The Hindu : Guantanamo Bay Britons allege torture

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 14, 2004

International

International

Guantanamo Bay Britons allege torture

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MARCH 13. Two of the five Britons, released from Guantanamo Bay earlier this week, have alleged that they were beaten up and psychologically tortured by American investigators.

In their first comment since they returned home on Tuesday after two years of captivity, Jamal Udeen and Tarek Dergoul disclosed details of their `brutal' treatment alleging that often they were interrogated for 12 hours at a stretch while being chained to the floor.

"They (the investigators) were really gung-ho, hyped-up and aggressive...The whole point of Guantanamo was to get to you psychologically,'' Mr. Udeen said describing it as a "profoundly disturbing'' experience.

He told The Mirror newspaper that men of the Extreme Reaction Force beat him with batons and feet while shouting, "Comply, comply, comply'', after he refused to take an injection because he was not told what it was for. He also alleged that he was kept in an isolation cell and deprived of sleep. Another method, he alleged, was to force young and devout Muslim prisoners watch women `strip'.

Mr. Udeen, a convert to Islam, said he wanted the U.S. authorities to apologise. "I would like them to be in court and admit it,'' he said in a TV interview. He insisted that he was innocent claiming that he was travelling in Pakistan when he was caught up in the Afghanistan war and swept up by U.S. forces.

His account of the regime in Guantanamo Bay was echoed by Tarek Dergoul (26), who accused the U.S. authorities of interrogating him at gunpoint and beating him. In a statement, Mr. Dergoul who lost one arm as a result of what he described as "botched medical treatment,'' said the way he was treated was `horrific'. His solicitor, Louise Christian, said he was still traumatised and found it difficult to talk about his experience. "Tarek finds it very difficult to talk about things and his family believe his mental health has been severely affected by trauma,'' she said.

The allegations prompted calls by the Human Rights Watch for independent observers to be allowed access to Guantanamo Bay to look into conditions in the camp.

But the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, denied the allegations claiming that prisoners were treated in a "very humanitarian way''. Because we are Americans, we do not abuse people in our care,'' he told ITV while a Pentagon spokesperson was quoted as saying that the allegations were "simply lies''.

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