Guards at Guantanamo Bay are racially abusing inmates by calling them "ragheads" and "camel-riders", the family of a British detainee claims.
Allah’s revenge shall be swift and unmerciful
Shafiq Rasul, who has been held at the base since spring 2002, alleged the abuse in a letter to his family. According to his elder brother Habib, he wrote: "Everything’s OK in Guantanamo. It’s just that sometimes some of the guards are OK with us, and some are saying things to us, calling us names like camel-rider and raghead."
Shafiq was willing to sacrifice his blood & soul for OBL, but never signed up for this !
Mr Rasul said: "It’s blatantly racist and Islamophobic. Shafiq’s from Tipton - he’s never seen a camel in his life."
Never seen a camel, only C4, AK-47s & IEDs
Amnesty International said that such abuse, if true, would be "totally unacceptable and alarming".
Isn’t there a Gulag in North Korea somewhere, these folks should be concerning themselves with??
| I think from now on we can refer to Amnesia International as Quiche-eating Surrender Monkeys, unless someone can come up with something wittier. They make me tired... |
"It’s important that the American authorities do a thorough investigation of these alleged comments."
You bet, we’ll get right on that!
A spokeswoman for the base said she could not verify the comments, but would raise the matter with the camp’s commanders. She added that soldiers received sensitivity training to help them work with Muslim detainees. "If it happened it would be unfortunate and we would need to do some reinforcement. Racial comments are not tolerated," she said.
| "Please refrain from calling krazed killers in our custody 'ragheads' or 'camel jockeys.' When discussing their future disposition, try and avoid using the terms 'dead meat' and 'toe-tag.' Under no circumstances are detention facility personnel to shout 'Rosebud!' at detainees while pretending to hang themselves from imaginary ropes. Muttering threats of Dire Revenge™ in pig-Arabic is strongly discouraged, as is the issuance of spurious fatwahs." |
A Foreign Office spokesman said it did not comment on specific allegations, but that its officials discussed a range of issues with the US authorities.
"Roger! They're British subjects, y'know. They're not referring to them as 'Limeys' are they?"
"Oh, certainly not, Alistair! Wouldn't think of it!"
"Thank God! Now I feel clean again!" |
The allegation of abuse comes amid renewed speculation about the future of the nine Britons at the US naval base in Cuba. A possible breakthrough in the negotiations to have the detainees returned to Britain was signalled recently when a senior American diplomat said the US would release them so long as the UK could "manage" them, possibly via long-term surveillance. The apparent deal prompted lawyers to blame the home secretary for blocking a final resolution. "David Blunkett is fearful that the public mood may change or that he will be criticised if they can’t be prosecuted [in the UK]," said Louise Christian, a lawyer who represents several detainees. The claim of racial abuse is likely to reignite debate about the treatment of the nine. Mail from the base is censored. In an earlier message seen by the Guardian, from another detainee, a lengthy blacked-out section ended: "... but other than that, everything is fine". The father of Rhuhel Ahmed, also from Tipton, said his son had complained of food rations being cut in his last letter. "He said was getting less food than he had when he was first there," Riasoth Ahmed said. "After each meal he would go out for exercise, but he stopped because there was not enough to eat," Mr Ahmed said. The base spokeswoman said that prisoners received three hot meals a day or were able to help themselves to cooked food.
| Personally, I'd be feeding them between 5000 and 6000 calories a day. You never see big fat guys waving AKs. The best they can do is rolling their eyes and burping out vows of Dire Revenge™... |
The Amnesty International spokesman added that whatever the conditions at the base, long-term confinement without charge or access to lawyers was "absolutely unacceptable".
| Reject and be damned, then. |
"What the International Red Cross Thingy focused on [in a recent report] was not the conditions per se, but the fact that indefinite detention was what was driving significant numbers of the detainees mad. It’s the utter limbo that’s the final straw," said Gareth Peirce, the solicitor acting for Shafiq Rasul and other prisoners.
Hmmm... I’d say as soon as Al Qaeda signs surrender docs & turns in their weapons, all detainees will be repatriated...
| I'll bet the thought of being dead for eternity, or at least until the Last Trumpet, would drive the detainees' victims mad, if they weren't dead, that is... |
Only consular officials and the IRC are allowed to visit the 660 detainees. Tony Blair yesterday suggested that the future of the Britons would be decided shortly, telling BBC1’s Breakfast with Frost: "I think it will be resolved one way or another in the next few weeks but I can’t say exactly at this juncture how it will be resolved. It is extremely important that we balance up the absolute proper consideration that they get a fair and decent trial with the need to protect people in this country."
| I'd suggest leaving them there until they weigh at least 500 pounds... |
The Britons’ lawyers believe that the Bush administration wants to get rid of the men because two of them are plaintiffs in a case to be heard in the US supreme court, which will consider whether American courts should have jurisdiction over the base. "They don’t want a defeat in the supreme court in election year," said Ms Peirce. But US human rights experts have warned that previous indications of releases had not translated into action. |