If you're like me, the very idea of torture is abhorrent. But after so many years of hearing about it, a kind of numbness sets in and it becomes all about words - not people. I think its important that we remember that when we speak of torture, we're talking about human beings...most of whom have been shown to be innocent of any crimes. Towards that end, I'd like to introduce you to Jumah Al Dossari, in case you haven't already heard about him.
I arrived in Guantanamo in January 2002 after Pakistani forces handed me over to the United States, probably, I suspect, for a bounty. I had been in Afghanistan to assess the progress of a mosque-building project there, funded by people in my native Saudi Arabia. I knew that Afghanistan was a dangerous place, but I was paid for the trip and I needed the money, so I went. It is a decision I will always regret. When the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan in November 2001, I fled to Pakistan. At a border checkpoint, I asked Pakistani guards for help getting to the Saudi embassy. Instead, they put me in a prison, where I was kept for days with shackles on my legs.
Dossari went on to spend two weeks in captivity at a U.S. military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan before being taken to Guantanamo, where he was held for 5 years without charges or a trial.
Through his lawyer, Dossari documented his treatment there and his testimony is on file at Amnesty International.
they would take me for investigations very often; I have had over 600 investigation sessions until now. The soldiers would overpower me by harassing me and putting me into solitary isolation for no reason. The investigators would also put psychological pressure on me. Perhaps I will mention some of the things that happened to me in the investigation rooms when I was in Camp Delta. I will not mention a lot of the incidents that happened to me because I do not want everything that happened to be published. Some of the things that happened to me during investigations are: I was threatened with being murdered, tortured and having to spend the rest of my life in jail in Cuba, my daughter Nura would be kidnapped, they would make trouble for my family in Saudi Arabia and they threatened to assassinate me after I am released. They put very strong detergent in the investigation room and poured it all around me until I almost suffocated. They put a music stereo record on very, very loudly, they put very bright torches to my face, they put me in a very, very cold room and reduced the temperature to the lowest temperature for many long hours and did not allow me to have food or drink, go to the toilet or perform my ablutions to pray. There were many other things such as they tied my hands to my feet in the ring on the floor of the room. All the investigation rooms have a metal ring fixed in the floor to tie the detainees’ feet to it. As for sexual assaults, many things happened to me and I will mention some of them here.
You might remember that last year a book titled Poems From Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak was published. Dossari's entry was published in the Boston Globe.
Death Poem
Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.
Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.
And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the "protectors of peace."
In July 2007, Dossari was released. You can read an update from him published last August in the Washington Post titled I'm Home, but Still Haunted by Guantanamo. I'm not sure I can grasp how he's done this, but here's how he ends the piece.
In Guantanamo, I was very angry with the people who had decided to hold me thousands of miles from home without charging or trying me. I was very angry with the people who kept me in isolation even when I was at my most desperate. I was very angry about having no rights at all. I was not angry with Americans in general and I even drew comfort from some, such as my lawyers and the kind soldier. But I could scarcely comprehend how U.S. policy had allowed me to be treated as I had been.
On the plane ride home, though, I decided that I would have to forgive to go on with my life. I also know that Sept. 11 was a great tragedy that caused some people to do dark things that they would not otherwise do. This knowledge helped me forget my miserable existence in Guantanamo and open my heart to life again, including to my recent re-marriage.
I know you'll join me in wishing Jumah Al Dossari both healing and peace for the rest of his life. But I believe that our work on this is just beginning. Please join me in signing this petition for a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute War Crimes. All of this must be brought into the light of day and those responsible prosecuted. We must all stand together and say "NEVER AGAIN!"
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