Close Guantánamo symbol of injustice undreds of men of many different nationalities have national security. Access to lawyers is perceived as Hbeen transported to the USA’s offshore prison camp detrimental to the interrogation process. Access to the at Guantánamo Bay, . At every stage of their ordeal, courts is seen as disruptive of military operations. their dignity, humanity and Arbitrary detention has been the result. “The Government will work to fundamental rights have advance human dignity in word and deed, been denied. Five years on, hundreds of men are still held in Guantánamo. None has been tried. None has appeared speaking out for freedom and against The first detainees were in court. All, in ’s opinion, are violations of human rights.” flown from to unlawfully detained. Many have been tortured or ill- National Security Strategy of the USA, March 2002 Guantánamo in January 2002 treated, whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere prior to – hooded, shackled and tied their transfer to Guantánamo, or during their transfer, or down like cargo. They were the first of more than 750 as part of the interrogation process in the base, or just people of some 45 nationalities who would be taken to through the harshness of the Guantánamo regime – the base in this way, among them children as young as 13. isolating, indefinite and punitive. By association, their They have included people who were simply in the wrong families too have suffered the cruelty of this virtually place at the wrong time, dozens of whom were handed incommunicado island incarceration. over to the USA by Pakistani “I am dying here every day, mentally and or Afghan agents in return for Three days after the first transfers to Guantánamo, thousands of dollars. Amnesty International urged the USA to respect the physically... We have been ignored, locked up detainees’ fundamental human rights. USA: AI calls on the in the middle of the ocean for four years.” The US authorities have USA to end legal limbo of Guantánamo prisoners (AMR Guantánamo detainee , a Saudi Arabian branded the detainees as 51/009/2002) was the first of numerous documents national and UK resident, November 2005 loosely-defined “enemy published by the organization in the continuing combatants”in a global conflict. campaign to expose and end the human rights That they see the world as the “battlefield” is illustrated by violations associated with Guantánamo. the fact that Guantánamo’s detainees were picked up in places as far apart as , , Amnesty International was among the first to call for Gambia, Indonesia, , Thailand, the United Arab the closure of Guantánamo, a prison that symbolizes the Emirates and Zambia, as well as Afghanistan and . US government’s manipulation of the law in its “”. However, closing Guantánamo would only be a The US authorities see “enemy combatants” as a first step and must not result in the transfer of human potential source of intelligence and a potential threat to rights violations elsewhere. Guantánamo is simply the tip

11 September – Nearly 3,000 11 January – The first detainees are April – Secretary Rumsfeld people are killed when four hijacked transferred to Guantánamo from authorizes interrogation techniques planes are crashed in the USA. US Afghanistan and are held in wire mesh including isolation, “environmental President George W. Bush declares a cages in Camp X-Ray. manipulation” and “sleep adjustment” “war on terror”. 28 April – Detainees are moved at Guantánamo. 7 October – The USA leads military from Camp X-Ray to Camp Delta. 3 July – The US Department of action against the Taleban 1 August – A Justice Department Defense announces that President government and al-Qa’ida in memorandum advises that the Bush has made six Guantánamo Afghanistan. President can authorize , that detainees eligible for trial by military 13 November – President Bush interrogators may cause severe pain commission. Two of the six were issues a Military Order, which allows before crossing the threshold to subsequently released without charge for the indefinite detention without torture, and that there is “a significant or trial to the UK. charge of non-US citizens suspected range” of cruel, inhuman or degrading July – The International Committee of involvement in and acts that would not amount to torture of the Red Cross, the only organization prohibits such detainees from seeking and therefore not be prosecutable with access to the Guantánamo any remedy in any US, foreign or under a US law prohibiting torture by detainees, reveals its concern about international court. Any trial would be US agents outside the USA. the serious impact the indefinite by military commission – an executive 2 December – Secretary of Defense detentions is having on the body, not an independent court. approves interroga- psychological health of the detainees. 28 December – A Justice tion techniques for discretionary use Department memorandum advises at Guantánamo that include hooding, that because Guantánamo Bay is not stripping, sensory deprivation, sovereign US territory, the federal isolation, stress positions and the use courts should not be able to consider of dogs to “induce stress”. He rescinds petitions from “enemy this blanket approval six weeks later, aliens” detained at the base. stating that his authorization of such techniques should be sought on a case-by-case basis.

2 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice © DoD Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area at Camp X-Ray at Guantánamo © US DoD Bay, January 2002.

of the iceberg, the most visible – albeit far from Governments have a duty to protect the safety of A full list of Amnesty transparent – part of a global detention web that the USA the public. They should take all reasonable and lawful International’s documents has spun in the “war on terror”. steps to prevent acts of terror and bring to justice those on Guantánamo, responsible for committing or planning such acts. But referenced in this briefing by their AI Index Most of the detainees glimpsed in their orange governments also have a duty to do this in a framework number (for example, jumpsuits have been in Guantánamo for years. If of protecting the human rights of us all. AMR 51/009/2002), the authorities have evidence that these men have can be found at: committed crimes, they should charge and try Guantánamo is emblematic of the US government’s http://web.amnesty.org/ them. If they do not have such evidence, they should failure to fulfil that duty. It is a legal and moral disgrace. It pages/guantanamobay- library-eng release them. should be closed.

