Human Rights Group Releases New Guantánamo Torture Testimony

Periodico26.cu
Jan. 14, 2006

Washington.- Marking the fourth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantánamo Bay -illegally occupied by the United States in eastern Cuba- an international human rights group has released new testimonies documenting the use of torture and abuse of prisoners at the U.S. detention center.

The testimonies include that of one of the first detainees to be transferred to Guantánamo in January 2002 -- Jumah al-Dossari, a 32-year-old Bahraini national who was taken to the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo after being held by U.S. forces in the Kandahar airbase in Afghanistan.

Al-Dossari's testimony, corroborated by people who have now been released from Guantánamo, includes several allegations of physical and psychological torture and ill treatment inflicted by U.S. personnel both on him and on other inmates in Afghanistan and Guantánamo.

Dr. William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, told reporters: "Anniversaries usually represent milestones. Today's milestone is a frightening and disheartening one. The situation at Guantánamo is not getting better -- in fact, it may be worse. First, the Bush Administration wants all 186 pending habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of the detainees to be dismissed based on a new law that was not meant to apply to cases filed before the law went into effect. And now, after Congress overwhelming passed the historic Anti-Torture Amendment, President Bush is asserting that he can waive the restrictions on the use of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against detainees. When does the hypocrisy of defending democracy around the world while continuing to curtail fundamental due process end?"

The head of the human rights organization added that there are some 500 men at Guantánamo who have been treated "with complete and utter disdain" -- noting that after four years of uncertainty about their fate, "some of these men have expressed their intention to die rather than remain in Guantánamo indefinitely."

The human rights group is urging Congress to create an independent commission to investigate all aspects of U.S. detention and interrogation policies including the dozens of reports of torture and abuse that have taken place since 2002 and to take measures to prevent torture from recurring in the future.