AI Index: AMR 51/152/2005
Date: 21 September 2005
USA
Who are the Guantánamo detainees?
CASE SHEET 12
Ethiopian national/UK resident:
Benyam Mohammed al Habashi
Who are the Guantánamo detainees?
CASE SHEET 12
Ethiopian national/UK resident:
Benyam Mohammed al Habashi
Full name: Benyam Mohamed al Habashi
Nationality: Ethiopian
Age: 27
| Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi remains in Guantánamo Bay, held without charge or trial by the US military. Before his arrival he was a victim of the US government's practice of "extraordinary rendition" -- he was forcibly transferred from one country to another, in his case three times, without reference to a court. In each country he was tortured or ill-treated. There are also concerns about the role of the UK authorities in his arrest, interrogation, transfers and torture. "The Americans are getting ready to carry out the torture. They're going to electrocute you, beat you and rape you." An interrogator to Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi in Morocco Background Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was born in Ethiopia. In 1994 he sought asylum in the UK and was given leave to remain. He lived in the UK for seven years, during which he converted to Islam and attempted to conquer his addiction to drugs. He left the UK to escape the temptation of drugs and to see Muslim countries "with his own eyes". To this end he travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. On 10 April 2002 Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was arrested at Karachi airport by Pakistani immigration officials. He had been intending to return to the UK. He was not using his own passport. Torture and ill-treatment in Pakistan While in custody in Pakistan, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi alleges that he was: - hanged by his wrists for days; - allowed to go to the toilet only twice a day; - given food only every other day; - beaten with a leather strap; - subjected to a mock execution by a guard pressing a loaded gun to his chest. "I knew I was going to die... I looked into his eyes and saw my own fear reflected there." Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi says that he was interrogated by intelligence agents from both the USA and UK. One US intelligence agent, known as "Chuck" by Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, told him, "We can't do what we want here, the Pakistanis can't do exactly what we want them to. The Arabs will deal with you." Torture and ill-treatment in Morocco "It never, never crossed my mind that I'd end up being hauled half way across the world by the Americans to face torture in a place I'd never been, Morocco." On around 21 July 2002 Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was taken to Islamabad airport and handed over to US officials. Shackled, wearing earphones and blindfolded, he was flown to Morocco. For the next 18 months he was held incommunicado and, he alleges, subjected to systematic torture at the behest of US authorities. A UK newspaper claims to have flight records of CIA-chartered jets going to and from Morocco on the dates Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi believes he was transferred. After nearly a month in a prison in Morocco, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi says that one of his Moroccan interrogators came into his cell with three other guards. "One of [the guards] took my penis in his hand and began to make cuts. He did it once and they stood still for maybe a minute, watching my reaction. I was in agony, crying... They must have done this 20 to 30 times. There was blood all over". Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi states that this torture was repeated once a month for the next 18 months. His torturers would reportedly add to the pain by pouring chemicals onto his wounds. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi also alleges that he was: - beaten severely and regularly; - subjected to sensory deprivation and placed in solitary confinement; - exposed to loud music for days on end; - forcibly given mind-altering drugs through an intravenous drip. Once, when he asked a guard why he was being tortured, the guard replied, "It's just to degrade you, so when you leave here, you'll have the scars and you'll never forget. So you'll always fear doing anything but what the US wants." "They'd ask me a question. I'd say one thing. They'd say it was a lie. I'd say another. They'd say it was a lie. I could not work out what they wanted." Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, describing his treatment in Morocco Torture and ill-treatment in Afghanistan In late January 2004 Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was told by his captors that he was "going home". He was not. Instead, after US soldiers had cut off his clothes and photographed the scars of his torture, he was flown to Afghanistan. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi alleges that he was taken to a detention centre in Kabul called the "Prison of Darkness" or "Dark Prison", where he was held until May 2004. The detention centre had only 20 rooms as it was reserved for "special people" who the US considered high value detainees. On arrival Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi says soldiers smashed his head against a wall. He also alleges that he was: - hanged by his wrists, his feet barely touching the floor, for days on end; - constantly bombarded with loud hip-hop music and "horror sounds" to deprive him of sleep. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi says that the detainees in the prison were interrogated day and night by CIA officials, for months on end. He alleges that doctors and psychiatrists were involved in his interrogation. He says that he was weighed by doctors every other day, apparently to "make sure" he was losing weight. He alleges that other detainees had "lost their minds" because of the torture and ill-treatment. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was then taken to Bagram airbase where he alleges he was forced to sign confessions that he had been planning a "dirty bomb" attack on a US city. He states that by the time he was taken to Bagram "I was telling them whatever they wanted to hear". "You're nothing to us. You're not going to leave here until you testify against people." Guard at Guantánamo Bay Guantánamo Bay Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was taken from Bagram airbase to Guantánamo Bay on 19 September 2004. He says that since then he has been "routinely humiliated and abused and constantly lied to". In February 2005 he was placed in Camp V, the harsh "super-maximum" style facility where, reports suggest, "uncooperative" detainees are held. He was told that he would be required to testify against other detainees. In July 2005 Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi and an unknown number of Guantánamo detainees went on hunger strike to protest against the harsh conditions and their lack of access to any judicial review. Detainees say they ended the protest because the US authorities agreed to meet their demands, and that these changes had been personally approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Sources from the camp suggest that these promises were not kept. On 12 August Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi and up to 200 other Guantánamo detainees resumed their hunger strike. In an unclassified statement from Guantánamo Bay, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi states that the detainees "only ask for justice: treat us, as promised, under the rules of the Geneva Conventions... while we are held, and either try us fairly for a valid criminal charge or set us free". Role of UK authorities "I never thought the British Government would allow me to be slashed with a razor blade for a full year. I never thought they would let me be hauled to the Dark Prison in Kabul for further abuse before my trip to Guantánamo." Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi After his arrest in Pakistan, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi alleges that he was interviewed by UK intelligence agents. He states that the torture stopped while they were there. One UK agent reportedly told him that he knew he would be transferred to an Arab country to face torture. When he was transferred to Morocco, the Moroccan interrogators told Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi that they were collaborating with the UK intelligence services. He alleges that he was shown photos of individuals that were taken by UK agents and that he was asked questions that he believes could only have been provided by the UK authorities while he was being tortured in Morocco. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi also alleges that UK officials promised to intervene on his behalf. They have yet to do so. Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi remains detained in Guantánamo Bay without access to judicial review. His hope is that "the British people will hold the British Government to its word" so that he can "go back home" to London. |
TAKE ACTION FOR Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi Write to the US authorities:
Alberto Gonzales Attorney General US Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001, USA Fax: + 1 202 307 6777 Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov The Rt Hon Jack Straw Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Foreign and Commonwealth Office King Charles Street London SW1A 2AH United Kingdom Fax: +44 0207 008 2144 Mohamed Bouzoubaa Minister of Justice Ministère de la Justice Place Mamounia Rabat Morocco Fax: +212 37 73 07 72 General Pervez Musharraf President Pakistan Secretariat Islamabad PAKISTAN Fax: +92 51 922 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835 If you want to take further action on this case, please contact your national AI office Amnesty International, International Secretariat, Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X 0DW, UK. www.amnesty.org |
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