28 June – The US Supreme Court 25 May – Amnesty International 10 June – Three detainees die at rules in Rasul v. Bush that US courts calls for Guantánamo to be closed. Guantánamo, apparently after can consider challenges to the legality The call is subsequently joined by UN committing suicide. of the detention of the Guantánamo experts, former US Presidents Carter 29 June – The US Supreme Court, in detainees. and Clinton, heads of state from Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, rules that the 7 July – announces Europe and elsewhere, and other military commissions as constituted the formation of the Combatant human rights and legal organizations. under the 2001 Military Order are Status Review Tribunals – panels of June – A military investigation finds illegal. three military officers allowed to rely “no evidence of torture or inhumane 6 September – President Bush on secret and coerced evidence treatment” at Guantánamo, while announces the transfer to against detainees denied legal confirming that methods used against Guantánamo of 14 detainees who had representation and presumed to be detainees included use of loud music, been held in secret CIA-run “black “enemy combatants” unless they prove strobe lighting, extremes of sites” for up to four and a half years. otherwise. temperature, , 17 October – President Bush signs November – A challenge brought exposure to dogs and isolation. into law the Military Commissions Act, on behalf of Yemeni detainee Salim 30 December – President Bush which undermines basic principles of Ahmed Hamdan in a federal court signs into law the Detainee Treatment justice, and announces that the Act leads to the suspension of trials by Act of 2005, which bans the use of will allow the CIA’s secret detention military commission. cruel, inhuman or degrading programme to continue. treatment of detainees but severely October/November – The curtails the right of Guantánamo government seeks to have all pending detainees to judicial review of the habeas corpus petitions filed on lawfulness or conditions of their behalf of Guantánamo detainees prior detention. to the enactment of the Military Commission Act thrown out of court.

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 3 WHO ARE THE GUANTÁNAM

ost of the Guantánamo detainees are Muslims. Almost all of the detainees have been held without MThey come from Africa, Asia, Europe and the charge for years. Some have had no contact with their Middle East. Some were arrested in or near conflict families whatsoever, others have received occasional, zones; others were picked up far from any fighting in often heavily censored, letters. Some have children they countries as disparate as Bosnia and Herzegovina and have never met. Egypt, Gambia and Indonesia. Some had jobs, others were students or unemployed. Some have children, Amnesty International has issued many Case Sheets others were children themselves when arrested. on Guantánamo detainees, at least 17 of whom have been released or transferred to the custody of their Now they are sharing the distress of indefinite home government. These action documents seek to detention, isolation, ill-treatment, and numerous other protect the detainees – when the world knows about abuses of their fundamental rights. prisoners, it is more difficult for their jailers to abuse them. They are no longer “forgotten prisoners”, but individuals with names, faces, occupations, families – and human rights. © AI “Who has the right to split families up, to take these men away illegally without any procedures?” Nadja Dizdarevic, wife of Guantánamo detainee Boudella al-Hajj

Right top to bottom: Guantánamo detainees Fawzi al-Odah, Abdul Salam al-Hela, , , Salim Ahmed Hamdan and . All © Private

Released but not free

Hundreds of detainees have been transferred out of Guantánamo. The overwhelming majority were never charged and are now at liberty. However, release has not necessarily meant return to their old lives. Some have been detained in their home countries. Some have faced harassment and ostracism at home. Many carry physical or psychological scars as a result of their ordeal. Not one has received an apology for the human rights violations they suffered in US custody, let alone compensation. Some of those released have been sent to countries where their safety is at risk or where they have no family, friends or prospects. Five ethnic Uighurs from China were sent to Albania in May 2006 and were granted asylum there. The men could not be returned to China for fear of human rights violations, including possible execution. There is no Uighur community in Albania and integration is proving extremely difficult. One of the five, Abu Bakker Qassim, told : “I was locked up and mistreated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time during America's . Like hundreds of Guantánamo detainees, I was never a terrorist or a soldier. I was never even on a battlefield. Pa kistani bounty hunters sold me and 17 other Uighurs to the United States military like animals for $5,000 a head. The Americans made a terrible mistake.”

4 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice O DETAINEES?

 About 775 detainees have been held in Guantánamo since 11 January 2002.

 About 395 detainees of over 30 nationalities were still held in Guantánamo in late 2006. Children’s torment  Up to 17 detainees were under 18 years old when arrested; four of them remain At least 17 children have been held at in Guantánamo. Guantánamo Bay. Four of them, possibly more, remain there – Mohamed al-Gharani,  Some 14 detainees were transferred to aged 15 when detained, Omar Khadr, 15, Guantánamo in September 2006 after , 17, and Yousef al-Shehri, being held incommunicado in secret CIA 16. All are now adults. detention for up to four and a half years. Yassar al-Zahrani, who was reportedly 17  An analysis of 500 detainees found that when detained, died in Guantánamo in June only 5 per cent were captured by US 2006, after apparently hanging himself. forces; 86 per cent were arrested by In January 2004 the US Department of Pakistani forces or Afghanistan-based Defense stated that “these juveniles were forces and turned over considered enemy combatants that posed a to US custody, often for a reward of threat to US security. Age is not a determining thousands of dollars. factor in detention.”  Some 380 have been transferred out of All but three of the children held in Guantánamo to countries including Guantánamo were detained in the same Afghanistan, Albania, , Bahrain, harsh conditions as the adults, even though Bangladesh, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, international law requires special protection France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, , for detainees under 18 years old. In 2004 the Kazakstan, Kuwait, , Maldives, International Committee of the Red Cross Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, , (ICRC), the only organization with access to Spain, , Sweden,Tajikistan,Turkey, the detainees, expressed its particular Uganda, the UK and Yemen. concern about “the possible psychological impact this experience could have at such an  No Guantánamo detainee has been important stage in their development.” convicted of a criminal offence by a US court. Many other children elsewhere in the world are tormented by the absence of their  Ten detainees were charged for trial by fathers, brothers and other relatives trapped military commissions, which were then in Guantánamo. Zahra Paracha, the 14-year- ruled unlawful by the US Supreme Court. old daughter of Guantánamo detainee , told Amnesty International:  More than 40 suicide attempts in Guantánamo have been reported; three “How would you feel if you find out that men died at Guantánamo in June 2006 your father, the person who is trying to give after apparent suicides. Anticlockwise from you the education… who tried to help you top right: Guantánamo to walk your first steps has been thrown detainees Jumah al-  Up to 200 detainees have staged hunger Dossari, Sami al-Hajj, onto the floor, has been tortured, and been strikes to protest against their and given all these weird methods to try to get circumstances and conditions of Yousef al-Shehri. something out of him? ” detention. All © Private

