Freed Guantanamo detainee accuses U.S. of torture

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A British resident held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years returned to Britain a free man on Monday and accused the U.S. government of inflicting "medieval" torture on him -- with British collusion.

Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen with British residency, was returned on a charter flight after the U.S. government agreed last week to a British request to free him. All charges against him were dropped and he was never tried.

...

Mohamed, 30, said he was "neither physically nor mentally capable" of facing the media, but denounced the U.S. government.

"I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares," he said in a statement issued via his lawyers shortly before his arrival.

"Before this ordeal, 'torture' was an abstract word for me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways -- all orchestrated by the United States government."

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN547045.htm

[MorningGlow]

1. A great way to build a solid case against Darth Cheney and the Evil Empire

Free the prisoners and let them speak. :applause:

[jpak]

2. The Hague awaits Cheney and the rest

n/t

[Amonester]

11. **crickets** (not a peep from there...)

some BIG bribe$ 'flowing' that way, looks like...

[Supersedeas]

26. and what about our own "Justice" Department...certainly Marc Rich's advocate is above the influence

of the moneychangers.

[ensho]

3. kick

nt

[The Stranger]

4. Why does the media still couch it in terms of "accuses the U.S." when the U.S. has admitted it.

Now, it is a question of getting names, affidavits, warrants and making arrests.

[ima_sinnic]

5. Obama so far seems disappointingly unwilling to do anything about stuff like this

He has lost any support from me as long as he ignores the illegal atrocities we are committing at Guantanamo and other places in the world. He SAID the detainees were "going to be" freed. When exactly is this going to happen? Does he really think he can "make a case" against anyone who was tortured?

He has already stuck to the bushco line in a couple of cases. He can go to hell if that is the way it is going to be.

[jpak]

7. Give him some slack - he has a huge economic crisis to deal with right now

He'll deal with this eventually...

[Baby Snooks]

9. "We must move on..."

That seems to be the approach so far - we must move on. The future beckons. The past is past. Change is coming. It will never happen again. The problem is there has been no change. The problem is it is still happening. And we are still being lied to. This time by the Obama administration. He is, as you put it, sticking to the Bushco line.

And it a line of lies. The same line of lies we heard from Clinton when he told us to we must move on from the other Bush and his crimes.

We do not need a "truth commission" we need a "lie commission" to expose the lies of the Bushes and the Clintons and Congress itself. Mainly the lies of Congress.

I am waiting for the "we must defend our policies otherwise we look weak to our enemies." No doubt that is coming.

Barack Obama is complicit in the crimes if he does nothing.

[superconnected]

25. He's been president for 4 weeks now. I mean come on. I'm sure he will get to this.

[flyarm]

6. Binyam Mohamed’s statement on his release from Guantánamo

Binyam Mohamed’s statement on his release from Guantánamo
23.2.09

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/02/23/binyam-mohameds-statement-on-his-release-from-guantanamo/

snip:

I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery.

I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, “torture” was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways — all orchestrated by the United States government.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Since the US has already publicly admitted to having used TORTURE,

it's no surprise to hear someone hear they were TORTURED by the US.

TORTURE; the REPUBLIC PARTY PLATFORM.

[bushmeister0]

12. And now the Democratic party platform, too:

Obama has bought the policy

The Guardian:

"Claims that Mohamed was beaten during the period after President Obama announced Guantánamo's closure in January risk harming diplomatic relations between the administration and the British government . . .

