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Subject:
Guantánamo suspects want to stay, say officials
WarNerd
11/3/2009 6:37:00 AM
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It was bound to happen ...
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Guantánamo suspects want to stay, say officials
As President Barack Obama's deadline to close Guantánamo looms, some occupants of the notorious detention centre would rather prolong their stay than be sent to maximum security prisons on the US mainland, according to camp officials.
By Alex Spillius in Guantánamo Bay
Published: 8:46PM GMT 01 Nov 2009
Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area under the surveillence of US military police at Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Photo: AFP/GETTY
Despite its reputation, the regime at the Pentagon facility on Cuba's southern coast offers privileges that would not be enjoyed at the federal "supermax" prison at Florence, Colorado, the likely alternative for the most dangerous al-Qaeda suspects.
Sensitive to criticism that the detention centre was not meeting international standards, the Pentagon has gradually improved living conditions at Guantánamo.
Adm Thomas Copeman, the commander, now confidently describes it as a "model detention facility" in terms of environment, though he refused to be drawn on the policy and legality of detentions that have lasted for nearly eight years, in most cases without trial.
Peter King, a Republican congressman who visited earlier this year and wants the prison kept open, said that "if there's any scandal at Guantánamo, it is that the detainees are treated too well".
The 221 remaining inmates receive between four and 20 hours outdoor recreation in the Caribbean sun and anything from weekly to almost unlimited access to DVDs and receive three newspapers (USA Today, plus one Egyptian and one Saudi Arabian title) twice a week. Every bed has an arrow pointing towards Mecca and every cell a prayer rug.
Adm Copeman said "generally speaking the rules are about the same" for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and the 15 other "high value detainees", who are held at Camp 7, which is out of bounds to the media.
The detainees' diet is exclusively Middle Eastern and halal, in observance of regional and religious sensitivities. Dates, olive oil and honey are provided daily and pita bread is baked on the premises. They drink the same bottled water as the prison's staff and have the same access as other prisoners to 16,000 books and 1,600 magazines held at the library.
An escorted tour of Guantánamo by the Daily Telegraph revealed that Camp 7's requested reading included Gardens of the World by Mick Hales, Fine Art Flower Photography by Tony Sweet and a copy of Birds and Blooms magazine, material in keeping with nature-bound leisure pursuits approved by conservative Islam. Two volumes of the Tales of the Arabian Nights were also in the pile. Tomes on Islamic theory are in plentiful supply and demand, said library staff.
At the low security Camp 4, detainees could be seen sitting in the yard chatting and hanging up their laundry. A new gravel football field was recently completed.
At Florence, Colorado, prisoners would also spend 22 ½ hours a day in a 9ft by 9ft cell with the only natural light coming from a skylight outside.
Exercise would be limited to an hour and a half indoors five days a week and they would have minimal contact with others, including the 33 other international terrorists held there. An official study found that most inmates suffer psychological trauma from the severe isolation.
Since 2005 an Arab American cultural adviser, who for security reasons is identified only by the name of Zak, has been employed at Guantánamo to liaise with detainees.
He said that some detainees would rather stay put than go on trial in the US, where they would probably receive a life sentence or could wait years for a death sentence to be carried out.
"They know there will not be the same privileges as here," he said. "Given the choice of being sentenced forever in Guantánamo or moved to supermax, it is 'no, can I stay in Gitmo?'. Here they can be outside, they can smell the sea."
Camp guards and senior officers said similar feedback had been received from detainees fearing a tougher life in US jails or back home. The claims could not be independently verified as the Pentagon does not allow journalists to interview detainees, while lawyers for several prisoners did not return requests for comment.
Controversy does still surrounds the centre. Detainees' lawyers make repeated complaints about mental illness and force-feeding of hunger strikers, while earlier this year the prison suffered its fifth prisoner suicide. Adm Copeland described a "psychological battleground" where detainees regularly spit at guards or fling faeces and urine.
In May, ethnic Uighur Chinese detainees embarrassed officials by staging a protest in front of visiting reporters, waving art pads asking if Mr Obama was a "communist or a Democrat".
Despite being cleared for release in 2003, destinations have not been found for most of the Uighurs. Washington refuses to send them and other nationals to home countries where they may face persecution.
The debate now is much less about conditions than a deeply troubled legal process that has prosecuted only three detainees in nearly eight years.
Eric Holder, the US attorney general, is struggling to meet the president's promised Jan 22 closing date. He is expected to refer at least 40 prisoners for transfer to trial in US courts some time next year and to refer the majority for transfer overseas, however difficult that continues to prove.
link
TelegraphNews
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited |
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