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 5 “Frequent loud noises are “The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture made during the night time and we are leading this fight by example.” while I am trying to sleep.” President Bush, June 2003 Fawzi al-Odah (Who are the Guantánamo detainees? n 24 January 2003, a man in an orange these new rules. Interrogation techniques AMR 51/156/2006 Case Sheet 18, ) Ojumpsuit was brutally treated in a cell at developed for use in Afghanistan and Guantánamo, and suffered traumatic brain Guantánamo subsequently emerged in Abu “My health condition is very poor, injury and seizures as a result. He says that a Ghraib prison in Iraq, where torture was and so is my psychological state. I special team of five guards slammed him to exposed in photos that shocked the world. the floor, put him in a painful chokehold, and do not think that I will carry on pounded his head repeatedly against the steel On 7 February 2002, President Bush signed much further. I feel very unwell, and floor. What the team did not know was that a memorandum confirming that Article 3 I feel that my end is imminent.” their victim was a US military guard who had common to the four Letter sent in June 2006 by Jumah al- volunteered to pose as an unco-operative would not apply to any Taleban or al-Qa’ida Dossari, who has made at least 12 detainee in a training exercise. detainee. This included all the detainees sent suicide attempts in Guantánamo to Guantánamo. Common Article 3 prohibits The case symbolized the extent to which torture, cruel treatment and “outrages upon (Who are the Guantánamo detainees? brutality had infected Guantánamo. It was also personal dignity, in particular humiliating and Case Sheet 11, AMR 51/007/2006) just one of numerous cases of torture and ill- degrading treatment.” President Bush had treatment that have emerged from the base in been advised that not applying common “Cages not even fit the past five years. These cases have provided a Article 3 would protect US interrogators from for wild animals.” stark rebuttal to the familiar refrains of US prosecutions for war crimes under the USA’s Sami al-Hajj officials that the USA is leading the struggle War Crimes Act. against torture; that all detainees in US custody (Who are the Guantánamo detainees? Case Sheet 16, AMR 51/013/2006) are treated humanely; and that there is full Six months later a Justice Department accountability on the rare occasions that this memorandum advised that the President could standard is not met. override the prohibition on torture; that “We were put in isolated rooms, interrogators could cause a great deal of pain we were often deprived of sleep, The reality is that since September 2001, before crossing the threshold to torture; and given mental torture or kept the US government has sought to rewrite the that there were a wide range of acts that might rules banning torture and other cruel, amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading in a cold room.” inhuman and degrading treatment – and treatment but would not amount to torture. Habibul Rehman, one of around 50 Guantánamo has been a testing ground for Agents who used them, the memorandum Afghan nationals released and returned to Afghanistan Mohamed al-Qahtani

“If torture and abuse had Mohamed al-Qahtani, a Saudi Arabian national, was kept in complete a smell, none of the American isolation in Guantánamo for three months in late 2002 and early 2003. He soldiers would be able to sit was forced to wear a woman’s bra. He had a thong placed on his head. He next to anyone else.” was tied by a leash, led around the room and forced to perform dog , a Libyan national and tricks. He was made to dance with a male interrogator while wearing a UK resident, held in Guantánamo towel “like a burka”. He was forced to stand for long periods. His hair and (Who are the Guantánamo detainees? beard were forcibly shaved during interrogation. He was strip-searched Case Sheet 9, AMR 51/088/2005) in front of women. He was sexually humiliated, and subjected to sexual insults about his female relatives. He had water repeatedly poured over “I have been forced to run his head. He was subjected to hooding, loud music, white noise, and to extremes of heat and cold. He was forced to urinate in his clothing. All this in leg shackles that regularly happened while Mohamed al-Qahtani was interrogated for 18-20 hours a ripped the skin off my ankles.” day for 48 out of 54 consecutive days. David Hicks, an Australian A military investigation into allegations of abuse at Guantánamo Guantánamo detainee concluded that while Mohamed al-Qahtani’s treatment had been (Who are the Guantánamo detainees? cumulatively “degrading and abusive”, it did not amount to “prohibited Case Sheets 4 and 5, AMR 51/069/2005, AMR 51/115/2004) inhumane treatment”. It also found there was “no evidence of torture or inhumane treatment” at Guantánamo. Mohamed al-Qahtani remains in Guantánamo; no one has been held to account for his torture.

