Saturday :: June 10, 2006
New Report From Guantanamo
I just received this e-mail from Seton Hall Law Professor Mark Denbeaux, who along with his son Joshua, is representing some of the detainees at Guantanamo, inlcuding one of those on a hunger strike.
Joshua and I just returned from Guantanamo this week. One of our clients was forceably extracted during our interview day because he was attempting suicide and required force feeding. He said that he would rather die than stay in Guantanamo and they confiscated our news stories in which Bush announced that he wanted to close Guantanamo. The same detainee who was so depressed that he wanted to die, was prevented from seeing a news story that might have given him hope.
Our client Mohammad Rahman actually has serious health conditions that they will not address. When he was 32 he had a pacemaker installed and he had a heart valve replaced. The valve seems to be leaking again. We have tried to obtain his medical records, to no avail, and to obtain real medical assistance for his heart and other his serious health problems. They provide nothing-- but they will interrupt our client interview to "protect his health and life" by force feeding him.
This was the worst three days of my life. There is a great deal more. Now we hear the government's strident characterizations of these suicides.
more at:
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015058.html