Former Gitmo Prisoners: "You Should Struggle Against Any Government That Abuses Human Rights"

Adel Hamad, born in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast of eastern Sudan in 1958, was living in Pakistan and working for an Islamic charitable organization.

He was arrested at his home on July 18, 2002, starting a terrible journey to Guantánamo -- the detention center at the U.S. Navy base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba -- where he would be imprisoned without trial for 5 and a half years.

Hamad spoke of being chained, hit and kicked, repeatedly interrogated for up to six hours, and placed in isolation for weeks.

Two other men, Hammad Amno and Salim Mahmud, told similar stories at a (May 31st) event organized by the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas.

The center's director, Almerindo Ojeda, said while Guantánamo may soon close, "the Guantánamo experience will go on for years to come."

The center has started the Guantánamo Testimonials Project, collecting testimonies of alleged prisoner abuse from eyewitnesses including former guards, a military lawyer, a chaplain and detainees. The Saturday event was to raise money for the project, but Ojeda said he anticipates they will only break even.

About 400 people attended the event in Sciences Lecture Hall 123 at UCD. Former Guantánamo prisoners in Khartoum, Sudan, were interviewed via videoconference by journalist Amy Goodman, the host and executive producer of national radio news and television program Democracy Now!. Isma'il Kushkush, a former UCD history student working as a journalist in Sudan, translated for the former prisoners who spoke in Arabic. Organizers said video of the event will eventually be posted on YouTube.

Hammad, Amno and Mahmud said they were arrested because they worked for organizations that interrogators alleged had connections to al-Qaeda. The men said these groups did not support terrorists, but if there was some evidence to the contrary, then their managers should be prosecuted and not line workers.

These former prisoners described harsh treatment at Guantánamo, saying they were sometimes chained with their arms above their head for several hours, but not sexually abused or tortured with waterboarding.

However, Mahmud said he knew another prisoner who was sexually abused. The men said they knew of prisoners who had their heads forced into a toilet that was flushed repeatedly. Some heard of prisoners committing suicide, but Mahmud said he believes the prisoners were killed.

He said a guard "would depart from his humanity and treat you like an animal -- you would be amazed."

Mahmud said he saw people with backs, legs and fingers broken. He claimed some had their good teeth removed or pieces of cloth left in their bodies during surgery. He said some of the fair doctors would tell prisoners to speak during interrogation so they could be given medical treatment.

The men said psychiatrists did not help them, but were used to destroy their spirits. Some prisoners were given drug injections that made them sleep for days at a time, the men said. And, they said, guards would treat the Koran with disrespect to further break prisoners' spirits.

"The effects of physical abuse could go for a week or two, but the effects of psychological abuse stays," Mahmud said.

Hamad's experience

Hamad said he was arrested by Pakistani forces and by a man he believes was an American.

The men said he would come with them for an hour or two, the Pakistani officers looked at his visa, asked the American if they should arrest him, and he said "yes."

"They told me not to move, put their weapons in my face and cuffed me," Hamad said.

They put a black hood over his head and took him to a jail, putting him in solitary confinement.

"I cannot even describe it. Very dirty. Hot -- it was summertime. The food was really bad," Hamad said.