not speak Pashtu, that I was a Farsi speaker. The translator then cursed me and cursed my wife using the F word, saying to me, “What kind of Afghan are you if you cannot speak Pashtu”. He continued to curse my wife. I then told the translator, “Everything you just said to me, same back to you”. Since the translator cursed at my wife and me I cursed him back.

I told the translator that it was I who was in the prison, not my wife. That he should not be saying anything bad about my mother or my wife. I told the translator that if he was going to curse my mother and my wife, that I would do the same back to him. The translator then said something to the American and the American became very upset. The American kicked me two or three time.

Presiding Officer: Who kicked you?

Detainee: The American interrogator. Whatever the translator told him must have upset the American very much. The American kicked me. I told the translator I had no idea what he had said to the American interrogator, but I cannot speak Pashtu. Please bring a Farsi translator. I told the Farsi translator what had happened and that I was not going to lie. I cursed back to the Pashtu translator. I answered the Pashtu translator’s questions, but I did not say anything bad to the American. I don’t know what the Pashtu translator said to the American interrogator.