NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Oct. 6, 2007
Freed Gitmo Detainee Tells Of Desecration
Mauritanian Man Confined For 5 Years Describes "Screams Caused By Torture"
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Mohamed Lemine Ould Sidi Mohamed, who spent nearly five years incarcerated at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, in his family home in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Oct. 3, 2007. Mohamed was returned to Mauritania on Sept. 26 after being cleared for release by a U.S. military review panel; Mauritanian authorities released him Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ahmed Mohamed)
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Interactive Gitmo Tribunals Detainees on trial, photos and a history of the naval base.
Though never tortured himself, Mohamed Lemine Ould Sidi Mohamed compared his detention to torture, telling The Associated Press in an interview: "Humiliating words against religion and against Muslims were a kind of currency they used every day."
U.S. authorities handed Mohamed to Mauritania last week, and he was briefly detained here. He was released Tuesday by Mauritanian officials.
During his incarceration by the Americans, Mohamed said he witnessed the abuse of the Muslim holy book.
"The soldiers urinated on the holy Quran to humiliate us. They stepped on the holy book and told us we are a nation that does not understand civilization," Mohamed said in Mauritania's desert capital, Nouakchott.
Afterward, he and other inmates he claimed witnessed similar incidents went on a hunger strike, and U.S. officials force-fed him, he said.
The inmates decided thereafter not to take Qurans into their cells to protect the book, relying instead on memorized passages, he said.
Following media reports that sparked protests around the world, a U.S. inquiry in 2005 found nine incidents in which Guantanamo civilian and military personnel had mishandled the Quran. They also found 15 cases of abuse of the book by detainees.
In January FBI agents documented more than two dozen incidents of possible mistreatment, including one detainee whose head was allegedly wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran. The reports describe a female guard who detainees said handled their genitals and wiped menstrual blood on their face. Another interrogator reportedly bragged to an FBI agent about dressing as a Catholic priest and “baptizing” a prisoner.
Officials say guards are trained not to show disrespect to the Quran and are careful not to do so.
"We respect and support the detainees' right to worship," a Guantanamo spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Rick Haupt, said Friday, adding that the military provides the men there with prayer rugs and prayer along with Qurans in multiple languages.
"Allegations from detainees is common behavior and in keeping with tactics taught to al Qaeda members through their training guide," he said.
In Mauritania, Mohamed said he did not know why he was arrested and said he had never had any connection to al Qaeda. He was returned to Mauritania on Sept. 26 after being cleared for release by a U.S. military review panel.
Mohamed said earlier this week that he had been attending an Islamic school in Pakistan when he was arrested by Pakistani police in 2002 and handed over to U.S. authorities.
"I spent five years in Guantanamo, but I don't know anyone in al Qaeda and I have no relations with those people," Mohamed said.
Mohamed said he was not abused himself at Guantanamo, but he believed others were. "Each time people were interrogated, we heard the screams caused by torture," he said.
Mauritanian police spokesman Mohamed Abdallahi said earlier in the week that police were questioning Mohamed about his life in Pakistan and his activities in that country in order to determine whether to file charges.
Two other Mauritanians remain in custody in Guantanamo. They are Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a technology engineer who was living in Germany when he was taken into custody in November, 2001 and Ahmed Ould Abdelaziz, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002.
Meanwhile, it was announced this week that 55 Saudi Arabians who were released recently from Guantanamo will receive about $2,600 each to celebrate the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a Saudi newspaper reported Saturday.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has granted the ex-Guantanamo prisoners temporarily release from detention centers in Saudi Arabia to spend time with their families during the holiday later this month, the Okaz newspaper reported.
The former Guantanamo detainees will return to police custody after the holiday in mid-October and will be referred to Saudi courts at end of this month for upcoming trials, the paper said.
U.S. authorities transferred 16 Saudis from Guantanamo Bay back to Saudi Arabia in September, the latest transfer of prisoners from the U.S. detention facility. Fewer than 40 Saudi detainees remain in detention.
The detention of Saudis at the U.S. Naval Base in southeast Cuba has been a source of tension with Riyadh, a close U.S. ally. Three Saudis have committed suicide inside the prison camp since it opened in 2002, according to the U.S. military.
Of the 759 people who have been held at Guantanamo, 136 have been Saudis, the second-largest group behind Afghan nationals, according to Defense Department documents released to the AP.
About 340 detainees remain in Guantanamo on suspicion of links to terrorism, al Qaeda or the Taliban. Most have been held for years without being charged.
More Charges From Tribunal Officers That Guantanamo Trials Are Flawed
A second Army officer who sat on the "enemy combatant" tribunals at Guantanamo has come forward to criticize the panels, saying in court papers that the proceedings favored the government and commanders reversed some decisions.
