Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
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Guantánamo Bay detainment camp serves as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) and has occupied a portion of the United States Navy's base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002.<ref name=Wapo020111> Afghan Prisoners Going to Gray Area: Military Unsure What Follows Transfer to U.S. Base in Cuba, Washington Post, January 9 2002</ref> The prison holds people suspected by the Executive branch of the U.S. government of being al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, along with some people no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation elsewhere. The prisoners were captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.
The detainment areas consist of three camps in the base: Camp Delta (which includes Camp Echo), Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray. The facility is often referred to as Guantanamo, Gitmo (derived from the abbreviation "GTMO" ), or Camp X-Ray.<ref name=Independent060429> Guantanamo Bay prisoners plant seeds of hope in secret garden, The Independent, April 29 2006 -- mirror</ref>
The camp has drawn strong criticism both in the U.S. and world-wide for its detainment of prisoners without trial, and allegations of torture. The detainees held by the United States were classified as "enemy combatants". The U.S. administration had claimed that they were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against this interpretation on June 19 2006. Following this, on July 7, 2006 the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that prisoners will in the future be entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.<ref>"US detainees to get Geneva rights", BBC, 2006-07-11.</ref><ref>"White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Convention protections", CNN, 2006-07-11.</ref><ref>"White House Changes Gitmo Policy", CBS News, 2006-07-11.</ref>
Most of the detainees still at Guantanamo are not scheduled for trial. As of November 2006, according to MSNBC.com, out of 775 detainees who have been brought to Guantanamo, approximately 340 have been released, leaving 435 detainees. Of those 435, 110 have been labeled as ready for release. Of the other 325, only "more than 70" will face trial, the Pentagon says. That leaves about 250 who may be held indefinitely.<ref>In limbo: Cases are few against Gitmo detainees: Only about 70 out of 775 will face military trials, Pentagon says (Oct. 23 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-05.</ref>
Some detainees who were deemed to no longer pose a threat and were released have since been recaptured or killed while fighting US and coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref name="wp-article-2004-10-22">Released Detainees Rejoining The Fight (Oct. 22 2004). Retrieved on 2006-11-27.</ref>
[edit] History
In the last quarter of the 20th century, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas. In the early 1990s, it held refugees who fled Haiti after military forces overthrew democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These refugees were held in a detainment area called Camp Bulkeley until United States District Court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camp unconstitutional on June 8, 1993. The last Haitian migrants departed Guantánamo on November 1 1995.
The Migrant Operations Center on Guantánamo typically keeps fewer than 30 people interdicted at sea in the Caribbean region.
On June 16, 2005, the United States Department of Defense announced that a unit of defense contractor Halliburton will build a new $30 million detention facility and security perimeter around the base.
[edit] Detainees
On September 22, 2004 ten prisoners were brought from Afghanistan. A total of 242 detainees had been moved out of Guantánamo as of July 20, 2005, including 173 that were released, and 69 transferred to the governments of other countries, according to the United States Department of Defense.<ref>Eight More Guantanamo Detainees Released or Transferred. Intertational Information Programs (20 July 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
As of November 7, 2005, 358 of the 505 detainees then held at Guantánamo Bay have had Administrative Review Board hearings, according to a November 12, 2005, report by the Wall Street Journal. Of these, 3 percent were granted and awaiting release, 20 percent were to be transferred, 37 percent were to be further detained at Guantánamo, and no decision had been made in 40 percent of the cases. Of the 505 detainees, 100 or more are from Saudi Arabia, about 80 from Yemen, about 65 from Pakistan, about 50 from Afghanistan, two from Syria and one from Australia.
Image:Guantanamo Bay David Hicks Cell, Reading Room Inset.jpg
From 2002 to 2006 there have been several hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, with up to 200 participants according to some reports.<ref>>Guantanamo Bay - Detainees, Globalsecurity.org.</ref> Numerous participants were being force-fed through a feeding tube when their health and lives became in danger. The Australian reports that as of May 30, 2006, the number of detainees on hunger strike is 75.<ref>>Guantanamo hunger strikers at 75, The Australian, May 30, 2006.</ref>
[edit] Facilities
- Camp Delta
- composed of detention camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Camp Echo, is a 612-unit detention center built between February 27 and mid-April 2002. Most of the security force there is U.S. Army military police, and U.S. Navy Master-at Arms. Camp Echo, part of the Camp Delta compound, is a detention center where pre-commissions are held — its detainees may talk privately to lawyers.
- Camp Iguana
- a smaller, low-security compound, located about a kilometer from the main prison compound. In 2002 and 2003, it housed three detainees who were under age 16, and was closed when they were flown home in January 2004. The compound was reopened in mid-2005 to house some of the 38 detainees who were determined by the Combatant Status Review Tribunals not to actually be "illegal combatants". Those who could not safely be repatriated to their home country were moved to Camp Iguana.
- Camp X-Ray
- was a temporary detention facility, closed on April 29, 2002, and its prisoners transferred to Camp Delta. But the term "Camp X-Ray" is sometimes still used as a synonym for the entire facility where suspected (and formerly mistakenly suspected) Al Qaeda and Taliban "illegal combatants" are detained.
