Violations of human dignity at Gitmo

There is no doubt that US Secretary of State John Kerry is having a tough time these days, with the noises from North Korea creating problems in the new area of influence the US is seeking to build in East Asia. He had a busy schedule last week in the face of all those threats of missile and nuclear testing by North Korea, which was expected to be around the 103rd birth anniversary of its founder Kim Il Sung.

With all this activity lined up, the John Kerry did not forget to send Avurudu or New Year greetings to Sri Lanka. His message congratulated Sri Lankans around the world as they celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and offer his warmest wishes for a happy holiday and prosperous New Year. It said that “On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I am eager to support the Sri Lankan people in this journey as you work to make progress on reconciliation and accountability four years after the end of the conflict which divided your country….The United States stands ready to partner with Sri Lanka and all Sri Lankans as you deal with these important issues.”

Runners approach the finish line at the Boston marathon as one of two bombs explode. Picture courtesy: The Australian

Yet this warmth of feelings towards Sri Lanka does not appear to have lasted much longer than when expressed, or was in fact an insincere show of goodwill at a traditional festival. It took less than a week for the US State Department to announce a reduction of US aid to Sri Lanka by 20 per cent in the current year; so much for the feelings of goodwill in Washington. The effect of this cut in aid has already been commented on by the government, as not being as significant as many thought it would be, because the US is not among the top donors to Sri Lanka these days. Yet, the timing of the announcement so soon after the good wishes for Avurudu stands out both for poor diplomacy and the lack of good international relations.

What apparently bothers the US about Sri Lanka is what it often regards as matters of accountability and the need for reconciliation. These are not matters strange to Sri Lankans, and there is plenty of evidence from many sources that this country is in fact achieving much by way of reconciliation in the resettlement and rehabilitation of the victims of war that has already been achieved. It has its own pace and methods with regard to accountability, which it feels comes within the area of national sovereignty.

Now that the period of Avurudu festivity is over and the hollow greetings extended by Obama and the State Department to Sri Lanka can be judged for what they really are, it seems in order to think of matters of accountability, reconciliation, and rule of law and violations of international law by the United States as it points its fingers at Sri Lanka, and others too, on these matters.

Boston horror

Unlike John Kerry and his Avurudu greetings to Sri Lanka, one must first most sincerely condone with all the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, wish speedy recovery to the injured and early reunions with their families, and also wish that the US would succeed in bringing to justice those who were responsible for this blatant act of terrorism, whether planned in the US or outside or by an individual or group. Sri Lanka remains strongly with the US in its opposition to this act of terrorism, because we too have been for very long the victims of even worse brutality by such forces.

Yet in considering accountability and such matters that are at the height of much publicized US concerns about other countries, it is necessary to be reminded that there is a place called Guantanamo Bay, controlled by the United States, that is just now a major cause for international attention, among those who are genuinely concerned for the treatment of persons held there for more than a decade without any charge, and apparently marked for an entire lifetime of such terrible incarceration combined with torture.

John Kerry

Barack Obama

It was last week that the US personnel at the military detention centre at Guantanamo or Gitmo, reportedly used non-lethal weapons to fire at the detainees there, in an attempt to separate the large number of prisoners there who are carrying out a prolonged hunger strike against their conditions of imprisonment, the lack of any legal redress or the opportunity of freedom.

The attempt of the US guards at Gitmo was to isolate each prisoner engaged in the hunger strike, to succeed in the attempts to force feed them, or break their determination to carry out the fast that seems to be the only way possible to draw attention to the continuing lack of accountability by the US to the appalling conditions at Gitmo, and the total failure of the Obama administration to keep to the Obama’s own promise in 2008 to close down Gitmo, to which he had earlier been strongly opposed.

Although events such as the death of Margaret Thatcher, the Boston marathon bomb attack and the latest earthquake in Iran may have taken the story off the headlines, the situation at Gitmo is a major issue for the US and also the sections of the international community that prefers to be silent about all the human rights violations that take place there on a routine basis, while seeking to draw attention to other places in the world where human rights and accountability are seen by them as major issues.

