Let me die pleads Juma
Published: 18th May 2007
A BAHRAINI prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has begged to be allowed to kill himself in a harrowing letter to his lawyer.
Juma Al Dossary says inmates are being tortured physically and psychologically on a regular basis and their life is no longer worth living.
He said detainees are also unable to complain to anyone inside the prison camp – alleging it was those in charge of the facility who are abusing them.
“We die here hundred times a day and I swear to God if I have the opportunity, I would end the life of misery, torture and terror I live at the hands of those people,” writes Al Dossary.
Let me die pleads Juma
Published: 18th May 2007
A BAHRAINI prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has begged to be allowed to kill himself in a harrowing letter to his lawyer.
Juma Al Dossary says inmates are being tortured physically and psychologically on a regular basis and their life is no longer worth living.
He said detainees are also unable to complain to anyone inside the prison camp – alleging it was those in charge of the facility who are abusing them.
“We die here hundred times a day and I swear to God if I have the opportunity, I would end the life of misery, torture and terror I live at the hands of those people,” writes Al Dossary.
He also suggests he was planning what would be his 14th suicide attempt, but lost whatever it was that he was planning to kill himself with.
“As I told you, I lost the thing I was hiding to end my worthless life with,” he tells his lawyers.
“I want to put an end to this psychological and physical torture by any means. I am looking for an end to my life, for an opportunity that has not come yet.”
The detainee, who has been held in Guantanamo Bay for more than five years without charge or trial, made the disturbing comments in a letter sent to legal team head Joshua Colangelo-Bryan and written in Arabic on April 18. It was obtained by the GDN yesterday.
The detainee is being held at the prison camp’s mental health unit and reportedly suffers from a variety of health problems.
Ac-cording to the US military, he has al-ready tried to kill himself 13 times.
“We are subject here in the psychotherapy unit to horrible and awful torture that I cannot describe,” the Bahraini writes.
“These days are more terrible than those days of Camp X-ray, because we are being tortured physically and psychologically on regular basis and we do not find anyone who can hear our complaints.”
Al Dossary says inmates are being treated worse than slaves and suggests animals enjoy a better quality of life.
“In fact, we are being tortured and our condition is much worse than those in solitary cells,” he wrote.
“We are deprived of everything, as if we are being punished for being in that condition and in that block. Those who are being openly punished in other places have more personal stuff than we do. I cannot describe the degree of our tragedy or the graveness of our misfortune.”
Al Dossary, who signed his letter The Sufferer, claims he can often hear the screams of other inmates being tortured and is constantly fatigued because of the Immediate Reaction Force soldiers storming his and other prisoner’s cells in a bid to terrify them.
“We are facing here the most horrible type of oppression and physical torture, rather terrorising treatment,” he says.
“I am a human being, but a dead one without rights, dignity, humanity or identity.
“It is easy for you to say be patient. But for me, I own nothing, no food, no clothes, no time to sleep – nothing at all.
“At any moment, they take my clothes off and leave me naked. I am no longer a human being, not even an animal because those creatures have rights.
“I know that the slavery era has gone and finished, but I’m even less than a slave. Slaves had clothes, food and basic rights, but I have nothing.”
The other Bahraini being held at Guantanamo Bay is Isa Al Murbati, who is being kept in Camp Six and has also been held for more than five years 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 2005, while Salah Al Blooshi was released from custody and returned to Bahrain in October last year.
© Gulf Daily News