Stafford Smith, the director of legal charity Reprieve, said yesterday that Mohamed had been routinely beaten by Guantánamo's notorious emergency reaction force, a six-strong team of guards in riot gear who have been the subject of previous abuse allegations. The alleged beatings were routinely administered against Mohamed 'for no reason' and some were 'recent' according to Stafford Smith."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/22/binyam-mohamed-injuries

[kpete]

10. Revealed: full horror of Gitmo inmate's beatings

Source: Guardian UK


Revealed: full horror of Gitmo inmate's beatings

Former British resident Binyam Mohamed arrives back in Britain tomorrow after his release from Guantanamo Bay. British and US lawyers claim that sustained beatings - which have only recently stopped - have left him with severe psychological and physical problems. Defence correspondent Mark Townsend reports

Binyam Mohamed will return to Britain suffering from a huge range of injuries after being beaten by US guards right up to the point of his departure from Guantánamo Bay, according to the first detailed accounts of his treatment inside the camp.

Mohamed will arrive back tomorrow in the UK, where he was a British resident between 1984 and 2002. During medical examinations last week, doctors discovered injuries and ailments resulting from apparently brutal treatment in detention.

Mohamed was found to be suffering from bruising, organ damage, stomach complaints, malnutrition, sores to feet and hands, severe damage to ligaments as well as profound emotional and psychological problems which have been exacerbated by the refusal of Guantánamo's guards to give him counselling.

Mohamed's British lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said his client had been beaten "dozens" of times inside the notorious US camp in Cuba with the most recent abuse occurring during recent weeks. He said: "He has a list of physical ailments that cover two sheets of A4 paper. What Binyam has been through should have been left behind in the middle ages."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/22/binyam-mohamed-injuries

[Heywood J]

24. I think that's the worst part...

During medical examinations last week, doctors discovered injuries and ailments resulting from apparently brutal treatment in detention.

Mohamed was found to be suffering from bruising, organ damage, stomach complaints, malnutrition, sores to feet and hands, severe damage to ligaments as well as profound emotional and psychological problems which have been exacerbated by the refusal of Guantánamo's guards to give him counselling.


If they can prove it, talk to him about being a witness for the prosecution. I'm not sure how much I recognize of this country any more.

[Solly Mack]

13. K&R

[Mr. Hyde]

14. It's too bad about abu grahib. Prior to that, I would have regarded this man's accusations as BS

Now, who knows? A sad state of affairs. I can see spooks doing this but Marines of all people should know better. For their sake, I hope they are not implicated in this.

[bushmeister0]

16. Too late!

"Stafford Smith, the director of legal charity Reprieve, said yesterday that Mohamed had been routinely beaten by Guantánamo's notorious emergency reaction force, a six-strong team of guards in riot gear who have been the subject of previous abuse allegations. The alleged beatings were routinely administered against Mohamed 'for no reason' and some were 'recent' according to Stafford Smith."

[Mr. Hyde]

17. It sounds like his own government had more to do with it than ours actually.

"Mohamed began his detention in April 2002 when he was seized at an airport in Pakistan for trying to travel on a friend's passport. He was held for four months, during which time he says he was tortured and abused by Pakistani intelligence agents in the presence of British intelligence officers."

[bushmeister0]

19. Oh, to be sure. That's why the shit is hitting the fan over there.

But, if you've been following this, the Brits asked for and recieved cover from the State Department in a letter saying if the courts ordered the public release of the memo detailing Mohamed's torture at the hands of Pakistanis, the US would stop sharing intel with the Brits.

The letter was sent after the UK Gov. told the court of the cutoff threat.

The Daily Mail:

"Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague demanded a full explanation of the circumstances surrounding a letter from the Americans which persuaded High Court judges to suppress evidence about the treatment of Binyam Mohamed.

The U. S. State Department letter insisted that 'intelligence sharing' could be seriously damaged if information about 30-year-old Mohamed ' s treatment was published.

But a former State Department official claimed at the weekend the letter had only been written at the request of the Foreign Office."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1147079/Miliband-told-come-clean-claim-Government-asked-U-S-help-cover-Guantanamo-torture-Briton.html

The US is in this up to its eyeballs, too, that's why there's so much ass covering going on. Drip, drip, drip.

