Posted on 9-10-2003
Lawyer
Says Guantanamo Detainees Tortured
By The Associated Press, 8 October 2003
The U.S. military has tortured terrorist
suspects held without charge at the Guantanamo Bay military
prison, an Australian lawyer representing some of the suspects
claimed Wednesday.
U.S.-based Richard Bourke, who has been working
for almost two years on behalf of dozens of detainees at Guantanamo
Bay, said American military officials were using old-fashioned
torture techniques to force confessions out of prisoners.
The methods "clearly" fell under
the definition of torture under international conventions, he
told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in an interview from
the United States.
"They are engaging in good old-fashioned
torture, as people would have understood it in the Dark Ages,"
he said.
About 660 prisoners captured in Afghanistan
and elsewhere are being held at Guantanamo without charges or
access to lawyers -- some since January 2002. The U.S. government
rarely comments on activities at the prison which has been dubbed
Camp X-ray because of the strict security.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials denied
using torture and said detainees are interrogated humanely,
allowed to practice their religion and given good medical care.
Families are denied access and can only communicate
with detainees through heavily censored mail. Human rights groups
and the media have been given only limited and strictly controlled
access.
Bourke told ABC radio that his claims are
based on reports leaked by U.S. military personnel and from
descriptions by some detainees that have been released.
"One of the detainees had described
being taken out and tied to a post and having rubber bullets
fired at them. They were being made to kneel cruciform in the
sun until they collapsed," he said.
Media reports that many detainees have attempted
suicide and are suffering mental health problems backed up claims
of harsh treatment, he said.
Bourke said governments around the world
must stand up to the U.S. government and demand that the United
Nations investigate the reports of torture.
Almost all the detainees, from more than
40 countries, are said to be members of al-Qaida terrorist network
or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime. They are to be tried by
secret military tribunals. The U.S. government says they could
be held until it declares an end to its "war on terrorism."
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