Jawed Ahmad

Jawed Ahmad (1986 – March 10, 2009) also known as "Jojo" was an Afghan reporter working for Canadian media outlet CTV who was arrested by American troops and declared an enemy combatant, while working with NATO at Kandahar Airport on October 26, 2007.

Early life Jawed started working as a tailor's apprentice at twelve years old. Jawed earned 75 cents a day. He used the money he earned to pay for schooling. His education, and language skills, allowed him to start working as a translator for United States forces shortly after the overthrow of the Taliban.

Jawed was later to work for independent security firms. Jawed reported on his release that he was captured after receiving a request to come to Kandahar Air Field to complete a survey on opinion survey of Afghan journalists from a GI who represented himself as a Public Affairs Officer.

He appeared before a military review, which determined there was "credible information" and is held at Bagram Airbase.

His brother, Siddique, has been in contact with him during his detention, due to the efforts of the International Red Cross. According to his brother, he has been beaten since being detained.

Captives in the Bagram Theater Detention Facility do not have Combatant Status Review Tribunals convened to confirm their combatant status. According to Eliza Griswold in The New Republic their status is determined by the base commander, who may convene a more secret, less formal, less thorough procedure called an "Enemy Combatant Review Board". According to Grizwold:

The Washington Post reported on June 29, 2008 on comments Tina Monshipour Foster made about Jawed Ahmad's detention in Bagram.

Release

Jawad Ahmad was released, without explanation, on September 22, 2008.

Jawad said his interrogators insisted he was a spy for the Taliban, Iran and Pakistan, Jawad reported that Koran desecration remained routine at Bagram.

Death

On March 10, 2009, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) issued a statement saying Jawad was killed by being "gunned down .... by two men in a vehicle as he was getting out of his own car in the centre of the southern city of Kandahar." The statement said, "Several Afghan journalists told Reporters Without Borders they suspected the murder may have been ordered by the Taliban," but a Kandahar provincial government spokesman "offered no details." The statement also said Ahmad's brother "did not rule out any hypothesis" regarding a motive for the shooting.