Ex-Guantanamo inmates speak

2004-05-14 11:27

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Two British men released from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay on March 8 say interrogators forced prisoners to strip, chained them to a floor for hours and used deafening music and dogs to extract confessions.

In an open letter sent on Thursday to US President George W Bush and the Senate Armed Services Committee, Britons Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal detail the alleged abuse they encountered during the two years they were held in eastern Cuba.

They said they were forced to squat with their hands chained between their legs for hours during interrogations when guards used strobe lights, dogs and loud music - particularly from American rapper Eminem - to extract information. They also say they were not allowed to use the toilet during interrogations which often lasted 12 hours. 'We can do anything'

"We have never applied any of those techniques," said Army Lieutentant Colonel Leon Sumpter, speaking for the US detention mission at Guantanamo.

Rasul and Iqbal said detainees often were forced to go naked as punishment for minor offences, even when female guards were present.

"Soldiers told us 'We can do anything we want,"' they said in the letter released by the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is providing counsel to the men. Both are back in England since their March 8 release.

Sumpter said detainees are only asked to undress if they require medical treatment or when they arrive for processing.

The pair said they saw two detainees assaulted by guards, including Jummah Al-Dousari from Bahrain, who in April 2002 was allegedly beaten by a group of guards while he was recovering from surgery and receiving psychiatric treatment.

Kick him and beat him

"They stamped on his neck, kicked him in the stomach even though he had metal rods there as a result of an operation, and they picked up his head and smashed his face into the floor. One female officer was ordered to go into the cell and kick him and beat him - which she did," the letter said.

Rasul and Iqbal said cameras were used and would confirm their allegations.

Guantanamo officials have said two guards have been given administrative punishments - for hitting a detainee with a radio and spraying a detainee with a hose, the officials said. A third guard investigated was cleared of wrongdoing.

Rasul and Iqbal said US troops would often hose excrement and urine off plastic chairs used in interrogation rooms instead of allowing detainees to use the toilets.

They also accused Major General Geoffrey Miller of instituting new interrogation procedures, particularly "short-shackling," or shackling a detainee to a hook in the floor to limit movement.

Miller, who was in charge of the Guantanamo mission from November 2002 to March 2004, is now in charge of US prisons in Iraq, where he has promised sweeping reforms.

- AP