Prison guards 'enjoy torture'

2005-10-10 19:35

Cairo - An Egyptian man released earlier this month from the United States detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says the "torture" he suffered in the military camp left him crippled in a wheelchair.

Sami al-Leithy, 49, said: "They used to grab me by the arms and hurl me on the floor, on my back. They took pleasure in torturing us."

He said: "I have suffered a fracture in my backbone because of this."

Leithy was held four years in the US-run jail at Guantanamo before his release and handover to the Egyptian authorities in early October.

Medical certificates

He said: "Before my detention I used to play football and I was in good health."

He showed medical certificates attesting to his present condition.

Leithy charged that his interrogators "used to point a harsh light at us during questioning and would beat anyone who tried to close his eyes".

He said: "They would ask our opinion on US policies and would hit violently those who were against it or push their heads down on the floor with their boots."

But, Leithy said he was never witness to alleged reports that guards at Guantanamo desecrated the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, saying he "rarely left his cell".

Inmates had three meals a day

According to him, cells in Guantanamo were categorised "A" to "D", with the best ones given to those who co-operated with the authorities.

Prisoners held in "A" cells had three meals a day, two blankets, a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.

He said: "These perks diminished until they disappeared in the worst cells, the 'D'."

Speaking in classical Arabic rather than colloquial Egyptian, Leithy recalled how he left Egypt at the age of 19 to study in Pakistan, where his brother-in-law, a professor at the al-Azhar Islamic University was teaching.

He graduated in 1986 from the University of Islamabad and worked for 10 years in Pakistan. Unable to renew his passport at the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan, he headed for Kabul to seek a new one.

Prisoner tries to escape

He taught at the University of Kabul and was wounded in US bombardment of the city in 2001.

He was taken to hospital in the border town of Khosht and tried to escape after the city also came under US attack, but was arrested by the Pakistani army and handed to the Americans who in turn took him to Guantanamo.

He said: "In 2004 I was finally brought before a US military court ... During the hearing, they refused to remove the shackles I had on my wrists and my feet and told me I was arrested with 15 other Arabs for having considered to fight the American army."

In May he was finally told he was innocent, but kept in detention until his release in October.

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said on Sunday that four Egyptians were still held in Guantanamo.

- AFP