[edit] Controversy
[edit] Actions of the U.S. Government
The status of this prison, above political beliefs, is not clear and may be against Human Rights and democratic ethics and laws, although U.S. courts have partially accepted the status of the prison as existing outside many of the U.S. laws, with the caveat that additional rights be provided regarding due process. In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court further restricted the Bush administration's use of military tribunals to try the detainees.
The Executive branch of the U.S. government has classified the detainees in Camp X-Ray as "enemy combatants," rather than prisoners of war (POWs). The administration cites Article 4 of the Geneva Convention as authority for their position that these enemy combatants are not POWs. Article 4 of the Geneva Convention defines a POW as:"Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions: (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war."<ref>>Geneva Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; August 12, 1949.</ref>
The U.S. government justifies this designation by claiming that they do not have the status of either regular soldiers nor that of guerrillas, and they are not part of a regular army or militia.
In July 2003, about 680 alleged Taliban members and suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists from 42 different countries were incarcerated there. Some prisoners have been allowed to meet with attorneys .<ref>Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. Washington Post.</ref> <ref>Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. GlobalSecurity.org.</ref>.
On April 23, 2003, the U.S. military reported that three of the Afghan war prisoners held at Camp Delta had been identified as juveniles, were separated from the adult prisoners, and moved to markedly better conditions at Camp Iguana. Civil rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith wrote an article where he cited reports of a further dozen minors detained in the adult portion of the prison. Smith asserted that there were twenty or more minors detained in Guantanamo. When the DoD released what it called its final list of all the detainees who had been held in military custody at Guantanamo there were dozens of detainess who would have been minors when captured, who were housed in the adult portion of the prison, in violation of international law.
On July 23, 2003, U.S. Major General Geoffrey Miller said that three-quarters of the roughly 660 detainees had confessed to some involvement in terrorism. Many have informed about friends and colleagues. According to Miller, the confessions were acquired through rewards that included extended recreation time, extra food rations to keep in their cells, or a move to the prison's medium-security facility.
On September 6, 2006, President Bush announced that fourteen suspected terrorists are to be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and admitted that these suspects have been held in CIA black sites. These people include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaeda leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaeda cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5321606.stm</ref>None of the 14 top figures transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody had been charged until September 11 2006.<ref name=newsmax110906>Sen. Frist: Trials for Gitmo Terror Suspects, NewsMax Media, September 11 2006</ref>
[edit] Conditions at the camp
Physical conditions for detainees at Camp Delta meet basic standards for maintaining health[citation needed]. Prisoners are held in small mesh-sided cells with little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night. Detainees are said to have rations similar to those of American forces, with consideration for Muslim dietary needs. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain from the United States Army, provided religious services, but has now resigned after unproven allegations were brought against him by the United States, following his tour of duty at Guantánamo Bay. These charges include sedition, aiding the enemy, espionage — although it was never declared on whose behalf, and failure to obey a general order. He was then transferred to a United States Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Later, the charges were dropped. He states that he resigned because no apology was given, nor was there an acknowledgement of error by the United States.[citation needed]
Detainees are kept in isolation most of the day, are blindfolded when moving into Camp Delta and from place to place within the camp, and forbidden to talk in groups of more than three. American doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war state that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. There have been allegations of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. It has been alleged that SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program's chief psychologist, Colonel Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the behavioral science consultants who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy. SERE is a program based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[citation needed]
In April 2006, it was discovered that several detainees had managed to secretly grow vegetables from seeds garnered from their meals, creating a makeshift garden in violation of camp regulations.<ref>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0429-03.htm</ref>
[edit] Criticisms
The use of Guantánamo Bay as a military prison has drawn fire from human rights organizations and other critics, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured <ref> (October 17 2004) "Folter in Guantánamo?". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.</ref> or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. However, the detainees' status as potential or active terrorists, and the lack of any ratified treaties regarding treatment of captured terrorists, makes the situation particularly complicated. The Bush administration argued that the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to perceived Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters, since the Geneva convention only applies to uniformed soldiers of a recognized government.[citation needed] Critics of U.S. policy say the government has violated the Conventions in attempting to create a distinction between 'prisoners of war' and 'illegal combatants'.<ref>Monbiot, George (March 25 2003). "One rule for them". The Guardian.</ref> A U.S. district court partially agreed with the Bush administration, finding that the Geneva Conventions apply to Taliban fighters, but not to Al Qaeda terrorists.<ref>In re Guantanamo Detainee Cases, 355 F.Supp.2d 443 (D.D.C. 2005).</ref>
Amnesty International and the United Nations have called the situation "a human rights scandal" in a series of reports.<ref>Guantánamo Bay - a human rights scandal. Amnesty International. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
Member states of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International have protested the legal status and physical condition of detainees at Guantánamo. Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have been approached by relatives and friends of detainees to request a legal determination favorable to detainees.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration over this designation in its 2003 world report, stating: "Washington has ignored human rights standards in its own treatment of terrorism suspects. It has refused to apply the Geneva Conventions to prisoners of war from Afghanistan, and has misused the designation of 'illegal combatant' to apply to criminal suspects on U.S. soil."