As the hunger strike by a large number of the 166 detainees at Gitmo continues, and issues about the handling of their copies of the Koran and obstruction to prayer are also involved in the issue, making matters more serious. Yet, there is little sign that the US administration is anywhere near a serious attempt to come to grips with the issue by closing down Gitmo, transferring the detainees to other places, giving them chances to be heard in the courts, or having the courage to give freedom to people who have no charges laid against them.

Symbol of US wrongs

The situation in Gitmo came into focus recently when a bi-partisan group of former officials engaged in detention and interrogation work and academics from the US came out with a report stating that Gitmo is the symbol of everything the US had done wrong since the attacks on September 11, 2001, and it was time for the US to face up to its past.

As Al-Jazeera reported it, the bi-partisan group said the US has spent about ten years not willing to face the truth, often by covering up the truth with euphemisms and an awful lot of state secrets. Making a thorough review of US detention and rendition practices for ten years the group concluded that US interrogators committed torture while questioning detainees. It was clearly of the view that the top US leadership must be held responsible for their torture. And, there is no proof that the torture had provided the authorities with any information to prevent future attacks, as on 9/11.

Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba

The torture of detainees in attempts to obtain information needed by the US authorities had been approved by the previous Bush administration, which are reportedly in the Manual of Military Procedure. Torture of many forms including water boarding and sleep deprivation have been used on the Gitmo detainees, and there is hardly any accountability for these acts of violation of human dignity.

It is on record that the Obama administration has repeatedly blamed Congress for not allowing the transfers of the remaining detainees to other countries, as well as hampering their prosecution in US Courts. The problems President Obama has with Capitol Hill are well known, and it is conceded by many that the failure to close down Gitmo is mainly due to the Congress and not the White House. But, as far as the detainees go, that is a problem the American people have to solve for themselves, and should not be the cause for continued suffering by detainees who have no charge against them.

Just now the detainees at Gitmo are staging the biggest hunger strike for several years against their conditions of detention and lack of due process in their entire incarceration for more than a decade. The only certainty today is that it is highly unlikely that the political will to close down Gitmo or in any way ease the pain of these detainees could be found either at the White House or Capitol Hill.

The Gitmo force feed

To give you a feel of some of the suffering undergone by detainees at Gitmo I reproduce here extracts of an interview by one detainee, Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, who told this story, through an Arabic interpreter, to his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve in an unclassified telephone call. The full interview titled “Gitmo is killing me” was published in the New York Times on April 14, 2013. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html)

“Last month, on March 15, I was sick in the prison hospital and refused to be fed. A team from the E.R.F. (Extreme Reaction Force), a squad of eight military police officers in riot gear, burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state, tied to the bed. During this time I was not permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter, which was painful, degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray.

“I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t. There was agony in my chest, throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone.

“I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 p.m., when I’m sleeping.

“There are so many of us on hunger strike now that there aren’t enough qualified medical staff members to carry out the force-feedings; nothing is happening at regular intervals. They are feeding people around the clock just to keep up.

“During one force-feeding the nurse pushed the tube about 18 inches into my stomach, hurting me more than usual, because she was doing things so hastily. I called the interpreter to ask the doctor if the procedure was being done correctly or not.

“It was so painful that I begged them to stop feeding me. The nurse refused to stop feeding me. As they were finishing, some of the “food” spilled on my clothes. I asked them to change my clothes, but the guard refused to allow me to hold on to this last shred of my dignity.

“The only reason I am still here is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees back to Yemen. This makes no sense. I am a human being, not a passport, and I deserve to be treated like one.

“I do not want to die here, but until President Obama and Yemen’s President do something, that is what I risk every day.

“Where is my government? I will submit to any “security measures” they want in order to go home, even though they are totally unnecessary.

“I will agree to whatever it takes in order to be free. I am now 35. All I want is to see my family again and to start a family of my own.

“The situation is desperate now. All of the detainees here are suffering deeply. At least 40 people here are on a hunger strike. People are fainting with exhaustion every day. I have vomited blood.

“And there is no end in sight to our imprisonment. Denying ourselves food and risking death every day is the choice we have made.

“I just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guantanamo before it is too late.”