“We were involved in preaching activities in Kunduz when the Americans, along with the Northern Alliance, took over the city. The Taliban made an agreement with General Dostum, a well-known warlord and now Afghan Defense Minister, to retreat. Local residents suggested that we leave the city with Taliban. We were on our way to Mazar-e-Sharif in our cars at night when we were bombed by helicopters. Chaos broke out and thousands of men were martyred. The bombing continued until the morning call for prayer and we saved our lives by hiding in a ditch. At sunrise, we saw thousands of bodies scattered everywhere. Shortly afterward, we were arrested by Dostum’s men.

Dostum’s crew looted everything possible in a comprehensive search. Copies of the Quran and other religious books were taken away and put under the feet of the martyrs and then set on fire. They would insult the bodies of the martyrs by kicking them. Later on we were loaded in containers and moved to Shabarghan prison. Two hundred and fifty men were put in one container. In just one container alone, fifty men gained martyrdom while dozens became unconscious.

We were among 3000 prisoners in Shabarghan prison. Ramadhan was also going on and seventy to eighty of us were kept in an eight foot room.

Six pieces of bread and a bowl of water were given to us to be shared between 80 people.

All of our companions made special prayers to ALLAH, seeking pardon from their sins and elimination of hardships. ALLAH came with help and we were eventually given meals by Red Cross comprising of rice and other things. Dostum’s men also took the Red Cross provisions to their homes.

We remained there for about fifteen days and then we were shifted to Kandahar on helicopters in groups of fifteen. Before boarding the helicopter, we were blind- folded; our ears were covered with a cotton-like thing, while our hands and feet were chained. Bread and apples were given to us during the journey. From the airport, we were loaded into cars. When we reached the jail there, we were pushed down from the cars.

In the early days in Cuba, we were kept in a six foot cage-like prison. Along with torture, American soldiers also used to insult us. We held a hunger strike in the jail and ALLAH solved many of our problems. We were then allowed to go out of our cells twice a week. Taped Azhan was also eventually played on loud speakers. After some days, we were given some facilities in the jail including the Quran, Bukhari Sharif, Muslim Sharif and any other books we required. We were eventually permitted to keep beards.”