Al Dossary spends recreation time with mentally disturbed Yemeni, says lawyer
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10091693.html
12/23/2006 09:02 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini detainee who has attempted suicide 13 times at Guantanamo Bay is allowed to communicate only with a mentally disturbed Yemeni, his lawyer has said.
“Juma Al Dossary continues to be held in very harsh psychological conditions and continues to suffer from severe isolation at Guantanamo. He has been held in the mental health unit of the detainee hospital for a year now and has been told that he will not leave that unit. His cell has no windows,” Joshua Bryan-Colangelo has said in a statement.
Al Dossary spends recreation time with mentally disturbed Yemeni, says lawyer
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Bahrain/10091693.html
12/23/2006 09:02 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini detainee who has attempted suicide 13 times at Guantanamo Bay is allowed to communicate only with a mentally disturbed Yemeni, his lawyer has said.
“Juma Al Dossary continues to be held in very harsh psychological conditions and continues to suffer from severe isolation at Guantanamo. He has been held in the mental health unit of the detainee hospital for a year now and has been told that he will not leave that unit. His cell has no windows,” Joshua Bryan-Colangelo has said in a statement.
“While it is physically possible for Al Dossary to speak with other detainees, most of the people being held in the mental health unit have significant psychological problems that keep them from being able to communicate,” the New-York based lawyer said in a statement relayed to Gulf News by rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
Hunger striker
During recreation time, Al Dossary is often sent out with a Yemeni who believes that he is Jesus and a messenger from God.
But when Al Dossary asked to spend recreation time with another detainee, he was told by a psychiatrist that the only other detainee he could go with was one who had been on a hunger strike and was not able to walk well. “That detainee often does not want to go to recreation because of difficulty while walking. When Al Dossary pointed this out to the psychiatrist, she said that if he could not convince the former hunger striker to go to recreation, he would have to go with the detainee who believes he is Jesus,” Bryan-Colangelo said.
According to the lawyer, Al Dossary asked the legal team to increase their visits “because he is so lonely”.
But the lawyer said that scheduling visits was difficult although he has arranged for a visit in January, almost two months from the last get-together in November.
