Conditions worsen in Guantanamo
February 24, 2009PUBLIC AI
Index: AMR 51/028/2009
20
February 2009
Further information on UA 350/08 (AMR
51/156/2008, 23 December 2008) – Health concern/Legal concern
The medical
condition of Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair, who has been on hunger strike
and a force feeding regime since 2005, has worsened. On a recent visit to meet
him at the base, his US lawyers observed a marked deterioration in his health
since they last met with him in mid-December.
According
to his
The
lawyers have said that his pain during their meetings with him was evident and
that he could not sit up: “Even though Mr Zuhair was administered painkillers,
any movement of the gurney caused him to wince in pain, and his own movements
were slow and limited to slight gestures”. The lawyers have also reported that
Zuhair’s weight was “perilously low”: “He appeared to weigh approximately 100
pounds, his biceps were roughly the thickness of his wrists, his eyes were
sunken, and his cheekbones were sharp and gaunt. Mr Zuhair was considerably
fatigued and unable to speak above a whisper for the entirety of the meeting.” Ahmed Zuhair’s own account of his condition
and treatment remains classified.
In a separate
development, his lawyers discovered on 21 January that Ahmed Zuhair has been approved
for transfer from Guantánamo. They made the discovery by chance; the US
authorities did not notify them. The government has now said that the approval
for his transfer was made on 23 December 2008.
The Guantánamo authorities notified Ahmed Zuhair on 10 February, on the
eve of his meeting with his lawyers, that he had been authorized for transfer
from Guantánamo. The written notice to him states that “while your transfer has
been authorized, the date of such transfer depends on the United States
reaching agreement with your country of origin or another country, to accept
you”. The notice stated that “negotiating these agreements can in certain
circumstances take considerable time”, adding that “although the United States
will attempt to transfer you as soon as possible no date has been set for your
transfer”. Other detainees have been held for years since their release from
the base has been approved under the administrative review scheme. Ahmed Zuhair’s lawyers have said that he “affirmatively
wishes to return to his family and homeland [Saudi Arabia], where he has never
run afoul of the law”.
Ahmed
Zuhair has been in detention for more than seven years without charge or trial.
According to his 2008 petition for habeas corpus, in late December 2001 Ahmed
Zuhair was seized in a market in Lahore, Pakistan, by a dozen men in civilian
clothes. He was blindfolded and taken to a house in a residential area of
Lahore, where, he said, he was tortured and otherwise ill-treated. In early
January 2002, he was transferred to a military facility in the capital,
Islamabad, and held incommunicado there for about 10 weeks: in mid-March 2002
he was handed over to US custody and held in Bagram air base in Afghanistan. In
June 2002 he was transferred to detention in Kandahar, where he was held for
two weeks. He said he was ill-treated in US custody in Afghanistan, including
forced prolonged kneeling and stripping during interrogations. He was
transported to Guantánamo in June 2002. Ahmed Zuhair began his hunger strike in
mid- 2005, to protest at his indefinite detention without charge and the
conditions in which he is detained. He has been force fed since August 2005.
Ahmed
Zuhair’s lawyers filed an emergency motion in District Court in late November
2008 in relation to his deteriorating health. On 22 December, Judge Emmett
Sullivan ordered the authorities to allow a court-appointed independent medical
expert to examine Ahmed Zuhair. He also ordered the government to release
Zuhair’s medical records to his lawyers. Judge Sullivan made the decision on
the grounds that Zuhair must be medically fit enough to have “meaningful access
to counsel”, and so that his lawyers “are able to adequately communicate with
him” in his habeas corpus challenge. On 16 January 2009, Judge Sullivan
appointed the independent expert suggested by Zuhair’s lawyers to conduct a
“comprehensive medical and psychiatric evaluation” of Ahmed Zuhair, and ordered
that she and an independent interpreter be provided transport to Guantánamo and
access to the detainee, that she be given access to all Zuhair’s medical
records and records relating to his force feeding, and allowed to speak with
personnel at Guantánamo regarding Zuhair’s medical and mental health and the
feeding process. No further details are publicly available.
On 23
January, around the seventh anniversary of Ahmed Zuhair being taken into US
custody, his lawyers filed a petition pointing out that their client “continues
to languish in Guantánamo Bay without charge, trial or due process” and with no
“definitive judicial determination as to the legality of his detention”. They
argued that the need for the “prompt habeas corpus hearing” ordered by the US
Supreme Court’s Boumediene v. Bush
ruling seven months earlier was “especially pressing as he nears the fourth
anniversary of his hunger strike protesting his indefinite and arbitrary
imprisonment”.
On 22
January, President Obama signed three executive orders on detentions and
interrogations (see: The promise of real change: President Obama’s executive
orders on detentions and interrogations, 30 January 2009, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/015/2009/en).
One of the orders required his administration to close the Guantánamo Bay detention
facility “as soon as practicable” and to conduct a review of all the cases of
detainees held there to decide what should happen to them. For more information on Amnesty International’s Counter Terror
with Justice campaign and to take further action visit http://obama100days.amnesty.org/.
RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or
your own language, in your own words:
- expressing
concern about the deteriorating health of Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair, who
has been in US custody without charge for more than seven years and on hunger
strike since 2005;
- calling
for an immediate end to the use of the restraint chair against Ahmed Zuhair
during force feeding;
-
calling on the authorities to ensure that Ahmed Zuhair receives all necessary
medical treatment;
- noting
that Ahmed Zuhair’s transfer from Guantánamo has been authorized, indicating
that the US government does not intend to charge him with any offence;
- calling
for the immediate release from Guantánamo of Ahmed Zuhair.
APPEALS TO:
The Honorable Eric Holder, Attorney
General, US Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20530-0001, USA
Fax: +1
202 307 6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General
The Honorable Robert Gates, US Secretary
of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301, USA
Fax: +1 703 571 8951
Salutation: Dear Secretary of Defense
Gregory
Craig, Counsel to the President, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20500, USA
Fax: +1
202 456 2461
Salutation: Dear Mr Craig
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check
with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals
after 3 April 2009.
Posted by Duncan Mikae. Posted In : Human Rights Watch
