Guantanamo man tells of 'torture'

[firewall]

A Kuwaiti man being held at Guantanamo Bay has told the BBC in a rare interview that the force-feeding of hunger strikers amounts to torture.

Fawzi al-Odah said hunger strikers were strapped to a chair and force-fed through a tube three times a day.

A senior US official denied the use of torture in Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Odah's comments, relayed by his lawyer in answer to BBC questions, came as another inmate launched a legal challenge to the force-feeding policy.

The case is being brought on behalf of Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni who has also been held there since 2002.

The action is the first test for a new law explicitly outlawing torture of terrorism suspects, which President George W Bush signed in December.

New testimony

The BBC Today programme submitted questions for Mr Odah to his lawyer, Tom Wilner, who has access to the camp.

There was no opportunity for the BBC to challenge Mr Odah's responses.

Mr Odah, who has been held at the base since 2002, was one of 84 inmates at Guantanamo who went on hunger strike in December. Just four are still refusing food.

Speaking to the BBC, US state department official Colleen Graffey said all detainees were afforded regular status reviews and offered the opportunity to renounce violence.

Through his lawyer, Mr Odah described his treatment during his hunger strike.

"First they took my comfort items away from me. You know, my blanket, my towel, my long pants, then my shoes. I was put in isolation for 10 days.

"They came in and read out an order. It said if you refuse to eat, we will put you on the chair [for force feeding]."

He told how detainees were given "formulas" to force them to empty their bowels and were strapped to a metal chair three times a day, where a tube was inserted to administer food.

"One guy, a Saudi, told me that he had once been tortured in Saudi Arabia and that this metal chair treatment was worse than any torture he had ever endured or could imagine," Mr Odah said.

Strain

Mr Odah told the BBC that he felt like an old man despite being only 29.

He described a regime where young military guards routinely beat detainees who caused problems.

"If anything bad happens to the United States anywhere in the world, they immediately react to us and treat us badly, like animals," he said.

"I'm always tired. I have pain in my kidneys. I have trouble breathing. I have pain in my heart and am short of breath. I have trouble urinating and having bowel movements.

"Death in this situation is better than being alive and staying here without hope," Mr Odah added.

The US has said it is holding Mr Odah because he is a dangerous "enemy combatant", who travelled through Afghanistan with the Taleban, fired AK-47 rifles while at an al-Qaeda training camp and fought against US and coalition forces.

He dismissed the general allegations, branding them as "rubbish" and "absolutely untrue".

However, he refused to elaborate, insisting he would only discuss the accusations against at a court hearing.

New rules

In Washington, lawyers for Mohammed Bawazir, who has now ended his hunger strike, said the force-feeding inflicted "unbearable pain" on detainees.

The BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says the legal challenge may be a shot in the dark.

Under the terms of the new law it is not even clear whether courts have the right to hear this case, he adds.

The lawyers are arguing that the new anti-torture rules which Mr Bush signed in December outlaw this practice.

The UN Human Rights Commission said recently that it regarded force-feeding at Guantanamo as a form of torture, a charge the US firmly has repeatedly denied.

Guantanamo interview: full transcript



It's a shame the worlds most advanced military forgot basic lessons about human rights and prisoner abuse.:roll:

Goes to show how much of a liberator the US forces really are. Shameful and despicable behaviour.

 

[firewall]

Before all this happened, what was your view of America?

I loved America. It freed my country from Saddam Hussein. My father fought with America against Saddam. I respected America. It stood for human rights and fairness around the world. America was the country we all looked up to.

What is your view now?

It has abandoned all of its own traditions and beliefs which were the cause of my respect for it. As someone who lived in the US, I cannot believe the American people know what is happening down here. This is wrong.

 

[Aimster]

There are other reports other than his. This isn't the first time someone has claimed of torture.

It is common sense the U.S uses torture on these guys.

I have a friend who was there for almost a year translating. He witnessed things first hand.

 

[Meuge]

Multiple handbooks from terrorist organizations implore the members to claim torture as well as desecration of Islam if they are ever captured. I am not saying that there is no torture (I am sure there is), but let's not sensationalize it, and also take accounts of it with a grain of salt.

 

[EatSpam]

This man is a terrrrrrist!!! Everyone knows that America is even more loved in the Muslim world since we started torturing and blowing up Muslims.

 

[firewall]

Originally posted by: EatSpam
This man is a terrrrrrist!!! Everyone knows that America is even more loved in the Muslim world since we started torturing and blowing up Muslims.

:beer:

God bless America. :disgust:

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: Aimster
There are other reports other than his. This isn't the first time someone has claimed of torture.

It is common sense the U.S uses torture on these guys.

I have a friend who was there for almost a year translating. He witnessed things first hand.

could you get him to register and post his accounts on what happpened there?

 

[firewall]

Originally posted by: Czar

Originally posted by: Aimster
There are other reports other than his. This isn't the first time someone has claimed of torture.

It is common sense the U.S uses torture on these guys.

I have a friend who was there for almost a year translating. He witnessed things first hand.

could you get him to register and post his accounts on what happpened there?

A good idea if the person agrees.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfot items are taken away.

 

[spunkz]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfort items are taken away.

no joke. this is why we dismiss the UN rulings that this is torture. they can choose to be fed or to be force-fed. i'm so sorry that they've lost their right to run their own prison.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: spunkz

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfort items are taken away.

no joke. this is why we dismiss the UN rulings that this is torture. they can choose to be fed or to be force-fed. i'm so sorry that they've lost their right to run their own prison.