6 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice argued, could not be prosecuted under the 2006, six military lawyers all agreed that some of USA’s extraterritorial anti-torture law. the interrogation techniques authorized in the Hunger strikes “war on terror” had violated common Article 3. The euphemistically termed “stress and “When they vomited up blood, the soldiers mocked and cursed them, duress” techniques that emerged in President Bush’s 7 February 2002 and taunted them with statements Guantánamo and US detention facilities memorandum, which has not been withdrawn, like ‘look what your religion has elsewhere included forced standing and states that detainees would be treated brought you’.” crouching, sleep deprivation, subjection to humanely, “including those who are not legally noise, prolonged isolation, and hooding. Some entitled to such treatment.”There are no such Saudi Arabian detainee Yousef techniques, such as the use of dogs, forced detainees. All detainees, everywhere, have the al-Shehri nudity, forcible shaving, sexual humiliation by right to be free from torture or other ill- During 2005 over 200 detainees female interrogators, and removal of religious treatment. This is not a policy choice. It is a participated in a hunger strike at items, have discriminatory undertones. legal obligation on all governments. Guantánamo to protest against conditions of detention and their To date, there has not been a single Amnesty International has persistently long-term indefinite detention prosecution of US personnel under the anti- campaigned against torture and ill-treatment without trial. Hunger strikers were torture law or the War Crimes Act. This is despite in Guantánamo, through publications such as reportedly placed in isolation cells, the numerous allegations of torture and the USA: Human dignity denied – Torture and strapped into restraint chairs, subject- confirmation in 2004 by a US military accountability in the “war on terror” (AMR ed to painful force feeding methods investigation that from 2002 onward US 51/145/2004) as well as Urgent Actions and Case and deprived of “comfort items” such as blankets and books. Lawyers said interrogators in Afghanistan were stripping Sheets on behalf of individuals. that some hunger strikers were detainees, isolating them for long periods, using moved into isolation in cold rooms. stress positions, exploiting fear of dogs and Acts of terrorism negate the very basis Guards allegedly taunted these using sleep and light deprivation. Such of human dignity and decency. So do acts detainees by rattling the doors of techniques, annually condemned by the US of torture. And to torture, to degrade, to their cells, interrupting their prayers State Department when occurring in other humiliate, is to flout the rule of law and and disrupting their sleep. countries, have been used in Guantánamo. undermine long-term security. Just as terrorism should be rejected absolutely, so should torture More recently, at a Senate hearing in July and other ill-treatment.

Indefinite detention Suffering of relatives © Glenn Williams “ We made this camp for people “Where are these human rights that who would be here forever. You allow my husband’s freedom to be should never think about going home. You’ll be here all your snatched away and to have him put in life… Don’t worry. We’ll keep a ?… My heart feels sad for my you alive so you can suffer children who are growing every day… more.” Their questions are increasingly difficult and painful for me to answer: Am I an Alleged statement of a US orphan? Is my dad still alive?… Their interrogator to Mohamed al- questions make me cry inside every Gharani, a Chadian national day.” held in Camp V Letter of the wife of Jamil al-Banna, A protest march on behalf of UK In May 2006, the UN Committee a Jordanian national with residents held at Guantánamo to the against Torture told the USA that status in the UK who remains in US embassy in . indefinite detention without Guantánamo charge violates the Convention Amnesty International has campaigned on against Torture and Other Cruel, housands of people around the world their behalf over the years, including by jointly Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Thave been condemned to a life of organizing with a conference in or Punishment. It urged the USA to suffering because a relative has been detained London, UK, that brought together former close Guantánamo. in Guantánamo. They are tormented by the Guantánamo detainees as well as relatives of indefinite nature of the detention and the those still held. persistent accounts of cruelty and degradation emerging from the camp. They face ostracism Relatives of Guantánamo detainees are by people who fear their links with terrorist being stigmatized and punished as a result of suspects. They suffer poverty with the loss of the US government’s unlawful “war on terror” their relative’s income and possibly their own. detention policy. That policy must be changed.

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 7 selected AI reports Australia: Supporters of Australian Guantánamo detainee David Hicks hold rallies around Australia calling for his release. 2001 Austria: AI stages a joint public action in Vienna city USA: Letter from Amnesty centre, with hooded activists wearing orange International Secretary jumpsuits held in metal cages, to press for the General to President closure of Guantánamo in advance of the George W. Bush – Attacks European Union-US Summit in Vienna. of 11 September 2001 (AMR 51/144/2001) Bahrain: AI members organize a public event around USA: Presidential order on the film “Road to Guantánamo” and a “Close military tribunals Guantánamo” web petition. threatens fundamental principles of justice Belgium: AI members set up a Guantánamo jail in the (AMR 51/165/2001) centre of Brussels, with singers calling on USA: Apologists for people to campaign for Guantánamo’s closure. torture must be challenged Canada: AI members organize several “Close (ACT 30/063/2001) Guantánamo” activities, including postcards, USA: Pursuing Justice, email petitions and demonstrations Not Revenge (www.noexceptions.ca). (ACT 30/068/2001) Chile: AI members organize street activities on Guantánamo in Santiago and screened “Road 2002 to Guantánamo”. USA: AI calls on the USA Denmark: AI members campaign on behalf of Kuwaiti to end legal limbo of detainees in Guantánamo. Tens of thousands Guantánamo prisoners of Danes press their Prime Minister into (AMR 51/009/2002) condemning Guantánamo. USA: Military commissions – Second- Finland: AI presses the Finnish EU-presidency to class justice stop rendition flights through Europe (AMR 51/049/2002) to Guantánamo. USA: Memorandum to the US Government on the France: AI members demonstrate in front of the US rights of people in US embassy calling for Guantánamo to be closed. custody in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay Germany: AI members in Weiden ask passers-by to send (AMR 51/053/2002) letters of protest about Guantánamo to the USA: Beyond the law – US President. Update to AI’s April Greece: AI organizes stalls and other activities at the memorandum to the US European Social Forum held in Athens, to government on the rights of detainees held in US raise awareness about abuses in custody in Guantánamo Guantánamo. Bay and other locations Iceland: AI organizes screenings of “Road to (AMR 51/184/2002) Guantánamo”, a postcard action and a seminar with former Guantánamo detainees. 2003 Ireland: Over 200 people in Guantánamo orange USA: Guantánamo jumpsuits and black chains march through detainees – the legal Dublin. black hole deepens (AMR 51/038/2003) Israel: AI runs a stall at a music concert calling for an USA: The Guantánamo investigation into illegal activities in scandal continues Guantánamo. (AMR 51/078/2003) USA: It is time for the legal limbo to end (AMR 51/104/2003) USA: The threat of a bad example – undermining international standards as “war on terror” detentions continue (AMR 51/114/2003) USA: Guantánamo detainees – Human rights are not negotiable (AMR 51/141/2003) USA: Holding human AI FRANCE rights hostage

