Juma ‘dreams of talking to his dad’
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 18th December 2006
BAHRAINI Guantanamo Bay detainee Juma Al Dossary dreams about talking with his dead father every night, it has emerged.The 32-year-old, who is being held in isolation at the prison camp’s mental health unit, is still struggling to accept the fact that he will never see his father again, say his lawyers.
Mr Al Dossary is reportedly suffering from a variety of health problems and according to the US military has tried to kill himself 13 times.
“Juma said that he still cannot imagine that his father is dead,” legal team head Joshua Colangelo-Bryan told the GDN.
Juma ‘dreams of talking to his dad’
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 18th December 2006
BAHRAINI Guantanamo Bay detainee Juma Al Dossary dreams about talking with his dead father every night, it has emerged.The 32-year-old, who is being held in isolation at the prison camp’s mental health unit, is still struggling to accept the fact that he will never see his father again, say his lawyers.
Mr Al Dossary is reportedly suffering from a variety of health problems and according to the US military has tried to kill himself 13 times.
“Juma said that he still cannot imagine that his father is dead,” legal team head Joshua Colangelo-Bryan told the GDN.
“He told us that almost every night he dreams about being with and talking to his father.
“During the night before our conversation, Juma said that he had dreamt that he was home and talking to his father.
“When Juma wakes up from these dreams and remembers the truth, he feels great pain that his father is dead.
“He also feels great pain that he was not allowed to see his father before his death.”
Mohammed Abdullatif Al Dossary died in hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in May, after suffering complications following surgery to treat cancer of the larynx.
It was his dying wish to be reunited with the son he had not seen since US forces captured him, as he attempted to flee from Afghanistan during the US-led invasion, in 2001.
Mr Al Dossary claimed he was paid to travel to Afghanistan to inspect mosques and schools, but military officials considered him an “enemy combatant” and he was transferred to the prison camp.
He only heard of his father’s death when US military psychiatrists and a “cultural adviser” told him, around a week after it happened.
Mr Colangelo-Bryan says such is his client’s grief that he sometimes refuses to believe his father is dead.
“Sometimes Juma still believes that he will find his father alive when he returns home,” he said, following his latest visit to the camp.
“Juma said that, as a Muslim, he believes that his father is able to advise him now.
“He tries to hear his father’s voice and to let his father guide him through his very difficult time at Guantanamo.”
Mr Al Dossary is one of two Bahrainis still being held at the Cuba-based prison facility.
The other is Isa Abdulla Al Murbati, 41, who is being detained at Camp 1, allegedly the highest security section at the prison, after being forced off a hunger strike last December.
Both men are approaching their fifth year without charge or trial.
Three other Bahrainis, Adel Kamel Hajee, Abdulla Al Nuaimi and Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, were released from Guantanamo in November last year, while Salah Al Blooshi was released from custody and returned to Bahrain in October this year.
© Gulf Daily News