Amer Aziz

Amer Aziz is an orthopedic surgeon who is based in Lahore.[1][2][3][4] He earned his medical degree in the United Kingdom and, according to The Washington Times, is a British citizen.[1][5] In 2002 the Associated Press profiled Aziz when it became known that he had treated Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders. The Associated Press described Aziz as "a prominent Pakistani physician". The Los Angeles Times called him "Pakistan's foremost orthopedic surgeon".[2]

Amer Aziz
BornPakistan
Arrested21 October 2002
CIA
CitizenshipPakistani
Charge(s)Extrajudicial detention

The New York Post asserted that Aziz became radicalized when he traveled to Kosovo to treat wounded Muslims during its war of independence from Yugoslavia.[4]

Time in Afghanistan

Aziz had been paying visits to Afghanistan to treat mujahideen fighters since the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1989.[1] Aziz was seized by American security officials on 21 October 2002, held, and interrogated by officers of both the FBI and the CIA.[1] Aziz refuted the speculation that bin Laden was suffering from kidney disease or some other serious ailment.[1] He claimed that he had examined bin Laden on two occasions, first in 1999 and then in November 2001.

In 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Aziz had traveled to perform emergency medical work when remote, Pakistani-controlled Kashmir was hit by an earthquake that killed 86,000 people.[2] They reported on tensions between him and US forces, who were also providing emergency services, due to his known past association with Islamists. His field hospital was in a camp run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa—a group associated with Lashkar e taiba.

On 25 April 2011, WikiLeaks published formerly secret documents signed by the Guantanamo camp commandants. One brief recorded that one captive, Ayman Batarfi, was a young doctor who had interned under Aziz in 2000.[6]

References
  1. Paul Haven (20 November 2002). "Bin Laden was in excellent health, doctor says". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 16 November 2011. Amer Aziz, recently released after being held incommunicado and interrogated for a month by FBI and CIA agents, told the Associated Press that he knew nothing of al-Qaida's plans. He rejected allegations that he helped the organization in its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
  2. John M. Glionna (20 November 2005). "We Are Not Such Monsters". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011. Aziz met Bin Laden for the second time in November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. Aziz was in the process of establishing a surgical unit at the University of Jalalabad in Afghanistan to treat people injured during the U.S. bombing there.
  3. "Doctor says bin Laden is healthy: Well-known Pakistani physician told agents, terrorist is strong". Lubbock Online. 28 November 2002. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011. Aziz said that when he went to Afghanistan last November to set up a surgical unit at the University of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, he had no idea that he was going to meet bin Laden. 'I was stunned,' he said. 'I thought, "This is the most wanted man in the world." But he seemed so calm.'
  4. Niles Latham (15 November 2002). "Agents snag bin Laden's doctor". New York Post. p. 2. Retrieved 17 November 2011. Amer Aziz, a popular figure who became radicalized when he went to Kosovo to treat wounded Albanian Muslims, once treated senior Taliban and al Qaeda figures and wounded fighters during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. U.S. officials said they did not believe Aziz had been in recent contact with the al-Qaeda leader, but hoped he might provide important insight into bin Laden's health.
  5. Richard Miniter (3 January 2006). "Osama debunks a myth". The Washington Times. Retrieved 7 June 2012. Dr. Amer Aziz, a British citizen born in Pakistan, was interrogated by eight CIA and FBI agents, as well as by Pakistani intelligence officers. Strongly sympathetic to radical Islam, Aziz had treated bin Laden for years mirror
  6. Mark H. Buzby (28 April 2008). "Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9YM-000627DP (S)" (PDF). Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
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