Study Shows that Medical Personnel Were Accessories to Torture in Guantanamo

The team hired by the United States Department of Defense with the goal of providing medical attention to Guantanamo prisoners hid or ignored proof that prisoners were tortured there. A team of independent researchers that had access to the files of nine detainees and information from lawyers verified this. The study was written for publication in the North American scientific magazine Plos Medicine, available on the internet.

The Guantanamo medical personnel attributed prisoners’ psychological problems and injuries after “enhanced interrogation techniques” (synonymous with torture for the U.N.) to “personality disorders” and “stressors of confinement.”

“The commission and/or concealment of acts of torture should never be justified by any health professionals—clinical, non-clinical, military, or non-military” stated the authors of the research, Vincent Iacopino and Stephen N. Xenakis. Iacopino is a doctor at the University of Minnesota and works as a specialist in Human Rights; Xenakis is a retired general of the U.S. army.

“The medical affidavits in each of the nine cases indicate that the specific allegations of torture and ill treatment are highly consistent with physical and psychological evidence documented in the medical records and evaluations by non-governmental medical experts” the researchers wrote. “However, the medical personnel who treated the detainees at GTMO failed to inquire and/or document causes of the physical injuries and psychological symptoms they observed.”

The nine detainees reported being subjected to several kinds of torture like sleep deprivation, temperature extremes, threats, beatings, and forced nudity. They also declared to have forcibly undergone “unauthorized” tortures, like severe beatings which fractured bones, sexual assault and the “submarine” (asphyxiating the prisoner by placing his head in water or in a plastic bag).

Several of the detainees reported having lost consciousness during the interrogations. Suicide attempts, severe depression and hallucinations are some of the frequent complaints of those who have already passed through Guantanamo and are now free.

The medical personnel from the Department of Defense claim not to have seen anything indicating intentional harm to the prisoners while these were their responsibility.

The nine cases analyzed in the research correspond to detained persons in 2002, with an average age of 33 years.

Since the creation of the North American prison in 2002, seven prisoners died according to official figures. Its existence is not supported by any international convention, therefore there is no way to control what goes on inside, which is a reason why human rights organizations criticize the U.S. In addition, the U.S. does not allow the U.N. to inspect conditions at the base or treatment received by detainees.

At the moment there are 172 detainees. The greatest number of prisoners was 779 in 2003.