Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "Al-Jazeera Detainee Sues Bush"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 16, July 17-July 30, 2009

Al-Jazeera Detainee Sues Bush

Al-Jazeera's Sami Al-Haj is the only journalist to have been detained in Guantanamo. Al-Haj, of Sudanese origin, was illegally apprehended as a suspected terrorist and tortured by US authorities for seven years before his release in May 2008.

Pakistani police arrested Al-Haj in December 2001 while on his way to Afghanistan to work as a cameraman with an Al-Jazeera crew. Next, he was handed over to US forces who sent him to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where, according to Amnesty International, he was severely mistreated, reports The Guardian. His interrogations in Afghanistan repeatedly focused on his employer and whether Al-Jazeera had links with Al Qaeda.

Al-Haj was flown to Cuba in June 2002 where, Amnesty International reports, he was repeatedly beaten, subjected to racist abuse and denied medicine. In 2003, when Al-Haj began a hunger protest, he was placed in isolation and taken to the harshest camp in Guantanamo.

Al-Haj tells The Guardian that Guantanamo is never far from his mind, since he now suffers from flashbacks and his gait is stiff as the result of a beating that shattered his knee.

The Guardian claims that Al-Haj plans to take legal action, along with other detainees, against former US president George Bush and various administration officials for their illegal detention and torture. The case will be initiated by the Guantanamo Justice Centre, a new organization open to former prisoners, which will soon establish its international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Centre is led by British ex-detainee Moazzam Begg and plans are in place to open a British branch soon.

According to Press TV, the Justice Centre will serve as a platform for the victims of Guantanamo. The organization intends to open an all-encompassing case against Bush, rather than address the issue in a case-by-case matter.

Al-Haj explains to The Guardian that the organization is currently in the process of “collecting information from all the people, such as medical evidence.” Al-Haj argues that Bush must be brought to trail because “we don't want [what happened to the international detainees] to be repeated again."

The journalist is now back at work at Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, where he heads a new section dedicated to issues of civil liberties and human rights, reports The Guardian. Al-Haj is frustrated with the media coverage of Guantanamo. He argues that the media no longer examines what continues to go on in Guantanamo, and that reporters fail to ask the real questions regarding released detainees.

Al-Haj tells The Guardian that the media is giving an easy ride to the current US president, claiming, “They believe Obama and his promises, but he has not kept them. Obama said he would immediately close Guantanamo Bay when he came to power. He has not. He said he would bring the people who committed torture to trial. He has not."

According to current developments regarding the closure of Guantanamo, there may be truth in Al-Haj’s argument against President Obama. Al-Jazeera reports that a panel ordered by Barack Obama to develop new US policy on the detention of terrorism suspects has delayed its report to the President by six months.

Al-Jazeera explains that the progress is further hindered by divisions between Congress and the White House over the fate of detainees at Guantanamo. The President faces strong opposition from legislators, including those in his own Democratic party, regarding the transfer and trial of prisoners.

A separate government task force, which reviewed the rules for interrogating detainees, also failed to meet its Tuesday deadline and has been granted an extra two months to submit a final report.

Al-Jazeera claims that the panel issued a five-page interim report stating, "where appropriate, prosecution of those responsible must occur as soon as possible,” but that “justice cannot be done…unless those who are accused of crimes are proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law that affords them a full and fair opportunity to contest the charges against them."

In an article by Press TV, Al-Haj re-emphasized the urgent need for Obama to immediately close Guantanamo's prison, since torture continues to take place there. The Obama Administration claims that it remains on track to shut down the prison in Cuba by January.

Whether Obama will take the action necessary to correct the wrongs of the Bush Administration remains unseen, though Al-Haj and the Guantanamo Justice Centre will certainly continue to fight against the decisions of the Bush Administration.

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