Dilawar

Dilawar (Persian: دلاور‎‎) is a Persian origin given name.

Etymology

Roughly translated into English Dilawar would mean "One who has heart", or a more popular translation would be "brave" or "courageous".

The word Dilawar has two sylables "Dil" and "awar". "Dil" means "heart" and "awar" is a common Persian suffix which means "to have" or "to come to".

People

Places

Dilawar (torture victim)

Dilawar (born c. 1979 – December 10, 2002), also known as Dilawar of Yakubi, was an Afghan taxi driver who was tortured to death by US army soldiers at the Bagram Collection Point, a US military detention center in Afghanistan.

He arrived at the prison on December 5, 2002, and was declared dead 5 days later. His death was declared a homicide and investigated and prosecuted in the Bagram torture and prisoner abuse trials. The award winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side focuses on the murder of Dilawar.

Background

Dilawar was a 22-year-old Pashtun taxi driver and farmer from the small village of Yakubi in the Khost Province of Afghanistan, who was 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) tall, and weighed 122 pounds (55 kg). Dilawar was transporting 3 passengers in his taxi, when he and his passengers were arrested at a checkpoint. The four men were detained and turned over to American soldiers who transferred them to the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. Two of his passengers, Abdul Rahim and Zakim Shah, were reported to have experienced treatment similar to Dilawar but survived Bagram and were later flown to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps. At Bagram, Dilawar was chained to the ceiling of his cell, suspended by his wrists for four days. His arms were dislocated from their sockets, and flapped around limply whenever guards collected him for interrogation. During his detention, Dilawar's legs were beaten to a pulp and an amputation would have been necessary. He is survived by his wife, and daughter, Bibi Rashida.