A voice from Guantanamo Hell

[albinsaid09]

Below are excerpts of his letter, the content of which has been deemed unclassified by the Department of Defense.


“I am writing from the darkness of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo in the hope that I can make our voices heard by the world. My hand quivers as I hold the pen.

“In January 2002, I was picked up in Pakistan, blindfolded, shackled, drugged and loaded onto a plane flown to Cuba. When we got off the plane in Guantanamo, we did not know where we were. They took us to Camp X-Ray and locked us in cages with two buckets — one empty and one filled with water. We were to urinate in one and wash in the other.

“At Guantanamo, soldiers have assaulted me, placed me in solitary confinement, threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my daughter and told me I will stay in Cuba for the rest of my life. They have deprived me of sleep, forced me to listen to extremely loud music and shined intense lights in my face. They have placed me in cold rooms for hours without food, drink or the ability to go to the bathroom or wash for prayers. They have wrapped me in the Israeli flag and told me there is a holy war between the Cross and the Star of David on one hand and the Crescent on the other. They have beaten me unconscious.

“What I write here is not what my imagination fancies or my insanity dictates. These are verifiable facts witnessed by other detainees, representatives of the Red Cross, interrogators and translators.

“During the first few years at Guantanamo, I was interrogated many times. My interrogators told me that they wanted me to admit that I am from Al Qaeda and that I was involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States. I told them that I have no connection to what they described. I am not a member of Al Qaeda. I did not encourage anyone to go fight for Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have done nothing but kill and denigrate a religion. I never fought, and I never carried a weapon. I like the United States, and I am not an enemy. I have lived in the United States, and I wanted to become a citizen.

“I know that the soldiers who did bad things to me represent themselves, not the United States. And I have to say that not all American soldiers stationed in Cuba tortured us or mistreated us. There were soldiers who treated us very humanely. Some even cried when they witnessed our dire conditions. Once, in Camp Delta, a soldier apologized to me and offered me hot chocolate and cookies. When I thanked him, he said, "I do not need you to thank me." I include this because I do not want readers to think that I fault all Americans.

“But, why, after five years, is there no conclusion to the situation at Guantanamo? For how long will fathers, mothers, wives, siblings and children cry for their imprisoned loved ones? For how long will my daughter have to ask about my return? The answers can only be found with the fair-minded people of America.

“I would rather die than stay here forever, and I have tried to commit suicide many times. The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people, and I have been destroyed. I am hopeless because our voices are not heard from the depths of the detention center.

“If I die, please remember that there was a human being named Jumah at Guantanamo whose beliefs, dignity and humanity were abused. Please remember that there are hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo suffering the same misfortune. They have not been charged with any crimes. They have not been accused of taking any action against the United States.

“Show the world the letters I gave you. Let the world read them. Let the world know the agony of the detainees in Cuba.

source: www.aljazeera.com

 

[MubarekMuslimah]

Salaams

for my brothers in Guatanamo, may Allah swt grant them peace and freedom from the suffering and oppression.

If anyone wants to write to the detainees in Guatanamo Bay you can do so by going to www.cageprisoners.com - which is a site supported by Moazaam Begg, the UK citizen released from Guatanamo after 3 years imprionment.

On the home page, scroll down and there is a red box on the left hand side that says 'write to the prisoners' click on this and it gives you advice, tells you what to do and gives all their addresses. It is our duty to comfort our brothers in this time and let them know we have not forgotten them. It is our duty to do all we can to free them from this oppression of their Human Rights and this 'limbo' they are in. You can write anything you want but you cannot express your political views. Please do this - it won't cost much and yet it could mean that you put a little hope and light in their heart for just 5 minutes - all they have to hang on to is Allah swt and the Ummah - we should let them know we have not forgotten them insha'allah.

