Guantanamo grave
2006-03-06 14:50
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base - Ahamed Abdul Aziz has been held in a prison at this United States military base for more than three years, has been interrogated 50 times, but has never been charged with a crime. He waits with anguish for freedom but fears it will never come.
"We are in a grave here," he told his lawyers, echoing the despair felt by many of the roughly 490 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. About 98% of the prisoners have never been charged with a crime.
Transcripts of hearings at Guantanamo Bay released by the Pentagon on Friday show the frustration among prisoners waiting for months and years while the military decides whether to charge, transfer or release them.
The United States has released or transferred to authorities in their home countries about 270 detainees since the prison camp opened in January 2002. Pentagon officials say detainees can be released if a review panel decides they no longer pose a threat to the United States and have no intelligence value in its war on terror.
Major Paul Swiergosz, a Defence Department spokesperson, said that holding detainees who are considered a risk is necessary in time of war, while the review process ensures innocent detainees are released.
"Holding detainees in Guantanamo is not a punitive measure, it's preventive," Swiergosz said. "That keeps them from continuing to fight against the United States and its allies. The Defence Department will continue to work diligently to process all the detainee cases we have."
US officials says the detention camp houses people who want to kill US troops or civilians.
"The folks that are at Guantanamo Bay all have a valid reason for being sent here," said Army Major Jeffrey Weir, a prison spokesperson. "Some are mainly security, others are intelligence. It's across the board."
Many detainees are accused with specific deeds, but some complain they spend years in confinement before learning of the accusations.
Boudella al Hajj, an Algerian cleric who said he worked with orphans in Bosnia for a humanitarian group and the Bosnian army, was accused of being in contact with al-Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah and belonging to an Algerian militant organization, among other things.
In the transcripts, he denied the allegations. He asked why he'd never heard them before.
"I've been here for three years, been through many interrogations and no interrogator ever mentioned any of these accusations, so how did they just come now?" he said. "It's weird how this just came up now."
- AP