Former Gitmo detainee speaks out

Posted by Jennifer Fox at 12:00 PM on June 14, 2006.

While government officials and Bill O'Reilly can claim that Guantanamo Bay is an upstanding institution, Shafiq Rasul tells a different story -- and he was a prisoner there. Rasul and his companions have filed a suit [against the US gov] requesting money in exchange for the damages, both physically and emotionally, that they incurred from being wrongfully held at Guantanamo.

Rasul and several companions were detained at Guantanamo for two years without access to legal representation before being released. When originally captured it was alleged that they were fighting illegally for Al Qaeda. Rasul, a British citizen, contends that they were really in Afghanistan to deliver an aid package from a mosque, and they were caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. He says he did not sympathize with Al Qaeda or the Taliban and he believes Osama Bin Laden is a terrorist who should be tried for his crimes.

As far as what happened at Guantanamo, Rasul said, "All it amounts down to is torture." He tells stories of being shackled in uncomfortable positions for hours while being interrogated, beaten and put into solitary confinement. One U.S. military personnel even told him that he would remain in Guantanamo indefinitely. When asked about suicide, he claims it was inevitable -- and that suicide attempts are far more rampant than Guantanamo officials let on.

Jennnifer Fox is an AlterNet intern.