Salaams

 

[albinsaid09]

:salam2:
Thank you Mubarek Muslimah. The website is super good. I went to the photo gallery and saw the faces of the prisoners. I cannot bear to see it anymore. Bush is very cruel .


photo gallery
of guantanamo prisoners:
http://www.cageprisoners.com/prison...lRows_rsPrisonersList=809&location=Guantanamo

Pls, pls remember them in your prayers. Thanks

 

[ripefig]

Sad

:salam2:

What a shame. These Brothers under torture just for being Muslim. Held against their will without any evidence of wrong doing. May Allah give them and their families sabr (patience) and keep them on the straight path. May Allah humiliate and punish the evil people who perpetrate this type of heinous crimes against innocent human beings. Let them plot and plan, but the best of planners is Allah, the Exalted, most High.

 

[NewMuslim]

Bush is very cruel .

Assalamu Alaykum
And the sad thing is is that we have him for 2 more whole years.

I never said this before about anyone, but I truly hope someone assassinates Bush before he can do anymore damage to the world, but the damage has already been done...

 

[stranger786]

Bush is very cruel .

Assalamu Alaykum
And the sad thing is is that we have him for 2 more whole years.

I never said this before about anyone, but I truly hope someone assassinates Bush before he can do anymore damage to the world, but the damage has already been done...

Salam

I understand my brother about urs pain.Its a common pain which we all have.Most of us think same but remeber Bush is just a front face of so called clashs of civilisation.If one bush will go another will come.All we have to do is to refer to Quran and Sunnah and to be so strong as muslim Umma that no body dare to think any thing against our faith.

I know it is slow process but we have to go this way and inSALLAH tomorrow will be out.

Yours Bro
Jav

 

[maymun]

ammatu allah

:salam2:
all muslim nations are suffering every where in the world.
overy one alse is right but we <mus> wrong.alhumdu lillah we have quran and sunnah. and that's gold so let is keep our gold in our hearts and be strong muslims and practice more.
insha allah let is not lose hope
lo! with harship goeth ease; qur.94:6
my dear brothers and sisters let is not forget to make <dua> in every <salad> we make :tti_sister: insha allah
<or think ye that ye will enter paradise while yet there hath not come unto you the like of< that which came to> those who passed away before you? affliction and adversity befell them, they were shaken with as earthquake till the messenger <of allah> and those who believed along with him said:when cometh allah's help?now surely allah's help is nigh.
<quran 2:14 sura baqarah

if i make mistakes is from me and satan.
english is not my first lge so please if i do any mistakes ignor it or correc
jezakumu laahu khear for this post

 

[Abdul Hasib]

05/11/2006

Related:

Urgent Appeal from Wife of Libyan Detainee [English] - [Arabic]
Legal Murder

We do not know if there is a place where our case can still stir anyone in this world while they see the tragedies and catastrophes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. But regardless of whether people are stirred with our case or not, for us to record what is happening to us is a duty we must perform. Our tragedy and pain is part of the series of pains that is felt by people in cases like ours when laws are destroyed and flames ignited by politicians whose only desire is the achievement of their tyrannical subjugation and the spreading and domination of their lowly thoughts engulfs any notion of human rights.

In our case there is much that can be said. We can speak about the malicious racism against Muslims and we are witness against this crime. We can also speak about political oppression against weak minority groups and the bypassing of human rights law. We are witness against this crime. But our case has particulars which we will present to every free and honourable person so it can clearly be seen that high values, laws and principles are shattered in countries some would assume are firmly married to such principles. It will be shown that these principles are artificial and these countries’ commitments to them are simply an illusion. They are deceptive mercenary slogans that are used as political tools to destroy opponents and to achieve oppression and tyranny.

Our case is as follows:

We are a group of individuals – our number now reaches around thirty – but sections of the security services and political world announces, on certain special occasions, that we are in our hundreds. We came to this country – Britain – for several reasons - every one of us has a different reason. What connects us, however, is that we all escaped the hell of our own countries, the torturous police and the suffocating prisons hopeful that in the land of the bastion of human rights and the rule of law, we will be free to exercise basic freedoms such as the freedom of thought and freedom of speech. This was our only ambition. Nothing more or less.