(AMR 51/164/2003) AI FRANCE AI BELGIUM & EU

8 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice 2004 USA: Despite releases, Guantánamo remains an affront to the rule of law (AMR 51/041/2004) USA: Restoring the rule of law – the right of Guantánamo detainees to judicial review of the lawfulness of their detention (AMR 51/093/2004) USA: The US Supreme Court takes a step towards restoring the rule of law to Guantánamo (AMR 51/110/2004) USA: Administration continues to show contempt for Guantánamo detainees’ rights (AMR 51/113/2004)

AI SWITZERLAND USA: A deepening stain on US justice (AMR 51/130/2004) USA: Human dignity denied – Torture and accountability in the “war on terror” (AMR 51/145/2004) AI 2005 USA: Guantánamo – an icon of lawlessness Kuwait: Around 200 people march in silent protest (AMR 51/002/2005) and release white doves to demand the USA: Guantánamo – closure of Guantánamo. trusting the executive, prolonging the injustice Luxembourg: AI releases 200 orange balloons, each calling (AMR 51/030/2005) for the closure of Guantánamo. USA: Guantánamo and Malaysia: AI members campaign on behalf of Australian beyond – the continuing detainees in Guantánamo. pursuit of unchecked executive power Netherlands: AI members set up a web-based campaign on (AMR 51/063/2005) behalf of Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes. 2006 Paraguay: AI members protest about Guantánamo USA: Guantánamo – Lives outside the US embassy. torn apart: the impact of indefinite detention on AI activists dress up in orange jumpsuits and Slovenia: detainees and their masks to highlight the abuses in families Guantánamo. (AMR 51/007/2006) Poland: AI members organize street theatre in Warsaw USA: Military against torture in Guantánamo and other secret Commissions for “War on US-run prisons, and collect signatures. Terror” detainees (AMR 51/050/2006) Turkey: AI members organize an Air Torture stall at a USA: Justice at last or music festival in Istanbul and collect more of the same? – signatures calling for the closure of Detentions and trials after Guantánamo. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (AMR 51/146/2006) Uruguay: AI members erect a huge banner in front of USA: Military the US embassy calling for the closure of Commissions Act of 2006 Guantánamo. – turning bad policy into bad law (AMR 51/154/2006) USA: AI members campaign against the proposed USA: Five years on “the Military Commissions Act, staging dark side” – a look back demonstrations and vigils, and send appeals at “war on terror” to members of Congress. detentions (AMR 51/195/2006) Yemen: Around 1,000 demonstrators, including families of detainees, march in front of the Yemeni Parliament to highlight abuses in Guantánamo.

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 9 © AI ecrecy has shrouded Guantánamo, even though the Scamp itself has been the most well known part of the USA’s “war on terror” detention network. The secrecy is dangerous for the detainees, distressing for relatives, and detrimental to the rule of law.

For more than four years the US Department of Defense kept secret the identities of those incarcerated in Guantánamo, finally providing a list of names only after legal action was taken against it in the courts. It has always given only approximate numbers of those held there, providing a loophole for detainees to be taken to and from Guantánamo, or between different US agencies, without public knowledge.

The CIA is known to have run its own facility at the camp, and reportedly held “high-value” detainees there, as well as participating in interrogations of detainees Above: AI Greece used to transfer detainees to states such as Egypt, held in military custody. However, many questions about “Torture Free Skies” Jordan and Syria, where torture is routine, as well as to the CIA’s activities in the camp remain unanswered. Action at the 4th US custody in Afghanistan and secret facilities known as European Social “black sites” run by the CIA. Many victims of rendition Such secrecy, which allows torture and other ill- Forum in Athens, have ended up in Guantánamo. May 2006. treatment to flourish, has been replicated in the USA’s Right: A detainee programme of secret detention, renditions and torture being taken into Amnesty International has persistently investigated around the world. Camp X-Ray at and campaigned against these illegal transfers, and from Guantánamo, January November 2001 it urged the USA not to resort to this Renditions 2002. practice in the “war on terror”. In January 2002 Amnesty International alerted the uantánamo has been a major cog in the secret US world to the impending rendition of six Algerians – Gprogramme of unlawful transfers of “war on terror” Bansayah Belkacem, Lahmar Saber, Mustafa Ait Idir, suspects between countries. These renditions have been Hadz Boudella, and Mohamed Nechle – from Bosnia and Herzegovina to US custody (EUR 63/001/2002 and EUR 63/013/2003). The men are still in Guantánamo.

