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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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November 9th,
2009 - Guantanamo Conditions ‘Deteriorate’ |
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Guantanamo Conditions ‘Deteriorate’ By Andrew Wander Al Jazeera November 9, 2009 On the night that Barack
Obama won the 2008 presidential election, 21-year-old Mohammed el Gharani was
sitting in a segregation cell in Guantanamo Bay's high security Echo Block. He remembers the excitement
among his fellow prisoners at the prospect of an Obama presidency.
"Everyone was very hopeful; people were saying he was going to change
things, that he would close the prison," Gharani, who was released in
June, says. "Even the guards were
telling us that if he won, things would improve for us." They were to be
disappointed. A year after Obama's election win, Al Jazeera has learnt that
despite the new president's pledge to close the prison and improve the
conditions of detainees held by the US military, prisoners believe that their
treatment has deteriorated on his watch.
Authorities at the prison
deny mistreating the inmates, but interviews with former detainees, letters
from current prisoners and sworn testimony from independent medical experts
who have visited the prison have painted a disturbing picture of
psychological and physical abuse very much at odds with White House rhetoric
on prisoner treatment. While no-one is alleging a
return to the early days of the prison, when detainees were subjected to
"enhanced interrogation" techniques that are today widely regarded
as torture, prisoners say day-to-day life at Guantanamo has become harder under
the Obama administration. Within days of Obama's
inauguration and subsequent announcement that he would close Guantanamo,
prisoners say authorities introduced new regulations and revoked previous
privileges at the prison. "They took away group
recreation for prisoners in segregation, which was the only time we saw
anyone," Gharani remembers. "They took away the books we had from
the library. They even sprayed pepper spray into my cell while I was
sleeping, so I'd wake up unable to breathe." Gharani says he was beaten
so badly by guards that he is still suffering pain today. ‘Humiliating rules’ Al Jazeera has obtained
letters written by those currently being held in Guantanamo that tell a
similar story. In one, written in March, a prisoner, who has asked that he
remains anonymous for fear of repercussions, says he is writing to
"depict to what degree our conditions inside Guantanamo detention have
deteriorated" since Obama took office.
"I am in the very same
cell, wearing the same uniform, eating the same food, yet treated much worse
compared to mid-2008," the prisoner writes. "We are unable to
understand the goals of the policy of more restrictions and
inflexibility." According to the letter,
prison authorities inflict "humiliating punishments" on inmates and
prisoners face "intentional mental and physical harm". "The situation is
worsening with the advent of the new management," the prisoner writes,
noting, like Gharani, that the new rules were imposed in January this year.
Conditions, he says, "do not fit the lowest standard of human
living". Separately, two prisoners
have complained to their lawyer that their belongings, including their
bedding, were removed from their cells on several occasions for no reason.
Each time, they were told that the removal was a "mistake," and the
belongings were returned, only to be confiscated again. More disturbingly, the same
two prisoners say that during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, their
recreation time was moved to prevent them from taking part in traditional
group prayer. Using religion to punish
prisoners is illegal under international law. Authorities at Guantanamo deny
the prisoners are kept from practising their religion, although they concede
that recreation times are sometimes moved "due to operational
needs". They say that personal
belongings are not removed from cells "unless detainees misuse the
items"; the prisoners categorically deny that they did so. The International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC), which monitors prisoner treatment at Guantanamo,
declined to comment on specific allegations at the prison, but says that it
recognises the cumulative effect low-level abuse can have on the well-being
of prisoners in general. "In some cases, a
single act may amount to torture," ICRC spokesman Simon Schorno says.
"In others, ill treatment may be the result of a number of methods used
over time, which, taken individually and out of context, may seem harmless." Hunger strikes For the Guantanamo
prisoners, avenues of protest against their treatment are limited and many
have resorted to hunger strikes. Now there is concern that the force-feeding
regime to which hunger strikers are subjected is having a detrimental effect
on their mental and physical health. Abdul Rahman Shalabi has
been on hunger strike since August 2005. He has been force-fed twice a day by
Guantanamo personnel, who insert a feeding tube through his nose in order to
administer a liquid diet aimed at keeping him alive. But independent doctors who
have evaluated him say that the insertion of the tube has done permanent
damage to his nose and throat, making inserting new feeding tubes difficult
and stopping him from receiving the calories he needs. His lawyers say that
persisting with the current treatment could be doing more harm than good.
Shalabi was hospitalised in March, and his weight has dropped to just 107
pounds, 30 per cent below his ideal body weight and at the threshold of major
organ failure. Shalabi's lawyer, Jana
Ramsey, is bringing a case aimed at forcing the government to allow medical
specialists to work with Guantanamo personnel to prevent the further weight
loss she says is inevitable if his current treatment persists. "While participating in
the strike, Abdul Rahman has, among other things, been overfed to the point
of vomiting, had tubes inserted and removed repeatedly until his nose bled,
choked until he passed out and been blasted by pepper spray more times than
he can remember," she says. "He is now dangerously
underweight. We are deeply concerned that the medical staff at Guantanamo
have no plan to keep Abdul Rahman from starving to death." As part of the case, Ramsey
arranged for independent medical experts to examine Shalabi at the prison
over the summer. Dr Sondra Crosby, an ear, nose and throat specialist who
examined him in August, said that without a change in treatment, the prisoner
will die. "Mr Shalabi has been on
a hunger strike for four years, and only recently has his condition severely
deteriorated," her testimony notes.
His current treatment is
also having a negative impact on his mental health, experts have found. Dr
Emily Keram, a psychiatrist who evaluated him in July, told the court he was
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. "Mr. Shalabi exhibits
symptoms and disorders consistent with his reports of coercive interrogations
and other mistreatment," she said, adding that some of this trauma
occurred this year. "The medical records do
indicate that Mr. Shalabi was subjected to Forced Cell Extraction in
connection with his feeding multiple times per day through the months of
January and February. Mr Shalabi's psychological symptoms are consistent with
the distress he reported experiencing as a result of these
extractions." Shalabi himself attributes
his weight loss to his treatment at the prison. "My weight has dropped
from sadness and provocations, daily humiliations and harassments and the
sickness," he says in a letter written in September. "I am a human
who is being treated like an animal." Mistreatment denied Authorities at Guantanamo
deny that hunger strikers are subject to different treatment to other
prisoners and say that no-one is being mistreated. "All allegations of
abuse are fully investigated and if warranted, further action taken," says
Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a military spokesman for the prison.
"As with any facility of this nature, we receive many allegations and we
investigate any claim, no matter what the source, and take appropriate action
when warranted." But lawyers say that efforts
to raise these issues with the relevant authorities have been met with
inertia. Ahmed Ghappour, who
represents Guantanamo prisoners, has lodged several requests to initiate
investigations since Obama took office. "I have requested four
investigations regarding prisoner abuse just this past year," he says.
"The military responded to my first request indicating that they would
investigate, but have been radio silent since then." Released after a federal
court found him to be entirely innocent, Mohammed el Gharani is now adjusting
to life outside prison. He says that the allegations made by current inmates
match his experience of Guantanamo during the months leading up to his
release. "I recognise all of
this," he says. "There are still more than 200 people in
Guantanamo. Since Obama became president, less than 20 have been released. I
don't know why, but he has broken his promises." External link: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/11/200911591532756392.html |