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WORLD / America
Guantanamo detainees tell of abuses
(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-12 10:43
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Detainees flinging body waste at guards. Guards
interrupting detainees at prayer. Interrogators withholding medicine.
Hostility and tension between inmates and their keepers at the Guantanamo
Bay prison are evident.
A Guantanamo detainee, center, is escorted by US military personnel away
from the dental clinic, at Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba, in this
May 15, 2007 file photo. [AP]
These rare detainee accounts of life inside the razor wire at the remote
US military base in Cuba emerged during Administrative Review Board
hearings aimed at deciding whether prisoners suspected of links with the
Taliban or al-Qaida should continue to be held or be sent away from
Guantanamo.
The Pentagon gave the AP transcripts of hearings held last year in a
trailer at Guantanamo after the news agency sought the material under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Amid the tensions, the transcripts also show a few relaxed encounters
between detainees and their guards and interrogators.
The military has said Guantanamo is relatively calm compared to last
year. But a report released by the detention center last month shows mass
disturbances are up sharply over 2006 and forced removal of prisoners
from cells and assaults with bodily fluids are on pace to match or exceed
last year's total.
The transcripts, obtained by the AP on Friday, illustrate the friction.
A Yemeni detainee, Mohammed Ali Em al-Zarnuki, warned his panel of three
US military officers that inmates would attempt suicide unless guards
stop interrupting prayers, moving detainees during prayer time and
whistling and creating other distractions.
Four detainees have committed suicide at Guantanamo - three last year and
one on May 30. Several other detainees have tried to kill themselves,
including by overdosing on hoarded medicine.
"I want you to be aware of it because I don't want you to face a big
problem," al-Zarnuki said. "The problem happened before. The detainees
took medication before because of this. So if you do not put a stop to
this, it is going to be worse than before."
The hearing's presiding officer assured the detainee he would pass the
complaint on, but added: "We do not make the camp rules and we have
nothing to do with the camp rules."
Commanders at Guantanamo had no comment Tuesday on the allegations.
Guards have been trained to be sensitive about religious matters at
Guantanamo, where wailing calls to prayer blare from loudspeakers while
traffic cones are placed next to cells during prayer time, reminding
guards not to interrupt.
In determining whether a detainee should remain at Guantanamo, the
Administrative Review Boards consider whether he poses a security threat
or has intelligence value. But detainees told the panels that lying to
interrogators is common, calling into question the validity of the
intelligence interrogators extract.
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