“My country turned me over, short-cutting all kinds of due The same year the organization tried to prevent the process of law, like a candy bar to the United States. They sent transfer to US custody and eventually to Guantánamo of me to Jordan for torture and later on to Bagram and then to this UK residents Bisher Al-Rawi and Jamil al-Banna after they place… I have been kept out of the world for more than four were detained in Gambia (AFR 27/006/2002). Amnesty years and I really don’t know what is going on outside.” International also took early action in the case of Canadian Guantánamo detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 13 December 2005 citizen Maher Arar, who was seized by US authorities in 2002 and secretly transported to his native Syria, where he Mohamedou Ould Slahi was detained by was tortured (AMR 51/159/2002 and AMR 51/139/2003). authorities in late November 2001 after he handed himself in. Eight Maher Arar was eventually released, and his case was the days later he was transferred to Jordan, where he says he was subject of a commission of inquiry in Canada. tortured. In July 2002, after eight months’ incommunicado military detention, he was put on a CIA-leased plane, flown to Afghanistan, and again allegedly ill-treated. Madni In August 2002 he was transferred to Guantánamo. There, the Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni was arrested ICRC was denied access to him for more than a year on the grounds of by Indonesian intelligence agents in “military necessity”. During this period in incommunicado detention, January 2002, allegedly on the instructions his treatment included being subjected to extremes of temperature, of the CIA. CIA agents then flew him to to threats against his family (he was told that his mother was in US Egypt, where he “disappeared” and was custody and only his co-operation could help her), and being taken rumoured to have died. In fact, he had been off the base in a boat and threatened with death or disappearance. secretly transferred to Afghanistan via Mohamedou Ould Slahi remains in Guantánamo. Pakistan in April 2002, held there for 11 months, and then sent to Guantánamo in USA: Rendition – torture – trial? The case of Guantánamo detainee Mohamedou March 2003. It took another year for word to Ould Slahi (AMR 51/149/2006) get out that he was there and alive.

10 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice Amnesty International analysed numerous enforced disappearance and other serious flight records of CIA-leased planes and violations of human rights that are crimes matched them with its interviews with under international law. Abdulsalam al-Hela victims to help uncover the USA’s renditions programme and its link to Guantánamo. In addition to the secret detentions in Abdulsalam al-Hela, a Yemeni One of the planes, a Gulfstream V variously known prisons, including Guantánamo, secret national, was apparently abducted registered as N379P, N8068V and N44982, US facilities allegedly run by the CIA have been while on a business trip to Egypt by made numerous trips to Guantánamo, earning reported in Afghanistan, , Egypt, Egyptian state agents in September it the nickname “The Guantánamo Bay Jordan, Pakistan and Thailand, and in Eastern 2002 and interrogated using what Express”. Europe. he says was “degrading treatment”. He was then taken to an aiport, The results of Amnesty International’s In September 2006, 14 “high-value” handed to US officials, stripped research, published in USA: Below the radar – detainees who had been held in secret naked and blindfolded, hooded and secret flights to torture and “disappearance” custody by the CIA in undisclosed locations gagged, and flown to an unknown destination. His family heard (AMR 51/051/2006), helped to expose the outside the USA were transferred to nothing from him for a year, but unlawful programme and fed into official Guantánamo. The detainees had been held were told by the Egyptian embassy investigations in several countries shown incommunicado for up to four and a half years. in Yemen that he had been taken to to have facilitated renditions. Announcing the transfers, President Bush Azerbaijan. defended the use of secret detention and At some point he was taken to undefined “alternative” interrogation Afghanistan, where he was held in Secret detention techniques used to break the resistance of secret, illegally and incommunicado, detainees. In court, the government has for two years. He was also tortured. network sought to ensure that anything the 14 In September 2004 he was detainees know about the CIA programme, transferred to Guantánamo, where “The [USA] should investigate and including the location of detention facilities he says he was again tortured and ill- disclose the existence of any [secret and what has gone on in them, remains secret. treated, including by beatings, verbal detention] facilities and the authority abuse and being bitten by a guard. under which they have been established The fact of US secret detentions is now out and the manner in which detainees are in the open, but the facts about who has been Who are the Guantánamo detainees? treated. The [USA] should publicly held and what they have suffered remain in Case Sheet 15 (AMR 51/012/2006) condemn any policy of secret detention.” the dark. Many more than the 14 men UN Committee against Torture, transferred to Guantánamo have been held in 19 May 2006 the CIA programme. Where are they now? Among them are believed to be at least 17 USA: Amnesty International calls for a he US authorities have held an unknown men – nationals of Tanzania, Pakistan, commission of inquiry into “war on terror” Tnumber of detainees in secret. Secret Syria/Spain, Libya, , Egypt, Tunisia – detentions (AMR 51/087/2004) detention is banned under international law whose fate and whereabouts remain USA/Yemen: Secret detention in CIA “Black Sites” (AMR 51/177/2005) for a simple reason – it facilitates torture, unknown. © DoD

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 11 “The biggest suffering everybody has in Guantánamo Bay… is the sheer lack of any ability to prove your innocence because you remain in legal limbo, and have no communication at all, no meaningful communication with your family.”

