Wednesday, 11 June 2008

• Sami Al-Hajj: US Prisoner No. 345

  by G.W. Bennett June 11, 2008    News photographer Sami Al-Hajj went to Afghanistan in October 2001 to deliver charity funds for the construction of mosques and to cover the post 911 invasion of Kabul for the Al-Jazeera news service. While attempting to exit the country weeks later, he was detained by Pakistani border police in December and eventually found himself a captive POW at Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Mr. Al-Hajj was held for six years without formal charges or judicial process, while his young wife and daughter of two years waited in Bosnia. In February 2007 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released an article expressing concern over reports of Sami's deteriorating health after being on a hunger strike for 48 days by his legal representative, Zachary Katznelson of London based rights group Reprieve. Katznelson was quoted by CPJ, regarding the detainee's general state; "I can tell you he looked noticeably thinner from the last time I saw him and he had difficulty standing up," Sami's counsel spent several hours interviewing him and related to the press his determination to remain on hunger strike until he was either released or dead. Nine months before the hunger strike, Reporters Without Borders interviewed Sami's London based attorney Clive Stanford Smith, in which he mentioned the spirit of interrogations objective of forcing Al-Hajj to sign off on false allegations and working as a US intelligence informant against his employer, Al-Jazeera. After several Arbitration reviews by military officers and many personal appeals by Mr. Al-Hajj and his legal representitives, he was released in May 2008 and is now in Sudan recovering from his hellish ordeal. Early in the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions offices of the Al-Jazeera news service were bombed by American forces in both locations after photos of civilian carnage and extensive collateral damage were published, resulting in world wide demonstrations against American policy. Journalists in the Kabul and Baghdad attacks suffered injury and death. The Iraq invasion began in March 2003. On April 8th, Al-Jazeera Bagdad was destroyed in a US military bombing mission resulting in the death of journalist Tareq Ayyoub. His wife, 27 year old Dima Tahboub, with Tareq's infant daughter, attended a large peace rally in London shortly thereafter and she spoke publicly of her emotional hardships. In a short but succinct speech she noted the official response of a US commander involved in the attack mission; 'sorry but we don't know the location of journalists accept those that accompany our troops'. There have been other cases of reporters being detained, arrested or killed under questionable circumstances during US military operations. Journalist, Bilal Hussein was also released recently after having been detained for two years by the US government while reporting from Ramadi for (AP) in April 2006. The following brief addresses Arbitration Review Board summaries from 2005, in which classified and unclassified sessions occurred with Sami Al-Hajj and his translator present. Arbitration Review Board (ARB) summary transcripts, October 2005:   The ARB panel consisted of a designated Military Officer who convened the hearing and who read from a summary of allegations and circumstantial indications as evidence for further detention, allowing detainee Sami Al-Hajj the opportunity to participate in responding line by line. Also present, a Presiding Officer and mention of a Board Member or other board members, none of whom were identified by name in the transcript. The ARB hearing held on October 4, 2005, with the detainee Sami Al-Hajj present, reveals that he (Al-Hajj) traveled from his residence in Saudi Arabia to Kabul, Afghanistan with two cousins approximately one month after the September 11th suicide attacks in America, at the behest of his Imam Muhammad Agelan. At that time he was only slightly aware of being at risk due to the war on terror along with an impending invasion there. He also carried the equivalent of $7,000.00 (US dollars) and a camera with the intent of verifying the partial construction of seven mosques and to facilitate the transfer of funds allowing the project to be completed. While there, Kabul came under attack by US invasion forces and subsequent bombing raids drove Mr. Al-Hajj to escape the city. Since commercial flights were suspended, they went to the Pakistani border seeking another travel route out of Afghanistan. According to records, Mr. Hajj's name appeared on a Pakistani security list and he was detained in December 2001, held in Kandahar for six months before his transfer to Camp X-Ray in June 2001 at Joint Task Force, Guantanamo Bay. There, classified as an 'Enemy Combatant', Prisoner No. 345, he languished with no hope of a trial due to innovative White House interpretations of the War Act Convention as it relates to the confinement and treatment of POWs. During Mr. Al-Hajj's October review board hearing several military officers and other (unidentified) sitting board members proceeded on with articles of incriminating - circumstantial evidence, asked questions and received verbal responses from Al-Hajj through a bilingual translator. Among the accusations were that Al-Hajj couried funds and arms slated for terrorist organizations in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Early in the session Al-Hajj was questioned about his treatment after being taken into custody. He made numerous references to abuses and coercion. Al-Hajj specifically stated being held in a cold, dark room for a period of up to five months while forced to drink and bath from his own toilet tank and bowl. He also made reference to physical and psycological abuse during more than 100 interrogations, including beatings, sexual assaults (at US detention facilities in Kandahar and Cuba), as well as being forced to walk on either broken glass or barbed wire fence material. He described how uniformed American soldiers wrote profane words on the pages of the Holy Koran and urinated on his body while he was restrained, that he had attempted suicide seven times. In his own words, Al-Hajj added that he believed most Americans were probably decent people and that those few who had tortured him were the exception. Panel members also referred to Al-Hajj's association with the member of an organization known as, Al-Wafa while in Kabul, designated as a combatant and terrorist organization. Other evidence included FBI, Military and (other) intelligence compilations showing that Al-Hajj's name appeared on at least four separate listings from Al-Qaeda associated computer data bases subsequently uncovered after the invasion. Though the question of this issue arose several times and by more than one board member during unclassified review sessions, Al-Hajj always maintained that he didn't know why or by whom his name had been placed in terrorist data bases. He did speculate that since he left Kabul abruptly and was unable to retrieve his passport (left in the care of an individual identified as Gul), it may have been used by someone associated with a terrorist organization. Al-Hajj reiterated on numerous occasions during this line of questioning that he had never engaged in any plot, deception or violent activity against the United States, that he was no threat and that he did not agree with Osama Bin-Laden's interpretation of the Koran to commit terrorist acts. He also disavowed any knowledge that some of his associates who assisted him in Afghanistan were indeed involved with organizing resistance groups or connected with terrorist plots, as claimed in the government's case. Other accusatory claims included a record of broad travels and foreign police reports documenting several arrests with short periods of detention in Saudi Arabia, resulting from ongoing investigations into the USS Cole and Kobar Heights attacks. He went on to explain that his travel throughout the Middle East and to Bosnia were relevant to the specifics of his father's import furniture business or family events, such as his marriage in Bosnia. Mr. Al-Hajj consistently deferred to his honorable intentions and acknowledged being in a vulnerable position due to the war and that entering Afghanistan with a large sum of US dollars right after terrorist attacks in America was in poor judgment.

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