Guantanamo man tells of 'torture'
A Kuwaiti man being held at Guantanamo Bay has told the
BBC in a rare interview that the force-feeding of hunger strikers amounts to
torture.
Fawzi al-Odah said hunger strikers were
strapped to a chair and force-fed through a tube three times a day.
A senior US official denied the use of torture
in Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Odah's comments, relayed by his lawyer in
answer to BBC questions, came as another inmate launched a legal challenge to
the force-feeding policy.
The case is being brought on behalf of Mohammed Bawazir, a
Yemeni who has also been held there since 2002.
The action is the first test for a new law explicitly outlawing
torture of terrorism suspects, which President George W Bush signed in
December.
New testimony
The BBC Today programme's Jon Manel submitted questions for Mr
Odah to his lawyer, Tom Wilner, who has access to the camp.
There was no opportunity for the BBC to challenge Mr Odah's
responses.
Mr Odah, who has been held at the base since 2002, was one of 84
inmates at Guantanamo who went on hunger strike in December. Just four are
still refusing food.
|
|
US TORTURE BAN Bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of terror
suspects Limits interrogation techniques to US Army standards CIA interrogators have same legal rights as military Proposed by US Republican Senator John McCain Initially opposed by White House |
Speaking to the BBC, US state department official Colleen
Graffey said all detainees were afforded regular status reviews and offered the
opportunity to renounce violence.
Through his lawyer, Mr Odah described his treatment during his
hunger strike.
"First they took my comfort items away from me. You know,
my blanket, my towel, my long pants, then my shoes. I was put in isolation for
10 days.
"They came in and read out an order. It said if you refuse
to eat, we will put you on the chair [for force feeding]."
He told how detainees were given "formulas" to force
them to empty their bowels and were strapped to a metal chair three times a
day, where a tube was inserted to administer food.
"One guy, a Saudi, told me that he had once been tortured
in Saudi Arabia and that this metal chair treatment was worse than any torture
he had ever endured or could imagine," Mr Odah said.
Strain
Mr Odah told the BBC that he felt like an old man despite being
only 29.
He described a regime where young military guards routinely beat
detainees who caused problems.
|
|
Death in this situation is better than being alive and
staying here without hope |
"If anything bad happens to the United States anywhere
in the world, they immediately react to us and treat us badly, like
animals," he said.
"I'm always tired. I have pain in my kidneys. I have
trouble breathing. I have pain in my heart and am short of breath. I have
trouble urinating and having bowel movements.
"Death in this situation is better than being alive and
staying here without hope," Mr Odah added.
The US has said it is holding Mr Odah because he is a dangerous
"enemy combatant", who travelled through Afghanistan with the
Taleban, fired AK-47 rifles while at an al-Qaeda training camp and fought
against US and coalition forces.
He dismissed the general allegations, branding them as
"rubbish" and "absolutely untrue".
However, he refused to elaborate, insisting he would only
discuss the accusations against at a court hearing.
New rules
In Washington, lawyers for Mohammed Bawazir, who has now ended
his hunger strike, said the force-feeding inflicted "unbearable pain"
on detainees.
The BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says the legal challenge may
be a shot in the dark.
Under the terms of the new law it is not even clear whether
courts have the right to hear this case, he adds.
The lawyers are arguing that the new anti-torture rules which Mr
Bush signed in December outlaw this practice.
The UN Human Rights Commission said recently that it regarded
force-feeding at Guantanamo as a form of torture, a charge the US firmly has
repeatedly denied.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4769604.stm