UK national , who was detained in US custody in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Guantánamo Bay for three years. He was never charged.

he US authorities established a On 17 October 2006 President Bush signed the Tdetention centre at its naval base Military Commissions Act, which codifies in US law a in Cuba precisely because it believed substandard and discriminatory system of justice for it was beyond the jurisdiction of the those held in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and elsewhere. US courts. They then branded the The Act disregards international standards of justice.

© AI Guantánamo detainees as “killers” and “terrorists”, flouting the Habeas corpus is a fundamental safeguard against presumption of innocence and arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance. Moazzam Begg jeopardizing the safety of detainees in the event of their Yet, among other things, the Act strips the US courts of future release. jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus appeals from foreign nationals held in US custody anywhere as “enemy Since 2002 the US authorities have consistently combatants”. It also provides for such detainees to be sought to block any meaningful access to justice for tried by military commissions with the power to hand Guantánamo detainees. When US courts have ruled down death sentences after unfair trials. Amnesty against the government, the authorities have sought to International is campaigning for the repeal or substantial drain such rulings of any real meaning in order to keep amendment of this law, in conformity with international USA: Justice at last or more of the same? (AMR the detainees in their legal limbo. Hundreds of detainees law and standards. 51/146/2006) have been held for five years without any judicial review of the lawfulness of their detention or how they have Lasting security and real justice for the victims of been treated. terrorism cannot be achieved without fair trials for terror suspects and respect for the human rights of all detainees. As long as the Military Commissions Act remains as it is and Guantánamo remains open, the US Mohamed el-Gharani government will be seen as violating fundamental human rights and international law. Mohamed el-Gharani (Mohamed C), a Chadian national born and raised in Saudi Arabia, went to Pakistan to study English and computer skills. In October 2001, when aged just 15, he was arrested while praying in a in . He says he was tortured in Pakistan and then felt “overjoyed” Ahmed Errachidi when his captors handed him to US custody as he believed his torture would end. Instead, he was hooded, shackled, beaten and Ahmed Errachidi, a Moroccan national threatened with death, then flown by helicopter to US custody in with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, in Afghanistan, where he alleges he was tortured. remains in Guantánamo. He is accused of training in an Afghan camp to learn about In January 2002 he was one of the first detainees sent to weapons and bomb making in July 2001. Guantánamo. He says he has been tortured there, including by His lawyer claims that this is impossible as exposure to extremes of cold temperatures and loud music, sleep he was working as a chef in London and deprivation and sexual humiliation. He says he has also faced that there are payslips and timesheets to constant racial abuse. prove this. In March 2006, while Ahmed Mohamed el-Gharani is no longer a child. He is a young man Errachidi was thought to be taking part in who remains in Guantánamo with no knowledge of when he will be a hunger strike at Guantánamo, he wrote: released, and who is suffering depression that has twice led him to attempt suicide. “I do not want to die; I want to live, and I am not living here. My struggle is not Who are the Guantánamo detainees? Case Sheet 10, AMR 51/110/2005 to die, but it is a struggle for the truth.”

12 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice © DoD

Omar Deghayes © AI

“Omar has already been held for over four years without charge or trial – a complete travesty of justice. We’ve always said that we’re not looking for special favours for my brother – just for his fundamental human rights to be respected.”

Omar Deghayes’ sister Amani, speaking to Amnesty International. Omar Deghayes, a Libyan national granted political asylum in the UK, was detained in Pakistan in April 2002 and subsequently transferred to Guantánamo in September that year. Amnesty International activists in the UK, particularly those in Omar’s home town of , have campaigned tirelessly for his release. Who are the Guantánamo detainees? Case Sheet 9, AMR 51/088/2005

A US soldier watching from the “First poem of my life” by Guantánamo detainee Mohamed el-Gharani, outer perimeter as aged 15 when detained in 2002 detainees sit in a holding area Be careful, my brother, Then marched us eight hours, Respect was abandoned, in Camp X-Ray at when in Pakistan; then eight hours more – the Holy Koran Guantánamo, January They understand money – We cried for relief, but we Downtrodden there with us. 2002. the price of a man. suffered, footsore. Their madness, a plan I came here to study, They kicked us, they beat us, To torture us, beat us, I learned just deceit; they told us – their guests – encouraged by drink – The Mosque was a war zone, They’d sell us for money, Send priests with their crosses surrounded. Police. and Yankees paid best. to save us, they think

Were shouting for silence; We’re slaves of our century, They take us to Cuba, “Hands up! Come in peace!” the slave ship a plane pursue without qualm They took us by truckloads, To humiliation, abuse Crusades of injustice, thrown, bound hand and feet; and disdain. their war on .

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 13 “No one’s comfortable with the situation in Guantánamo, Guantánamo is an but if we really all want to reduce the numbers to send embarrassment,“ and so it has to be solved one way or the other, it people back, progress cannot be made by just simply saying is necessary to have the people in Guantánamo should be closed, we have to have practical Guantánamo get a fair trial. suggestions, practical ways to move forward.” Jean-David Levitte, French ambassador” John Bellinger III, Department of State Legal Advisor, to the USA, 21 February 2006 20 October 2006 Guantánamo detainees Those to be tried must be should be released charged with recognizably The State party should cease to immediately unless they criminal offences and “detain any person at Guantánamo are to be charged and given a fair trial before an Bay and close this detention facility, given a fair trial. independent and impartial permit access by the detainees to tribunal, such as a US Released detainees federal court. There should judicial process or release them as should not be forcibly be no recourse to the soon as possible. sent to any country where death penalty. UN Committee against Torture,” they may face serious human rights abuses. No evidence obtained Conclusions and Recommendations  under torture or other on the USA, 25 July 2006 There must be a fair and cruel, inhuman or transparent process to degrading treatment or I think sooner or later assess the cases of each punishment should be detainee to be released, in admissible. there“ will be a need to close the order to establish whether Guantánamo (camp), and I think they can return safely to All US officials should it will be up to the government their country of origin or desist from further to decide, and hopefully to do it whether another solution undermining the as soon as is possible. should be found. presumption of innocence Kofi Anan, UN Secretary-General,” February 2006

