Verbal threats, "shame photos", waterboarding... The former prisoner recreates the ugliness of Guantanamo Prison

Source: Global Times

On January 18, 2002, the newly opened Guantanamo Prison held the first prisoner. For 20 years, nearly 800 "dangerous elements" in the eyes of the United States have been imprisoned in this black prison without any judicial process, subjected to torture and inhuman treatment. In the international community, the infamous Guantanamo has become synonymous with the ugly human rights and judicial double standards in the United States. Recently, the Global Times and a number of foreign media interviewed the former prisoners of Guantanamo, restoring the ugly appearance in this magic cave.

Guantanamo Prison Infographic. Image source Visual China

Moazam Berg, 53, a Pakistani-British man, was arrested by U.S. forces in 2002 for al-Qaida militants and spent two years in prison at Guantanamo. In 2005, with the good offices of the British government, Berg was rescued. Freed, he founded the nonprofit Cage in Britain to speak out for Muslims illegally imprisoned in the United States.

Recently, Berg was interviewed by the Global Times reporter, telling his painful experience during his illegal captivity. According to Berger, he was illegally arrested by CIA agents on January 31, 2002, and was held in a number of secret black jails in the United States, but was eventually sent to Guantanamo after several turns. He was tied up and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents, who shook pictures of his children and threatened him. There were even more ferocious jailers who punched and kicked him, spit in his face, and tossed enough to say, "This is our right." ”

Berger also said that he had suffered relatively little in prison, and that he had watched two prisoners being tortured to death and that americans had used medieval torture against prisoners , waterboarding.

While in prison, Berg had few human rights to speak of, such as being stripped naked, stripped of his hair and beard, and taken in various "humiliating photos."

Contact with his family is even more difficult: during his detention he is unable to call his family, still less receive visits, and even his correspondence is often detained by Americans. Even more deficient, the letters sent to him by Berg's 6-year-old daughter were cut down in large sections by the prison authorities, leaving only the beginning and end, on the grounds that they "did not comply with safety regulations."

According to Berger, many of his fellow inmates have been in prison for fifteen or six years without going through due process of justice. As he put it: "The most vicious torture in the world is to be held without knowing what crime was committed, without charge, without trial, but at the highest price of personal freedom." ”

According to the British "Guardian" recently reported that Yemeni citizen Khalid Qasim was illegally imprisoned by the United States as a "jihadist" for 20 years, most of which was spent in Guantanamo. Qasim said that "the United States has a very complete judicial system" — but unfortunately " this system only serves Americans" . He said: "My best years have been wasted at Guantanamo. If what happened to me in the United States, I would probably get millions of dollars in compensation. But because I'm Arab, a Yemeni citizen, no one cares. ”

In an interview with the Global Times, Berger also said that the 779 prisoners who had been held by Guantanamo, including him, had never received any compensation from the U.S. government, not even an apology. Although the U.S. government released a Senate report during Obama's presidency acknowledging that hundreds of prisoners in Guantanamo had been tortured and mistreated, no one was ultimately held accountable. "The United States has largely been able to escape the penalties it deserves for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes." Berger added that "torture to extract confessions cannot be used as evidence in court, and the United States has dug a hole for itself by abusing prisoners in Guantanamori." ”

On the 10th of this month, the official website of the United Nations denounced the denial of basic human rights by the Guantanamo prison institution, which can be called a "stain on the rule of law in the United States", and called on the Biden administration to shut it down. In a statement, the UN panel on human rights said: "The practice of extrajudicial detention, ill-treatment or torture perpetrated by Guantanamo for 20 years is totally unacceptable to any government, especially for a government that claims to 'protect human rights.'" ”

Over the years, the voice of the international community calling on the United States to close Guantanamo has never stopped. Former U.S. President Barack Obama made a verbal promise to shut down, but signed the National Defense Authorization Act in his first term and imposed strict limits on prisoner transfers — making it harder to close the prison, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said. Biden made similar promises, but he released only one detainee during his one-year tenure. As of now, Guantanamo still holds 39 prisoners.

"Hopefully, Biden will deliver on the promises made by his predecessor, Barack Obama." Berg told the Global Times, "The president of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, and Guantanamo is a military base, and the president can close Guantanamo by executive order, which is not a difficult task." Guantanamo's continued openness can only reflect the lack of political will of the US leaders and is a manifestation of 'political cowardice'. ”