On May 25, 2005, Amnesty International released its annual report calling the facility the "gulag of our times", even using the expression "The Gulag Archipelago" to compare the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp to the Soviet Gulag forced labor camps in which 20 million Soviet citizens labored under harsh conditions, and in which an estimated million people died.
- "Guantánamo has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the notion that people can be detained without any recourse to the law. If Guantánamo evokes images of Soviet repression, "ghost detainees" – or the incommunicado detention of unregistered detainees - bring back the practice of "disappearances" so popular with Latin American dictators in the past. According to U.S. official sources there could be over 100 ghost detainees held by the U.S."<ref>Kahn, Irene (25 May 2005). Amnesty International Report 2005 Speech by Irene Khan at Foreign Press Association. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
This comparison of Guantánamo Bay to the Gulag system invited criticism of Amnesty International.<ref> (May 26 2005) "American Gulag". Washington Post.</ref>
Lord Steyn, a prominent judge in the United Kingdom, was quoted in the British newspaper The Independent on November 26 2003 regarding the planned trial of some prisoners by military tribunal:
- As a lawyer brought up to admire the ideals of American democracy and justice, I would have to say that I regard this a monstrous failure of justice. The military will act as interrogators, prosecutors and defense counsel, judges, and when death sentences are imposed, as executioners. The trials will be held in private. None of the guarantees of a fair trial need be observed.
At the beginning of December 2003, there were media reports that military lawyers appointed to defend alleged terrorists being held by the United States at Guantánamo Bay had expressed concern about the legal process for military commissions. The Guardian newspaper from the United Kingdom<ref>Meek, James (December 3 2003). "US fires Guantanamo defense team". The Guardian.</ref> reported that a team of lawyers was dismissed after complaining that the rules for the forthcoming military commissions prohibited them from properly representing their clients. New York's Vanity Fair reported that some of the lawyers felt their ethical obligations were being violated by the process. The Pentagon strongly denied the claims in these media reports.
The New York Times and other newspapers are critical of the camp; columnist Thomas Friedman urged George W. Bush to "just shut it down":
- [The Camp Delta] has become worse than an embarrassment. I am convinced that more Americans are dying and will die if we keep the Gitmo prison open than if we shut it down. So, please, Mr. President, just shut it down.<ref>Friedman, Thomas L. (May 27 2005). "Just Shut It Down". New York Times.</ref>
Later, another New York Times editorial supported Friedman's proposal:
- What makes Amnesty's gulag metaphor apt is that Guantánamo is merely one of a chain of shadowy detention camps that also includes Abu Ghraib in Iraq, the military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and other, secret locations run by the intelligence agencies. Each has produced its own stories of abuse, torture and criminal homicide. These are not isolated incidents, but part of a tightly linked global detention system with no accountability in law. Prisoners have been transferred from camp to camp. So have commanding officers. And perhaps not coincidentally, so have specific methods of mistreatment.<ref> (June 5 2005) "Un-American by Any Name". New York Times.</ref>
On 19 November, 2005, a group of experts from the Commission on Human Rights at the United Nations called off their visit to Camp Delta, originally scheduled for 6 December, saying that the United States was not allowing them to conduct private interviews with the prisoners. "Since the Americans have not accepted the minimum requirements for such a visit, we must cancel [it]," Manfred Nowak, the UN envoy in charge of investigating torture allegations around the world, told AFP. The group nevertheless stated its intention to write a report on conditions at the prison based on eyewitness accounts from released detainees, meetings with lawyers and information from human rights groups.<ref>UN experts cancel Guantanamo visit, citing U.S. block (18 November 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> <ref>Annan: Shut Guantanamo prison camp. CNN.com (February 17 2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
On February 15, 2006 the UN group released their report which called on the U.S. either to release all suspected terrorists or to try them. The report, issued by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, has the subtitle Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay. and includes, as an appendix, the U.S. ambassador's reply to the draft versions of the report in which he restates the U.S. government's position on the detainees.<ref>Zerrougui, Leila; Leandro Despouy, Manfred Nowak, Asma Jahangir, Paul Hunt (February 15 2006). Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay (PDF). United Nations Economic and Social Council. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
European leaders have also voiced their opposition to the detention center. On January 13, 2006, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself being raised in repressive East-Germany where similar practices were used, criticized the U.S. detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and the "interrogation technique" known as "waterboarding", calling it a form of torture: "An institution like Guantánamo in its present form cannot and must not exist in the long term. We must find different ways of dealing with prisoners. As far as I'm concerned there's no question about that.", she declared in a January 9 interview to Der Spiegel.<ref>404 error. CNN.com. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> <ref>Merkel: Guantanamo Mustn't Exist in Long Term. Spiegel Online (January 9 2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> Meanwhile in the UK, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, stated during a live broadcast of Question Time (February 16 2006) that: "I would prefer that it wasn't there and I would prefer it was closed." His cabinet colleague and Prime Minister, Tony Blair, declared the following day that the centre was "an anomaly and sooner or later it's got to be dealt with." <ref>Close Guantanamo camp, Hain says. BBC News (17 February 2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> On 10 March 2006, a letter in The Lancet is published, signed by more than 250 medical experts urging the United States to stop force-feeding of detainees and close down the prison. Force-feeding is specifically prohibited by the World Medical Association force-feeding in the declarations of Tokyo and Malta, to which the American Medical Association is a signatory. Dr David Nicholl who had initiated the letter stated that the definition of torture as only actions that cause "death or major organ failure" was "not a definition anyone on the planet is using".<ref>Doctors attack U.S. over Guantanamo. BBC News (10 March 2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> <ref>Doctors demand end to Guantánamo force-feeding (March 10 2006). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
