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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 3rd,
2007 - Life Harsher in New Guantanamo Unit |
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Life Harsher in New
Guantanamo Unit By Ben Fox Associated Press Saturday February 3, 2007 7:16 PM Guantanamo Bay Naval Base,
Cuba - Abdul Helil Mamut's good behavior earned him a spot in a medium-security
compound at the Guantanamo Bay prison, where he slept in a barracks, shared
leisurely meals with other prisoners and could spend more than half the day
in an outdoor recreation area. But in December, the
detainee was among dozens transferred from Camp 4 to the maximum-security
Camp 6, the newest section of Guantanamo Bay's military prison. Now Mamut, an ethnic Uighur
from China captured in Pakistan, spends all but two hours a day isolated in
his cell. He eats and prays by himself. His only recreation comes in a
concrete courtyard surrounded by high walls, separated from other prisoners
by a chain-link fence. The U.S. government says the
unit provides detainees with more private and comfortable quarters. But Mamut and other Uighur
prisoners complain their days are now filled with “infinite tedium and
loneliness,” said Sabin Willett, an attorney for the men, in an affidavit
filed in a Washington court. “All expressed a desperate
desire for sunlight, fresh air and someone to speak to,” Willett wrote after
a January visit to the prison, located on the U.S. military base in
southeastern Cuba, where the U.S. holds nearly 400 men suspected of links to
al-Qaida or the Taliban. Wells Dixon, who also
represents Uighurs held at Guantanamo, predicted the lack of human
interaction in Camp 6 will cause detainees to lose their grip on reality. “It will very soon become an
insane asylum,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview after he
returned from the base in January. The military, however, says
Camp 6 has improved the lives of detainees A guard at Camp 6, an Army
sergeant whose name cannot be disclosed under military rules, insisted that
the prisoners prefer the new air-conditioned cells and the privacy. “It's kind of like having
their own apartment,” he said. Camp 6 houses about 160 men
- more than a third of the total at Guantanamo - and is similar to the
highest-security U.S. prisons, even though no one at the prison has been
convicted. When the first detainees arrived
in the new unit in December, they found on their bunks two pieces of baklava
- a sweet pastry common in the Middle East - to welcome them to their new
quarters, according to one prison official. Originally, Camp 6 was going
to be more like Camp 4, with detainees allowed to congregate in a common area
and share meals. But the commander of the detention center, Navy Rear Adm.
Harry B. Harris, said that plan changed after 10 detainees attacked guards in
Camp 4 last May and three prisoners committed suicide in June in Camp 1. “Our understanding of the
detainees improved and evolved,” Harris said. In Camp 6, guards handcuff
detainees through a slot in the steel door before escorting them to the
recreation area. “They never touch another
living thing,” Willett said. “They never see, smell, or touch plants, soil,
the sea or any creature, except insects.” Willett said he does not
know why Mamut, who is about 30, or the other Uighurs were moved out of Camp
4. The military will not discuss individual detainees or decisions about
their custody - but officials say tight security is warranted in all cases. “I firmly believe that the
detainee population that we have right now is literally still at war with
us,” said Army Col. Wade Dennis, the detention center warden. “We have to be
constantly vigilant.” Willett believes Mamut does
not deserve to be in a high-security section, saying he is among the more
than 100 detainees slated for release or transfer from Guantanamo. Uighurs have been accused by
China of leading a violent Islamic separatist movement in the western
province of Xinjiang, though their supporters say Beijing uses claims of
terrorism as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence sentiment. Under U.S. law, they cannot be
deported to China because of concern they could face political persecution.
Five Uighurs were sent to Albania last year, but other countries have been
unwilling to accept the 17 or so remaining in Guantanamo. Camp 6 was built for $37
million by KBR, a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton Co. The military
has transferred prisoners there from other parts of the detention center,
including from Camps 1, 2 and 3, where detainees were held in steel mesh
cells that allowed them to easily communicate with each other but also left
guards vulnerable to being spat upon or splashed with other bodily fluids. Another unit, Camp 5, is
reserved for the least compliant and “high value” detainees, who are also
kept in individual, solid-wall cells and also allowed outside for only 2
hours a day of recreation in an enclosed area. Camp 4, where detainees
could spend 12-14 hours a day outside and could congregate freely, now holds
about 35 prisoners, down from about 180 at the time of the attack on guards
in May. Harris said it will never return to its previous size. External link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6391655,00.html |