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| Arabia |
| Doing time - for wearing a watch! |
| 2005-12-20 |
| This isn't really an opinion piece...but there's enough fiction in it to disqualify it from the fact-based pages. THE US Military believes that it can hold detainees at Guantanamo Bay simply for wearing a certain kind of Casio watch, lawyers representing three Bahraini detainees said yesterday. Military officials at the prison do not believe that Bahraini detainee Salah Al Blooshi, 24, has "any information of interest - or ever did", said his lawyers. At one point his American captors apparently accused him of being in Bosnia during the civil war in 1995, but he would have only been 14 years old at the time, lawyers' interview notes revealed. Since the US military do not accuse Mr Al Blooshi of involvement "in any way with any violent activity" there is "no justification" for his continued detention, legal team head Joshua-Colangelo Bryan told the GDN yesterday. The legal team representing the Bahraini three last visited Salah on November 12 and 13, but notes taken during the meeting were only declassified by US officials last week. "Interrogators have asked questions about the kind of watch that Salah wore," according to the notes. "We have come to know that the military believes it can hold people at Guantanamo simply for wearing a particular type of Casio watch. Salah did not have a watch of that sort. "As I understand there is a certain type of Casio watch that I think has a compass on it," Mr Colangelo-Bryan said. "The fact that an individual has been in possession of such a watch has been used by the military in certain circumstances to classify the person as an 'enemy combatant'," he said. In the past year, interrogators have only come to speak to Salah once, the notes say. "Naturally, one can only conclude that the military does not believe that Salah has - or ever had - any information of interest. "He told us that he was interrogated a number of times, almost all during the first two years of his imprisonment in Guantanamo. "He described a number of the interrogations as 'silly'. For example, an interrogator once accused him of having been in Bosnia in 1995. As Salah pointed out to the interrogator, he was 14 in 1995." "It is understood Salah eventually stopped speaking to interrogators because of their repeated "preposterous" questions, Mr Colangelo-Bryan said in the notes. They said he has been made to suffer consequences as a result of this, but does not wish for them to be known publicly. "At a certain point Salah decided not to speak with interrogators any further because they asked the same questions repeatedly and many of them were preposterous," said the notes. "Salah said that there were some negative consequences that resulted from his decision not to speak to interrogators, but that he did not them known publicly." "With Salah, as with several of our other clients the military does not allege that he was involved in any way with any violent activity," Mr Colangelo-Bryan said. "In light of that there can be no justification for his continued detention considering the release of our other clients," he said. Salah's arm was in a sling during the lawyers' most recent visit, which was apparently made for him by fellow detainees after doctors told him there was "no problem" with it. He has also allegedly been denied treatment for pain in his tooth, which he complained to Mr Colangelo-Bryan of during the lawyers' first visit more than one year ago, according to the notes. "Military personnel took an x-ray and told Salah that there was no problem with the arm. Shortly thereafter, military personnel came to bring him to another medical examination. "However, they insisted on shackling Salah's hands, which is very painful because of the condition of his arm. Salah refused to be shackled and as a result he was not taken for the examination. "Salah is very gracious in conversation, especially for a man of his young age. His manner is gentle and calm." The US says Salah was captured during ground sweeps by Pakistani authorities while fleeing Afghanistan in 2001. He has been accused of travelling from Bahrain to Afghanistan via Pakistan in August 2001 and spending two weeks at a guesthouse belonging to a suspected Al Qaeda recruiter in Kandahar. He is also alleged to have given his passport to a local scholar, who is also a suspected Al Qaeda recruiter. It is claimed that an alias used by him and the scholar were found on lists discovered during searches of suspected Al Qaeda safe houses in Afghanistan. However, he has declined to take part in military tribunals and his family have denied the claims. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #2 "Salah is very gracious in conversation, especially for a man of his young age. His manner is gentle and calm." Oh, I'll bet... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-12-20 17:33 |
| #1 "Military officials at the prison do not believe that Bahraini detainee Salah Al Blooshi, 24, has "any information of interest - or ever did", said his lawyers." OK...I'll bite. Why do ya spose they continue to hold him. Oh wait...I see...to repeatedly ask him "preposterous" questions. Now it's all clear. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2005-12-20 17:29 |