In May 2006, the UK Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said the camp's existence was "unacceptable" and tarnished the U.S. traditions of liberty and justice. "The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and of justice deserves the removal of this symbol," he said. <ref name=Bbc060511> UK told U.S. won't shut Guantanamo, BBC, May 11 2006</ref>
In June 2006 the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in support of a motion urging the United States to close the camp.<ref>"Euro MPs urge Guantanamo closure", June 13, 2006.</ref>
On June 12, 2006, Sen Arlen Specter stated to CNN that the arrests of most of the roughly 500 prisoners held there were based on "the flimsiest sort of hearsay".<ref>Suicides spur Guantanamo criticism, CNN</ref>
In September 2006 the UK's Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, who heads the UK's legal system, went further than previous British government statements, condemning the existence of the camp as a "shocking affront to democracy". Lord Falconer, who said he was expressing Government policy, made the comments in a lecture at the Supreme Court of New South Wales. <ref> "Toplevel plea for detainees", Argus Newspapers, September 14, 2006.</ref>
[edit] Prisoner complaints and alleged torture
[edit] Tipton Three
Three British prisoners, now known in the media as the "Tipton Three", were released in 2004 without charge. Represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the three have alleged ongoing torture, sexual degradation, forced drugging and religious persecution being committed by U.S. forces at Guantánamo Bay. The prisoners have released a 115-page dossier detailing these accusations.<ref>Hyland, Julie (6 August 2004). Britons release devastating account of torture and abuse by U.S. forces at Guantanamo. World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref> They have also accused British authorities of knowing about the alleged torture and failing to respond.
The accounts of the British prisoners have been reiterated by two former French prisoners, a former Swedish prisoner, and a former Australian prisoner.
[edit] Mehdi Ghezali
Former Guantánamo detainee, the Swede Mehdi Ghezali was freed on July 9, 2004 after two and half years internment. Ghezali has claimed that he was the victim of repeated torture. His lawyer has declared that he intends to sue the U.S. for their treatment of him.
[edit] Moazzam Begg
Former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg, freed in January, 2005, after nearly three years in captivity, has accused his American captors of torturing him and other detainees arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr Begg, in his first broadcast interview since his release, claimed he "witnessed two people get beaten so badly that I believe it caused their deaths".<ref>'Two people were beaten to death' - Moazzam Begg interview. Channel 4 news (24 February 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref>
Begg was a prisoner in the Bagram Collection Point. in December 2002, when Habibullah and Dilawar were beaten to death. Military pathologists classified their deaths as homicides. But the harshest sentence imposed on the troops involved was five months imprisonment.
[edit] Omar Deghayes
Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer for Omar Deghayes, a British resident of Libyan origin still held in the camp, has stated that Mr Deghayes was blinded by pepper spray during his detention.<ref>UK: Medics condemn government over Guantánamo in new letter</ref>
[edit] Murat Kurnaz
Former Guantánamo detainee Murat Kurnaz, released on August 24, 2006 after five years of captivity, has given a detailed description of the conditions in the detainment camp in an interview published in Turkish newspaper Hurriyet 'I would like to get married and start a family' - Murat Kurnaz Interview. Murat Kurnaz was a Turkish citizen and resident of Germany. Kurnaz claims that he went to Afghanistan as part of a peaceful Muslim aid group where he was captured by local people and sold to US military for $3,000. While in Guantanamo Bay he was subject to various sorts of mistreatment and torture.
Murat Kurnaz's statements are:
Shock rooms: "(In Guantanamo) I was subjected to severe torture. For three months, I stayed in these cold-hot shock rooms. When you go into the room they pump very hot air inside. After that, they pump extremely cold air. It is a horrifying kind of torture. There were various sorts of torture methods including electrical shocks, drowning in water tanks, depriving of food and water, chaining and hanging to the ceiling."
"I witnessed people dying": "They brought a tub full of water. They dipped our heads and held them in water. There I witnessed many people die. They stripped us of our clothes, chaining and hanging us to the wall. I was kept hung to the wall for 4-5 days. Then doctor used to come and check if we could stand more or not. We were not given any food for 20 days. They only gave us one piece of toast, one carrot or one apple per day."
"Psychological Torture": "When none of these torture methods worked, they applied psychological torture. They threw the Qur'an to the floor and kicked it around, throwing it in the toilet. They were playing Adhan along with other music and dancing to it. They made religious insults. Once I could not feel my feet or hands due to the cold. Then I felt a gun barrel at my head. The soldier was yelling at me saying that he was going to kill me. I started laughing. All other detainees started laughing, too. Because I felt that I was already dead. If they killed me, they would be doing me a favor.
"Sign this document": "One day, they brought this document to me and told me to sign it. For example, there were sentences saying that I would guarantee that I would not get involved in terrorist activities. I told them I never did anything like that anyway, and I would not sign it. I was told that I would not be able to get out of there if I did not sign it. Then they packed my bags and sent me back to Germany."