The criticism, in an affidavit filed Friday by attorneys for a Sudanese detainee, echo some charges made in June by Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, the first insider to publicly fault the proceedings.
At issue are the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, which the military held for 558 detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in 2004 and 2005, with handcuffed detainees appearing before panels made up of three officers.
Detainees had a military "personal representative" instead of a defense attorney, and all but 38 were determined to be "enemy combatants" who could be held indefinitely without charges.
In the new affidavit, an Army officer whose name is redacted from a version provided to The Associated Press, says panels relied on insufficient evidence.
He also said in six cases the panels unanimously declared the detainee was not an enemy combatant - but commanders ordered new hearings and the finding was reversed without sufficient new evidence.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 28 CommentsAnother intelligent, thought-provoking liberal shares his intelect with us. No wonder they can''t win an election, they shoot themselves in the foot every time. Good luck with this sort of following - Hillary.
Considering it is coming from dip-shists like you, Harry and Nacy Peelousy - who would give a rats azz ?
Remember the Gaurd unit that had the Jon Carry banner trying to Swift Boat him for his comments on education ??? --- They are among the longest deployed & retured home to find they fall 1 day short of qualifieng for extended educational benifits ----- Bush screwed them hard.
Posted by AJMarine1 at 08:19 AM : Oct 07, 2007
I don''t think I went far enough in expressing my disgust for the slime that''s infecting the White House right now.........
Why, if we are treating these people so well, aren''t international overseers allowed to inspect? Why aren''t American non-military overseers allowed to inspect either?
If things are so good and fair in prisoner treatment by us, why is so much hidden to all and only discovered when some idiot leaks photos?
You''re getting alittle cared away there aren''t you Sgt.??
Bush is deservidly being constantly ridiculed. It''s no accident. He invites ridicule because when it comes to foreign policy, or indeed just being a functional human being, Bush is a laughingstock on the world stage. People do not call him an as*s out of political anger, but rather because that is what he is. He is not fighting terror. He is being manipulated by evil things, such as the war devil on earth Cheney, into slaughtering 100''s of thousands of human beings because he is mentally ill enough to actually think he is on a mission from god and because they will make money from it. Cheney is a money grubbing piece of shi*t war profiteer, while Bush is a deluded mad man. Both of them, if there is a god (and I don''t believe there is anymore) will die torturous deaths soon.
The REAL terrorists are those capable of creating WMD and with some reason to sell or give them to non-state terrorist actors, and the non-state terrorist actors themselves.
Al-Qaeda is a non-state terrorist actor and frankly, given 9-11, should be obliterated (ie, GO into the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan and despite local protest, weed out these people and kill them).
State actors that can provide WMD to terrorist organizations are Iran, N Korea, and, possibly, Russia. Pressure must be kept on these countries to ensure they don''t give in to the $$$ possibility of selling WMD to non-state actors for revenge purposes.
Frankly, I understand why a country like Iran would want Nuclear power for electricity, and Nukes for military, but I would want a clear understanding from the Iranians that selling these to non-state actors like Al-Qaeda would never even be considered.
The difference between state actors and non-state actors is that state-actors actually own land and people that could be conquered (like Iran), which makes them MUCH more vulnerable to international pressure. Non-state actors, like Al-Qaeda, own only an idea, and are free to act out whatever gruesome fantasy meets their ''vision''.
Your posts are based on the mistaken presumption that Bush is "fighting terrorists", when in reality nothing could be farther from the truth. 9/11 was committed, if you believe the Government''s own statements, almost completely by Saudis, not Iraqis, or Afghanis, but the house of Saud, and the Bin Laden family are friends of Bush''s family.
Bush is trying to illegally take control of middle eastern oil resources, period. anyone resisting the occupation of their land by Bush is called a terrorist, just like the terrorists Reagan funded in Nicaragua were called "freedom fighters".
The KKK, Aryan Nations, Michigan Militia, and other American ultra right wing groups, also fit the technical definition of terrorist organizations, their actions in the past, present, and the positions taken in their literature are all exactly like the terrorist groups Bush claims to be fighting, in fact there has been contact, cooperation, and financial exchanges between the neo Nazis and the anti Israeli middle eastern groups.
Where is Bush on this? Deafeningly silent...
I confess my weakness by stating that your idea is sorely tempting.
But if we do that, then we are no better than they are, So I suggest we settle for Impeachment, trial, and when found guilty, the sanction prescribed by law for each of their crimes.
In the cases where guilt is determined for capital crimes, the punishment should be broadcast, so that future "despot wannabes" will think carefully before acting out their agendas, and so the world can see that we actually do respect the rule of law.
Thanks for your very helpful answer.
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