Juma Aids claim is denied
By kanwal tariq hameed
Published: 20 August 2006
REPORTS claiming that a Bahraini detainee at Guantanamo Bay Juma Al Dossary had contracted Aids because of a “contaminated blood transfusion” at prison were rejected by his lawyer yesterday.
In a statement made in a Saudi newspaper, Katib Al Shimmari, a lawyer of a number of Saudi detainees, said that Mr Al Dossary had contracted Aids “mistakenly, or for other reasons” because of a blood transfusion at the camp.
Mr Al Dossary’s lawyer, who returned from a visit to the three Bahrainis being held at the US military prison facility in Cuba on Friday, dismissed the claims.
Juma Aids claim is denied
By kanwal tariq hameed
Published: 20 August 2006
REPORTS claiming that a Bahraini detainee at Guantanamo Bay Juma Al Dossary had contracted Aids because of a “contaminated blood transfusion” at prison were rejected by his lawyer yesterday.
In a statement made in a Saudi newspaper, Katib Al Shimmari, a lawyer of a number of Saudi detainees, said that Mr Al Dossary had contracted Aids “mistakenly, or for other reasons” because of a blood transfusion at the camp.
Mr Al Dossary’s lawyer, who returned from a visit to the three Bahrainis being held at the US military prison facility in Cuba on Friday, dismissed the claims.
It is thought they emerged from confusion over earlier pleas from Mr Al Dossary to Bahraini MP Shaikh Adel Al Ma’awda and his New York based lawyer Joshua Colangelo Bryan in which he asks for the Bahrain government to send a medical delegation to visit him at Guantanamo.
In the letter, Mr Al Dossary says he believes he has developed blood infection as a result of a blood transfusion he received at the camp hospital after attempting to commit suicide by slashing his throat and leg on March 11.
“After they (the US military) gave me a blood transfusion after my suicide attempt, I have been suffering from a strange condition,” he says in one of the letters, which is thought to have sparked the Aids claims.
“They carried out an examination of my blood and they told me I have blood infection and problems,” he claims in the letter. “There is no truth to the Aids story, and it probably has its origins in that letter and a similar one he sent to us,” said Mr Colangelo Bryan.
Meanwhile, MP Mohammed Khalid said he did not know if the claims were true, but that they were “not too far fetched” to believe, based on the US administration’s record of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Speaking on behalf of the national committee in support of Guantanamo detainees and their families, Mr Khalid said he condemned the report that Al Dossary had “intentionally” been transmitted the disease. He said the US administration was “fully responsible” for Al Dossary’s alleged illness.
Mr Khalid reiterated a call for the Foreign Ministry to take “immediate action” in response to the claims, calling for a Bahraini medical and security delegation to visit Guantanamo and ensure the safety of Mr Al Dossary and the other Bahraini detainees. “The Bahraini detainees should be released, or handed over to their government – otherwise the ministry might end up having to send coffins to collect them,” he added.
The three Bahraini detainees at the prison camp are Mr Al Dossary, 32, Isa Al Murbati, 41, and Salah Al Bloushi, 24, all of whom have been incarcerated without trial for more than four years.
Rumours regarding the status of the detainees have been rife in recent months. An AFP news story quoted a diplomat last month as saying the three remaining detainees would be released “soon”, but gave no further details. The story is as yet unconfirmed, although sources have told the GDN that there had been a significant increase in activity between the US Embassy in Bahrain, the Foreign Ministry and Bahrain Embassy in the US on the issue. Officials both in Bahrain and the US, however, have not commented on the issue.
© Gulf Daily News