"All Guantanamo camp footage is fake": "After I was released I saw a lot of photos and video footage of Guantanamo detainment camp. Those are all fake and full of lies. Americans were selecting 2-3 detainees for the footage. They were giving mattresses, blankets, prayer beads and skullcaps to these detainees and were recording these videos. The documentary The Road to Guantanamo is a good work. But it is only telling 20 percent of what happened there. It is hard to show everything that happened over the years in one movie".
[edit] Juma Al Dossary
In December 2005, Amnesty International published the account of Juma Al Dossary, a 32-year-old Bahraini national. Al Dossary says in three years he has been interrogated some 600 times, fed rotten food, beaten many times (by up to eight guards at once), made to walk on broken glass and pushed so that his face hit the glass shards, made to walk on barbed wire, and has had cigarettes put out on his body. He also reports frequent sexual assaults and other degrading treatment, similar to what has been reported from Abu Ghraib. <ref>'Days of adverse hardship in U.S. detention camps - Testimony of Guantánamo detainee Jumah al-Dossari'. Amnesty International (6 December 2005). Retrieved on 2006-06-05.</ref>
[edit] David Hicks
In February 2006, Australian prisoner David Hicks also made allegations of torture and mistreatment in Guantánamo Bay. In July 2003, Hicks was one of six detainees first determined by President George W. Bush to be eligible for trial by a military court. Almost three years later, no trial has commenced.
According to detailed accounts reported by the New York Times on June 24, 2005, from former interrogators, military doctors have assisted with refinement of the techniques interrogators have used on detainees, including advice on how to incrementally adjust psychological duress levels and manipulate fears, as a means of attempting to make the detainees more cooperative and willing to provide information.<ref>Lewis, Neil A. (June 24 2005). Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guantánamo Prison Camp. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> It has been alleged that SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy. SERE is a program based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
A related article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported doctors involved with devising and supervising the interrogations indicated they understood the interrogation procedure refinements they gave advice on were designed to increase fear and distress, as a means to obtaining intelligence. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, while declining to address the specifics of the doctors' accounts, responded by asserting the doctors were not covered by ethics rules, since they were advising interrogators as behavioral scientists rather than treating patients.
[edit] Cash Reward for Turning in
An Associated Press report asserted that some of the detainees were turned over to the United States by Afghan tribesmen in return for cash rewards. Detainees testified during military tribunals that bounties ranged from $3,000 to $25,000. The allegations were in transcripts the U.S. government released in compliance with a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by AP.<ref>404 error. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref>
The first Denbeaux study reproduces copies of several of leaflets, flyers and posters the US Government distributed to advertize the bounty program.<ref name="Denbeaux1">Mark Denbeaux et. all., Report on Guantanamo detainees: A Profile of 517 Detainees (.pdf), Seton Hall University, February 8 2006</ref> Some of the posters were in comic form, to reach the bulk of the Afghan population, who are illiterate.
[edit] Forced feeding accusations
Forced feeding accusations by hunger-striking detainees began around the beginning of Autumn, 2005: "Detainees said large feeding tubes were forcibly shoved up their noses and down into their stomachs, with guards using the same tubes from one patient to another. The detainees say no sedatives were provided during these procedures, which they allege took place in front of U.S. physicians, including the head of the prison hospital."<ref>Headlines for October 20, 2005. Democracy Now!. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref><ref>Guantanamo hunger strikers say U.S. misuses feeding tubes. Xinhua.net (October 21 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref> "A hunger striking detainee at Guantánamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die, one of his lawyers has said."<ref>Guantanamo detainee pleads to die. Aljazeera.net (26 October 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref> Within a few weeks, the Department of Defense "extended an invitation to United Nations Special Rapporteurs to visit detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay Naval Station".<ref>Invitation to UN Special Rapporteurs to Visit Guantanamo Bay Detention Facilities. US Department of State (October 28 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref><ref>wire services (October 29 2005). U.S. invites U.N. experts to Guantanamo camp. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.</ref> This was rejected by the U.N. considering the restrictions "that [the] three human rights officials invited to Guantánamo Bay wouldn't be allowed to conduct private interviews" with prisoners. <ref>Guantanamo Visit Rules Set by U.S. Called Unacceptable by UN. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> Simultaneously, media reports ensued surrounding the question of prisoner treatment.<ref>Colgan, Jill (30 October 2005). Former army chaplain breaks silence over Guantanamo. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> <ref>Preston, Julia. Prisoner Says Abuse of His Islamic Books Preceded Beating in '01. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> <ref>Doctors urge UK to intervene against Guantanamo force-feeding. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> "District Court Judge Gladys Kessler also ordered the U.S. government to give medical records going back a week before such feedings take place."<ref>Judge rules on Guantanamo strike. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> In early November, 2005, the U.S. suddenly accelerated, for unknown reasons, the rate of prisoner release, but this was unsustained. <ref>Akeel, Maha. 40 Saudis Likely to Be Freed From Guantanamo Soon. Arab News. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> <ref>Five Kuwaitis return from Guantanamo Bay. People's Daily Online. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> <ref>Three Bahrainees released from Guantanamo prison (HTML). Arabic News. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> <ref>Four More Detainees Released from Guantanamo Detention Center. US International Information Programs. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref>
[edit] Articles from Various American Media Sources
According to a June 21, 2005 New York Times opinion article,<ref>Lewis, Anthony (June 21 2005). Guantánamo's Long Shadow. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref> on July 29, 2004 an FBI agent was quoted as saying, "On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 18, 24 hours or more."
Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt, who headed the probe into FBI accounts of abuse of Guantánamo prisoners by Defense Department personnel, concluded the man (a Saudi, described as the "20th hijacker") was subjected to "abusive and degrading treatment" due to "the cumulative effect of creative, persistent and lengthy interrogations." The techniques used were authorized by the Pentagon, he said.<ref>this story is not currently available. Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref>
Many of the released prisoners have complained of enduring beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, prolonged hooding, sexual and cultural humiliation, forced injections, and other physical and psychological mistreatment during their detention in Camp Delta.
The U.S. government has denied all of the above charges, but on May 9, 2004, The Washington Post publicized classified documents that showed Pentagon approval of using sleep deprivation, exposure to hot and cold, bright lights, and loud music during interrogations at Guantánamo.<ref>404 error. Retrieved on 2006-03-15. (Refers to "Pentagon Approved Tougher Interrogations" by Dana Priest and Joe Stephens, Washington Post staff writers.)</ref> Sean Baker, a soldier posing as a prisoner during training exercises at the camp, was beaten so severely that he suffered a brain injury and seizures.<ref name=Nytimes040609> Army Now Says G.I. Was Beaten in Role, New York Times, June 9 2004</ref> In June 2004 the New York Times reported that of the nearly 600 detainees not much more than two dozens were closely linked to Al-Qaeda and that only very limited information could have been gotten from questionings. The only top terrorist is reportedly Mohamed al-Kahtani from Saudi Arabia, who is believed to have planned to participate in the September 11, 2001 attacks.<ref>Registration required. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
The International Committee of the Red Cross inspected the camp in June 2004. In a confidential report issued in July 2004 and leaked to the New York Times in November 2004, Red Cross inspectors accused the U.S. military of using "humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, use of forced positions" against prisoners. The inspectors concluded that "the construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture." The United States Government has reportedly rejected the Red Cross findings.<ref name="Reuters storyID=6951969">404 error. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> <ref name="NYT 2004-11-30">Registration required. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> <ref name="ICRC 2004">Press Release 04/70: The ICRC's work at Guantanamo Bay. International Committee of the Red Cross (30 November 2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
The Washington Post in a May 8, 2004 article describes a set of interrogation techniques approved for use in interrogating alleged terrorists at Guantánamo Bay which are said by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, to be cruel and inhumane treatment illegal under the U.S. Constitution.<ref>Priest, Dana, Joe Stephens (May 9 2004). "Pentagon Approved Tougher Interrogations". Washington Post. - 404 error as of last access</ref>
On June 15 Brigadier General Janis Karpinski at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse in Iraq said she was told from the top to treat detainees like dogs "as it is done in Guantánamo [Camp Delta]". The former commander of Camp X-Ray, Geoffrey Miller, was the person brought in to deal with the inquiry into the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq during the Allied occupation. Ex-detainees of the Camp have made serious allegations, including alleging Geoffrey Miller's complicity in abuse at Camp X-Ray.
The book, Inside the Wire by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak also claims to reveal the abuse of prisoners. Saar, a former U.S. soldier, repeats allegations that female interrogators taunted prisoners sexually and in one instance wiped what seemed to be menstrual blood on the detainee. In reality it was just a red marker but the prisoner was unable to clean himself and hence unable to pray. Other instances of beatings by the IRF (initial reaction force) have been reported in this book and it supports the claim that the Qur'an was flushed down the toilet. An FBI email from December 2003, six months after Saar had left, said that the Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo had impersonated FBI agents while using "torture techniques" on a detainee.<ref>Fwd: Impersonating FBI at GTMO (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-03-19.</ref>
In October of 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney confirmed in a radio interview that U.S. interrogators subjected captured suspects to the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding.<ref>"Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding" by Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers, October 25, 2006</ref>
[edit] U.S. government denial of allegations of mistreatment
The United States government, through the State Department, makes periodic reports to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. In October 2005, the report focused on pretrial detention of suspects in the War on Terrorism, including those held in Guantánamo Bay. This particular Periodic Report is significant as the first official response of the U.S. government to allegations that prisoners are mistreated in Guantánamo Bay. The report denies the allegations, but does describe in detail several instances of misconduct that did not arise to the level of substantial abuse, as well as the training and punishments given to the perpetrators.
[edit] Released Prisoners
In late January 2004, U.S. officials released three children aged 13 to 15 and returned them to Afghanistan. Prison officials say these three were the only detainees below the age of 16. In March 2004, twenty-three adult prisoners were released to Afghanistan, five were released to the United Kingdom (the final four British detainees were released in January 2005), and three were sent to Pakistan.