However, due to our childish naïve thinking we assumed that this right is granted to all regardless of origin, roots or creed. It was easy to be naïve. The slogans coming from these parts have filled the world. Was the first document on human rights not produced in Britain? The veiled truth is that we have fallen prey to these slogans.

Our countries – Libya, Algeria, Jordan and Tunisia are the countries of evil prisons and violent dictatorships. They are jungles ruled by monsters. This is the reality in which we lived and this Government declared these countries as inhumane. We assumed these declarations were being made for the sake of high principles which we thought were the highest authority in this land but we found this to be nothing but a façade in a façade.

The prisons in these countries have become safe abodes for their prisoners? Their judiciary – fair and just? Their police, humane and their governments have come to respect human rights laws? For the sake of political and economic contracts, this is how this government would like to present tyrannical rulers. This new assessment of the same old oppression has no connections to reality or the principles of human rights.

All that has changed is the government of Britain and its head, Tony Blair, have signed papers which they call “Memorandums of Understanding” which have no legal weight and no enforceability whatsoever. Intelligent people the world over as well as international human rights groups have affirmed that these agreements are not worth the paper they are written on. In these memos – of which a copy is attached with this statement – our countries have made a commitment to the government of Tony Blair that they will not torture us in their prisons and their detention centres. Our countries that do not respect international agreements they have previously signed and committed themselves to for decades will today, after being approached by Great Britain, be presented by the government of Tony Blair, which lies to its own people, as governments which are able to respect a paper that carries nothing but fantasy commitments on the part of those governments. This is a mockery of people and their rights that Britain has excelled in.

After signing this laughable Memorandum, our homes were raided and our sanctities were violated. Our women and children were traumatised and we were taken as hostages to detention centres with no access to any laws which respect our humanity. We are treated like drug dealers and criminal killers. Days go by to become weeks and months. It has almost been a year and we are living in oppressive conditions enforced on us by a secretive court that is a mockery of a court. Neither we, nor our lawyers, are allowed to see the evidence against us.

The final chapter in this tragic comedy about the tyrant and the oppressed is the insistence of a third party to act as guarantor to this Memorandum. Organisations were quickly set up and hastily registered themselves as companies like the Justice Organisation in Jordan. Governmental organisations like the Gaddafi Institute in Libya were talked of as being independent third parties, this organisation being from the same government that stands on the necks of our families. This is how the wolf is allowed to guard the sheep in these strange times.

Our condition is in decline, our families are pained and our only crime was we were deceived by the slogans this country held up in regard to respect for human rights. We have in fact been kidnapped and are being used as pawns in oppressive political contracts.

If we have committed any crime then let a just court rule in our case. But they know our only crime is that we pursued our right to expose the oppression of our governments and all those who are complicit in their crimes and we were involved in activities which would have been justifiable in this country if the slogans this country declared are to be believed. This bite of freedom that we tasted has become our offence.

We are well aware that our human rights have been violated by these western governments; the record of the British Government has matched the record of our countries from which we fled. This government no longer cares for the reports of international organisations. For there have been tens of international organisations that have issued their reports on these Memorandums and the arrests but these reports and opinions have been disregarded as was the opinion of millions in the war against Iraq which was waged based on lies pertaining to weapons of mass destruction.

What is the point of this statement? It is a testament which we want to record, hoping that we find attentive ears and that this statement is carried so that there can be no ignoramus who stands up to justify these crimes that have been committed against us.

Notice

Most of the detainees have been granted political asylum and legal residency and this confirms the British Government’s assessment that these detainees were and remain at serious risk of torture if they are returned.

For more information please contact our solicitors whose addresses are attached to this statement. Also please send your letters of support to them.

* TRP Solicitors, 6 Lee Bank Business Centre, 55 Holloway Head, Birmingham B1 !HP


Detainees in British Prisons

May Allah most high grant our suffering brothers and sisters Jannatul Ferdous. May Allah help us fight Jihad. May Allah help Brother Shamil Busayev and Brother Aslan and our Chechen bros/sisters and may Allah grant them Jannatul Ferdous. Ameen.