Guantanamo detainees made to feel like 'nomads'

Tag : Military Clothes
Guantanamo detainees made to feel like 'nomads'
By FRANK JORDANS – 17 hours ago
GENEVA (AP) — Detainees at Guantanamo Bay are turned into"nomads" to keep them agitated and to punish those who break rules,a Sudanese journalist recently released from the U.S. militaryprison said Friday.
Sami al-Haj said moving detainees between camps and from cell tocell appeared to be part of an official policy to destabilize them."They were made into nomads," the Al-Jazeera journalist said.
Frequent cell transfers at the prison became an issue in May when aPentagon-appointed defense attorney sought to have an Afghandetainee's charges dismissed citing abusive interrogation tactics.The lawyer alleged his client was subjected to "frequent flying," asleep deprivation technique that involves round-the-clock celltransfers before questioning.
The Pentagon Friday denied that al-Haj was mistreated. Earlier thisweek, the current commander of the prison, Navy Rear Adm. DavidThomas, said that "there is no unnecessary movement in and out ofcells by detainees," but would not comment on allegations thatdetainees were subjected to sleep deprivation before he tookcommand on May 27.
Al-Haj said he saw three reasons for detainees being moved aroundthe prison at the U.S. Navy base on Cuba.
"There was a policy of the camp administration to stop thedetainees from feeling they were in a stable state, and thereforethey kept the detainees in movement all the time, moving them fromone camp to the other every week, every two weeks," al-Haj told TheAssociated Press.
By moving detainees, variously isolating them and then putting themback within speaking distance of other inmates, authorities alsotried to gather information from conversations between detainees,he said.
"In certain camps there was the possibility to speak to each other.It wasn't allowed, but it was possible. It was very much a policetactic to listen to us," al-Haj said. "They knew that when one isdeprived of contact and then one has the possibility to speak toothers, one might say things."
Al-Haj claimed that a second reason for moving detainees was toprepare them for interrogation. He said he was subjected to theso-called "frequent flyer" program and was rotated between cellsevery two hours for up to a month.
Finally, he said, detainees were moved to separate cells when theybreached prison rules.
Al-Haj described a cellblock named Romeo where inmates were placedin a cold room and stripped of all clothes except a pair of shorts.
Guards would frequently check on the detainees, making them movetheir limbs "to know you are alive," al-Haj said. "They have theright to check you all the time. So they use this to disturb you,because they need all the people to follow the rules."
The Pentagon said Friday that there was nothing to support al-Haj'sclaims.
"We have no evidence to substantiate his claims that he wasmistreated at Guantanamo. We investigate claims of abuse, and inthose relatively rare instances where allegations are deemedcredible and substantiated, we hold those responsible accountable,"said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.
Al-Haj, 38, now works as a producer for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. Hewas released from Guantanamo in May after more than six years inU.S. detention.
The military alleged he was a courier for a militant Muslimorganization in the 1990s, a claim his lawyers have denied. Al-Hajwas never prosecuted, and it is unclear how the allegation relatesto his arrest on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan inDecember 2001.
The only journalist from a major international news organizationheld at Guantanamo, he has said his arrested was because of U.S.hostility toward Al-Jazeera and because the media was reporting onU.S. rights violations in Afghanistan.
Al-Haj, who has used a walking stick since his detention, was inGeneva to meet with officials at the United Nations and theInternational Committee of the Red Cross.
"Human rights and security are inseparable," al-Haj told a publicevent on Thursday.