Letters from Guantanamo

At its military base in Cuba, the Americans continue to use scandalous practices against terror suspects.

The U.S. Department of Defense appointed a special delegate for Guantanamo issues, who, as announced, was supposed to be proof of “engagement in the enforcement of the presidential directive”* to close the prison. Some cases of the detainees who have not received any charges are supposed to be reopened soon. The problem is that such revision was ordered by Barack Obama more than two years ago, and the prison itself — according to the U.S. president’s promises — should have been closed at least three years ago. Meanwhile, Guantanamo keeps disgracing itself more and more.

Last week the federal court in Washington granted a release order for Ibrahim Idris, who has been held for 11 years with no formal charges. Shortly after arriving in Guantanamo, he was diagnosed as mentally ill, and the judge declared that Idris suffered from schizophrenia, which made it difficult for him to work with his lawyers, so he could not pose any security threat to the U.S. The decision came after the lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice filed court papers on Wednesday indicating that the government would no longer oppose his release. The documents did not say why the government decided to drop its objection after a decade of fighting.

Newly declassified letters and interviews with the detainees of Guantanamo suggest that they were handled with extremely brutal tactics aimed at ending a strike. The impulse for a strike of more than a hundred detainees was the confiscation of their belongings.

"The U.S. authorities have, with some glee, announced that a hunger strike is over. What they fail to tell you is the horrific things they did to crush the hunger strikers' spirits, as my clients have described. And yet still there are at least 16 men striking and being brutally force-fed twice a day," said Cori Crider, a lawyer at the Reprieve Foundation representing some of the detainees.*

Syrian national Abu Wa'el Dhiab, held at Guantanamo for 10 years without formal charges, awaiting his release, reported that the Extreme Reaction Force team (the camp's military riot squad) would "storm" the cell of Shaker Aamer (one of the strike leaders, also awaiting release) five times per day. “The riot squad uses the excuse of giving him water and food and medicine to storm his cell again,”* writes the Syrian. Abu Wa'el Dhiab adds, "They took him to the clinic, tore his clothes off and left him with only his underwear for long hours, taunting him.”*

The interviews with detainees reveal that the strike leaders were placed in solitary confinement for 22 hours per day. They could only contact their lawyers. Ahmed Belbacha, another detainee who has been cleared for release, described how the authorities were punishing hunger strikers by confiscating their belongings, even though this actually led to the strike: "My glasses, legal papers, toothbrush, toothpaste and all my other necessities have been taken," says the Algerian. But the largest numbers of protests refer to the methods that were used to force the detainees to eat. The detainees would be forced to wear masks over their mouths after being shackled to a restraint chair. The decision as to who must be fed was made by the military. Such methods were already condemned by the United Nations.

Despite numerous promises to close Guantanamo, Barack Obama’s administration has failed. The funds dedicated to the transfer of detainees were blocked by the U.S. Congress, demanding guarantee that the released detainees would never undertake any terror activities again. There were 775 detainees in Guantanamo. Most of them were not charged and therefore have been released. Out of 164 who are still detained, 86 were cleared and should be released.

* Editor's note: The original quotations, accurately translated, could not be verified. However, similar quotes were made by The Guardian.