Sorry, could you point me to the records that indicate which of these people is being held with cause, and what vetting process is being followed to determine this?

kthxbye.

 

[Aimster]

I doubt he will post on here.

He just told me because I am his friend.

He went there as a translator and was given a cornel badge because his pay was equal to that of a cornel. He wasn?t part of the military, but actually working for them. He stills works for the government, but in an office building in Virginia (translating).

He told me the prisoners are hit, scared by dogs, left naked, loud music playing, etc. He didn?t seem to care that much. I asked him or otherwise he wouldn?t have told me.

He mentioned a lot of the people there are psychologically messed up in the head. The goal is to destroy you so you can talk. They will get inside your head no matter what it takes. The strongest will break down and cry.

There are a lot of civilian contractors there aside from military personal.

You're stuck on a base all day long with nothing to do. It gets boring and frustrating.

He didn?t tell me anything like ?oh there are innocent people being tortured?. He said ?the worst of the worst who want the U.S to die are there?.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: spunkz

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfort items are taken away.

no joke. this is why we dismiss the UN rulings that this is torture. they can choose to be fed or to be force-fed. i'm so sorry that they've lost their right to run their own prison.

Sorry, could you point me to the records that indicate which of these people is being held with cause, and what vetting process is being followed to determine this?

kthxbye.

Unable to provide that type of information.

My comment was what they are crying about must be wrenching;

People going though military boot camp and or are out camping in the woods go without such items.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: spunkz

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfort items are taken away.

no joke. this is why we dismiss the UN rulings that this is torture. they can choose to be fed or to be force-fed. i'm so sorry that they've lost their right to run their own prison.

Sorry, could you point me to the records that indicate which of these people is being held with cause, and what vetting process is being followed to determine this?

kthxbye.

Unable to provide that type of information.

My comment was what they are crying about must be wrenching;

People going though military boot camp and or are out camping in the woods go without such items.

Did you read the article? (edit - sorry it's obvious that you did, i re-read your post before writing the rest of mine, but forgot to take that line out)

When you join the military you agree to be there.

Unless you can answer my question, you're response is totally unjustified, because it's no different from me grabbing your kid off the street and doing the same thing to him/her. I imagine you would be upset if something like that happened, and I don't suppose that a third party telling you to 'cry them a river' would be a very convincing argument.

Nor should it be.

 

[firewall]

Originally posted by: spunkz

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Cry me a river if forced to eat and comfort items are taken away.

no joke. this is why we dismiss the UN rulings that this is torture. they can choose to be fed or to be force-fed. i'm so sorry that they've lost their right to run their own prison.

They haven't been charged with anything till yet. What justification is being used to keep them imprisoned in a torture center? I am sure they didn't agree to be tortured just for the sake of it.

 

[RedBeard]

after reading the other threads I think we should send the terrorists through boot camp 😉

 

[DotheDamnTHing]

Originally posted by: asadasif

Before all this happened, what was your view of America?

I loved America. It freed my country from Saddam Hussein. My father fought with America against Saddam. I respected America. It stood for human rights and fairness around the world. America was the country we all looked up to.

What is your view now?

It has abandoned all of its own traditions and beliefs which were the cause of my respect for it. As someone who lived in the US, I cannot believe the American people know what is happening down here. This is wrong.

this is how new terrorists are being fostered

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: asadasif
They haven't been charged with anything till yet. What justification is being used to keep them imprisoned in a torture center? I am sure they didn't agree to be tortured just for the sake of it.

"First they took my comfort items away from me. You c. I was put in isolation for 10 days.

"They came in and read out an order. It said if you refuse to eat, we will put you on the chair [for force feeding]."

He told how detainees were given "formulas" to force them to empty their bowels and were strapped to a metal chair three times a day, where a tube was inserted to administer food.

"One guy, a Saudi, told me that he had once been tortured in Saudi Arabia and that this metal chair treatment was worse than any torture he had ever endured or could imagine," Mr Odah said.


Lets see.

No blanket, towel, long pants, shoes. Given the climate, seems like those are comfort (as they stated) not required items. Notice that nothing was said about having nothing on. They may have taken away personal articles.

The person refuses to eat. Well, we can not let them starve (that would be inhumane). So we need to put food substinance into them. Seems like that is for their own welfare. - Yup that is torture.

Make them sit on a chair to eat. I have done that with my kids and grandkids. Better to let them realize proper manners. It is not polite to eat off the floor at our house. Yup, sounds like toture - having to eat sitting on a chair.

Detainees were given "formulas" to force them to empty their bowels. Any possiblity that they were phyiscally weakened by the hunger strike that their body could not accept the nourishment. Yup, sounds like toture to attempt to provide the enegery that a body needs after self deprevation.

Strapped to a chair. Maybe the only way to prevent a grown person from being still enough to allow the body to accept the food. Yup, sounds like toture to help a person's body obtain nourishment.

Metal chairs are hard on a person. Used them in the lunch room every day for 12 years as a kid. Yup - sounds like toture having to sit in a chair when eating.

10 day Isolation - meaning no contact - Yup - very tough. Funny how people in US prisons can handle that. Must be that there are some wimps that are being kept in Gitmo.


My original comment stands - Cry me a river.

Not justifing why they are there; just the complaints seem awfully weak. You would think that the lawyers could come up with something a little more dramatic that these.