Of course we support [the “closure of Guantánamo] and hopefully all the Saudis there will be returned to their homeland. Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, Saudi Arabia’s” Interior Minister, 26 June 2006

A model like Guantánamo “is an insult to countries that respect laws... It delegitimizes us. It is a place that needs to disappear immediately. Baltasar Garzón, Spanish investigative” magistrate, 4 June 2006

The focus of attention should “be on closing Guantánamo. Jose Diaz, spokesman for the UN ”High Commissioner for Human Rights, 13 June 2006

14 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice Amnesty International was among the first to call for the closure of the Guantánamo detention camp, a place that has become an icon of lawlessness in the “war on terror”. AI is calling on the US The responsibility for finding a solution for the “Administration to ‘close Guantánamo detainees that complies with international Guantánamo and disclose It is time, in law rests with the USA. Amnesty International makes the the rest’. following recommendations to the US government my“ view, that it regarding the closure of Guantánamo: Irene Khan, AI’s Secretary” General, should close. 25 May 2005 Lord Goldsmith,” UK in relation to the the restrictions that led , Guantánamo detainees. them to turn down the 7 May 2006 USA’s previous invitation. The Military Commissions There should be no [The European Parliament] Act 2006 should be restrictions on the calls“ on the US Administration to repealed or substantially experts’ ability to talk amended, in conformity privately with detainees. close the Guantánamo Bay with international law, as detention facility. it does not guarantee fair The USA must provide European Parliament, February” 2006 trial rights, denies habeas prompt and adequate corpus rights and reparation, including entrenches impunity for restitution, rehabilitation human rights violations. and fair and adequate financial compensation, Our government needs, first The US authorities should to released detainees. of all,“ to close down Guantánamo. invite the five UN experts Jimmy Carter, former US President, 9 June” 2005 – four Special Rapporteurs The full version of Amnesty and the Chairperson of International’s “Framework for the Working Group on Closure” can be found at: Arbitrary Detention – to web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ The USA should close visit Guantánamo without ENGAMR511462006 Guantánamo“ and transfer the detainees to proper court © DoD A detainee being proceedings. taken to a medium security Jan Eliasson, 10 June” 2006 facility at Guantánamo.

[Guantánamo] represents the gravest“ insult to human dignity in modern history and is closest to the rule of the jungle than to the rule of law… close this sinister detention camp. Petition by members of Bahrain’s ”House of Representatives, 2006

The issue of this facility in the An institution like long“ term, medium and short term “Guantánamo can and indeed is that it should be closed. should not exist Dermot Ahern, Irish Foreign Minister,” 23 in the longer term. February 2006 Angela Merkel, Chancellor” of Germany, 7 January 2006

AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 15 “Thank you so much for your email, your sympathy, support and to your efforts… This indeed enhances our hopes, keeps our morale high and lets us feel that we are not alone and abandoned.” Khaled al-Odah, father of Kuwaiti detainee Fawzi al-Odah, responding to a letter sent by an AI member in Denmark

Amnesty International © AI

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and promoted.

Amnesty International has a vision of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

Amnesty International is independent This was part of the structure of any government, political ideology, “of the camp to try to break you economic interest or religion. It does not physically, mentally and support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or spiritually. oppose the views of the victims whose Martin Mubanga, who was” held Cover image: US military police rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned without charge at Guantánamo for escort detainee, Guantánamo Bay. solely with the impartial protection of 23 months. © APGraphicsBank Read more about former human rights. First published in January 2007 by Guantánamo detainees on Amnesty Amnesty International Publications International’s website: Amnesty International is a democratic, International Secretariat self-governing movement. It has more  http://web.amnesty.org/pages/ Peter Benenson House than 1.8 million members and supporters guantanamobay-index-eng 1 Easton Street in over 150 countries and territories in  http://web.amnesty.org/pages/ London WC1X 0DW every region of the world. stoptorture-reallives-eng www.amnesty.org Amnesty International is funded largely by its worldwide membership and public YOU CAN PROTECT © Amnesty International donations. No funds are sought or HUMAN RIGHTS BY Publications 2007 accepted from governments for Amnesty ISBN: 978-0-86210-420-7 International’s work investigating and JOINING AMNESTY AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 campaigning against human rights abuses. INTERNATIONAL NOW! Original language: English Printed by: Lynx DPM, Chalgrove, UK Please send me more information. All rights reserved.This publication is I would like to join Amnesty International. copyright, but may be reproduced by „ any method without fee for advocacy, Please send me details. campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale.The copyright holders request that „ I would like to make a donation to support all such use be registered with them for impact Amnesty International’s work: assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, Credit card number: prior written permission must be obtained „„„„ „„„„ „„„„ „„„„ from the publishers, and a fee may be payable. Expiry date: Amount: ISBN 978-0-86210-420-7 NAME: ADDRESS:

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