[chill_wind]

23. He's been in our exclusive custody since 2002 - Seven years!

Which doesn't begin to let the Pakistani and Brit Intel off in the beginning of his ordeal, but no way do we get off as having less to do with it. What happened to him in our hands is a nightmare.


Biography of Plaintiff Binyam Mohamed

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/29912res20070530.html

[LynnTheDem]

22. "Now, who knows?"

The world knows; USA tortures people.

[chill_wind]

15. K & R. n/t

[bushmeister0]

18. Anyone notice the bit about the finger nails being pulled out?

From the story cited in the op:

"British citizens and residents mentioned in the report is Rangzieb Ahmed, 33, from Rochdale, who claims he was tortured by Pakistani intelligence agents before being questioned by two MI5 officers. Ahmed was convicted of being a member of al-Qaida at Manchester crown court, yet the jury was not told that three of the fingernails of his left hand had been removed . . .

Hasan said that evidence indicated a considerable number of UK officers were involved in interviewing terrorism suspects after they were allegedly tortured. He told the Observer: 'We don't know who the individuals were, but when you have different personnel coming in and behaving in a similar fashion it implies some level of systemic approach to the situation, rather than one eager beaver deciding it is absolutely fine for someone to be beaten or hung upside down.'

'They have met the suspect ... and have conspicuously failed to notice that someone is in a state of high physical distress, showing signs of injury. If you are a secret service agent and fail to notice that their fingernails are missing, you ought to be fired."

Nice bunch these Pakitani ISI guys! Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Going Medieval on your ass!'

Note this story in the NYT yesterday:

"More than 70 United States military advisers and technical specialists are secretly working in Pakistan to help its armed forces battle Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the country’s lawless tribal areas, American military officials said.

It started last summer, with the support of Pakistan’s government and military, in an effort to root out Qaeda and Taliban operations that threaten American troops in Afghanistan and are increasingly destabilizing Pakistan. It is a much larger and more ambitious effort than either country has acknowledged."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/world/asia/23terror.html?ref=world

Back to the Dark Side! Are we teaching them to pull out finger nails, or is it the other way around?

[Dortiz]

20. we need a truth commission

With prosecutorial powers to get to the bottom of this and other incidents and serve justice accordingly.

[appleannie1]

21. Binyam Mohamed: His full statement

his statement in full:

I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways - all orchestrated by the United States government

Binyam Mohamed

Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery.

I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, "torture" was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim.

It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways - all orchestrated by the United States government.

'I have a duty'

While I want to recover, and put it all as far in my past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers.

My own despair was greatest when I thought that everyone had abandoned me. I have a duty to make sure that nobody else is forgotten.

I am grateful that in the end I was not simply left to my fate. I am grateful to my lawyers and other staff at Reprieve, and to Lt Col Yvonne Bradley, who fought for my freedom.



Lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith reads a statement on Binyam Mohamed's behalf
I am grateful to the members of the British Foreign Office who worked for my release. And I want to thank people around Britain who wrote to me in Guantanamo Bay to keep my spirits up, as well as to the members of the media who tried to make sure that the world knew what was going on.

I know I would not be home in Britain today if it were not for everyone's support. Indeed, I might not be alive at all.

I wish I could say that it is all over, but it is not. There are still 241 Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo.

Many have long since been cleared even by the US military, yet cannot go anywhere as they face persecution. For example, Ahmed bel Bacha lived here in Britain, and desperately needs a home.

'Horrors'

Then there are thousands of other prisoners held by the US elsewhere around the world, with no charges, and without access to their families.

And I have to say, more in sadness than in anger, that many have been complicit in my own horrors over the past seven years.

For myself, the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence.

I had met with British intelligence in Pakistan. I had been open with them. Yet the very people who I had hoped would come to my rescue, I later realised, had allied themselves with my abusers.

I am not asking for vengeance; only that the truth should be made known, so that nobody in the future should have to endure what I have endured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7905939.stm

Video of his return:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7905657.stm