On July 27 2004 four French detainees Mourad Benchellali, Nizar Sassi, Imad Kanouni and Brahim Yadel were repatriated and remanded in custody by the French intelligence agency Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire.<ref>Guantanamo inmates back in France, BBC news</ref> The remaining three French detainees Mustaq Ali Patel, Ridouane Khalid and Khaled Ben Mustafa were released in March 2005.<ref>Last Guantanamo Frenchmen go home, BBC news</ref>
On August 4, 2004, the three ex-detainees who were returned to the UK (who were freed by the British authorities within 24 hours of their return home), filed a report in the U.S. claiming persistent severe abuse at the Camp, of themselves and others.<ref>Tania Branigan and Vikram Dodd (August 4 2004). "Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay - the story of three British detainees". The Guardian.</ref> They claimed that false confessions were extracted from them under duress, in conditions which amounted to torture. They alleged that conditions deteriorated when Major General Geoffrey Miller took charge of the camp, including increased periods of solitary confinement for the detainees. They claimed that the abuse took place with the knowledge of the intelligence forces. Their claims are currently being investigated by the British Government.
There are five British residents remaining: Bisher Amin Khalil Al-Rawi, Jamil al Banna, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, Jamal Abdullah and Omar Deghayes. All these men have close family members who are British citizens and have themselves lived in the UK for many years.<ref>Moazzam Begg Speaks about his experience at Guantanamo. Indymedia UK (April 4 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> In addition there are 'ghost prisoners' undeclared by the State, some of whom may be British residents.
Among the approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo, the Washington Post reported on August 25 2005 that fifteen had been determined not to have been "enemy combatants" after all.<ref name=Wapo050824>Chinese Detainees Are Men Without a Country: 15 Muslims, Cleared of Terrorism Charges, Remain at Guantanamo With Nowhere to Go, Washington Post, August 24 2005</ref> Some of the Uyghurs had lawyers who volunteered to help them pursue a writ of habeas corpus, which would have been one step in getting them freed from American detention. Five of the Uyghurs were scheduled to have arguments for their writ of habeas corpus argued in U.S. District Court on Monday May 8 2006. However, on Friday May 5 2006, just prior to the scheduled court review, these five Uyghurs were abruptly transported to refugee camps in Albania, and the Department of Justice filed an "Emergency Motion to Dismiss as Moot" on the same day.<ref name=DoJ060506> Emergency Motion to Dismiss as Moot, Department of Justice, May 5 2006</ref><ref name=Alternet060506>Making Justice Moot, Alternet, May 6 2006</ref> Barbara Olshansky, one of the Uyghur's lawyers, characterized the sudden transfer as an attempt to "...avoid having to answer in court for keeping innocent men in jail".<ref name=Bbc060506>Albania takes Guantanamo Uighurs, BBC, May 6 2006</ref><ref name=Rfa060510> Guantanamo Uyghurs Try to Settle in Albania, Radio Free Asia, May 10 2006</ref> The remaining Uyghur detainees in Guantanamo appear to still be held there, as of July 3 2006.
In August 2006, a German-born Turkish national was released from Guantánamo. Murat Kurnaz was handed over to German officials after being flown to the Ramstein air base in Germany, following lengthy negotiations between the German government and US officials.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5285226.stm</ref>
Airat Vakhitov and Rustam Akhmyarov, two Russian nationals captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 (in a Taliban prison, in Vakhitov's case) and released from Guantánamo in 2004, were arrested by Russian authorities on August 27, 2005. The two former detainees were arrested in Moscow for allegedly preparing a series of attacks in Russia. According to authorities, Vakhitov was using a local human rights group as cover for his activities.<ref>Released Russian Guantanamo Prisoners Seized in Moscow. MosNews (30 August 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> They were released on September 2, and no charges were ever pressed.<ref>Russian Federation: Further information on: Fear for safety/fear of torture or ill-treatment/"disappearance". AI (2 September 2005). Retrieved on 2006-07-20.</ref>
[edit] Prisoners who are involved in terrorism after release
Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar, captured in Afghanistan in December 2001, was one of the twenty-three prisoners released from Camp Delta in late January 2004. After his release, he joined the remnants of the Taliban and was killed in a gunfight on September 26 2004.<ref>Gul, Ayaz (27 Sep 2004). Taleban Leader Killed in Afghanistan was in Guantanamo Bay Prison. Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref>
Abdullah Mehsud, also captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 after surrendering to Abdul Rashid Dostum, masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in Pakistan's South Waziristan region as well as returning to his position as an Al-Qaeda field commander.<ref name=Cbs041017>Gitmo Detainees Return To Terror (October 17 2004).</ref> One of the Chinese engineers died during a rescue mission that rescued the other hostage.<ref name="wp-article-2004-10-22" /> Mehsud has also claimed responsibility for the bombing at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel in October 2004. The blast injured seven people, including a U.S. diplomat, two Italians and the Pakistani prime minister's chief security officer. Mehsud was subsequently reported to have been killed in combat.
American spokesmen, including Vice President Dick Cheney have cited Ghaffar and Mehsud as examples of detainees who tricked their interrogators into thinking they were harmless, illiterate peasants.<ref name=Sfgate050614> Cheney defends Guantanamo as essential to war: VP says that if freed, prisoners would return to battlefield, San Francisco Chronicle, June 14 2005</ref> However, when the Department of Defense released a full list of the names, identity numbers, and nationalities of all the detainees who were held in Guantanamo -- in military custody -- Ghaffar and Mehsud's names were missing.<ref name=DoDList2>list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15 2006</ref>
[edit] Suicides and attempted suicides
Main Source: <ref name=UsaToday060610> Guantanamo commander says 3 detainees hang themselves with makeshift nooses, USA Today, June 10 2006</ref>
On June 10, 2006, three detainees were found dead. According to the Pentagon they "killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact".<ref name=Bbc060611> Triple suicide at Guantanamo camp, BBC, June 11 2006</ref> But prison commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris claimed this was not an act of desperation, but rather "an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us".<ref name=Times060611> Three die in Guantanamo suicide pact, The Times, June 11 2006</ref>
The three detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes. According to military officials, the suicides were coordinated acts of protests, but human rights activists and defense attorneys said the deaths signaled the desperation of many of the detainees. Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents about 300 Guantanamo prisoners said that detainees "have this incredible level of despair that they will never get justice".<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-10-guantanamo-suicides_x.htm?csp=34</ref>
Amnesty International said the apparent suicides "are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention" and called the prison "an indictment" of the Bush administration's human rights record.<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-10-guantanamo-suicides_x.htm?csp=34</ref>
Saudi Arabia's state-sponsored Saudi Human Rights group blamed the U.S. for the deaths. "There are no independent monitors at the detention camp so it is easy to pin the crime on the prisoners ... it's possible they were tortured," said Mufleh al-Qahtani, the group's deputy director, said in a statement to the local Al-Riyadh newspaper.<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-10-guantanamo-suicides_x.htm?csp=34</ref>
Guantanamo officials have reported 41 unsuccessful suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend the number of suicide attempts is higher.
A U.N. panel said May 19 that holding detainees indefinitely at Guantanamo violated the world's ban on torture and the United States should close the detention center.
Mark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey who represents two Tunisians at Guantanamo, said he believes others there are candidates for suicide. Denbeaux said one of his clients, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, appeared to be depressed and hardly spoke during a June 1 visit. Rahman was on a hunger strike at the time and was force-fed soon after, Denbeaux said. "He told us he would rather die than stay in Guantanamo," the attorney said. "He doesn't believe he will ever get out of Guantanamo alive."<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-10-guantanamo-suicides_x.htm?csp=34</ref>
As of August 2003, at least 29 inmates of Camp Delta had attempted suicide in protest. The U.S. officials would not say why they had not previously reported the incident.<ref>Mass Guantanamo suicide protest. BBC News (25 January 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-15.</ref> After this event the Pentagon reclassified suicides as "manipulative self-injurious behaviors" because it is alleged by camp physicians that detainees do not genuinely wish to end their lives. The prisoners supposedly feel that they may be able to get better treatment or release with suicide attempts. Daryl Matthews, a professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Hawaii who examined the prisoners, stated that given the cultural differences between interrogators and prisoners, such a classification was difficult if not impossible. Depression is common in Guantánamo, with 1/5 of all prisoners taking antidepressants such as prozac.<ref>Rose, David (January 2004). "Operation Take Away My Freedom: Inside Guantanamo Bay On Trial". Vanity Fair: 88.</ref>
[edit] Legal proceedings
Among the roughly 500 detainees, 10 have been tried and none has been proven guilty.
[edit] Supreme Court of the United States
On November 10, 2003, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would decide on appeals by Afghan war detainees who challenge their continued incarceration at the Camp as being unlawful.
On 10 January 2004, 175 members of both houses of Parliament in the UK had filed an amici curiæ brief to support the detainees' access to USA jurisdiction.
On June 28, 2004 the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld that "illegal combatants" such as those held in Guantánamo can challenge detentions but can also be held without charges or trial.
On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld a case concerning bin Laden's chauffeur, that the military commissions established by executive order to try Gitmo detainees are unlawful and violate the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice, 1949 Geneva Conventions and various human rights standards relating to fair trials. <ref name=Scotus> Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, United States Supreme Court, October 2005</ref>
The ruling also disagreed with the administration's view that the laws and customs of war did not apply to the U.S. armed conflict with Al Qaeda fighters during the 2001 U.S. invasion of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, stating that Article 3 common to all the Geneva Conventions applied in such a situation, which--among other things--requires fair trials for prisoners. Common Article 3 applies in "wars not of an international character" (i.e. civil wars) in a signatory to the Geneva Conventions--in this case the civil war in signatory Afghanistan.
It is likely that the Bush administration may now be forced to try detainees held as part of the "war on terror" either by court martial (as U.S. troops and prisoners of war are) or by civilian federal court. However, Bush has indicated that he may seek an Act of Congress authorizing military commissions.
[edit] Military Commission hearings (Camp Delta)
On November 8, 2004, a federal court halted the proceeding of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, of Yemen. Hamdan was to be the first Guantánamo detainee tried before a military commission.
Judge James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the U.S. military had failed to convene a competent tribunal to determine that Hamdan was not a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions -- specifically Article 5 of the third Geneva Convention, which reads:
- Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the en