Bilingual Newsletter
United States: Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo, Prisoner of Conscience
"I have no regrets, not one… I will take it because I go there with my honor, knowing I have done the right thing".
Listen
to the interview with Camilo
On
21 May 2004, a US military court sentenced Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo
of the Florida National Guard to the maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment
for desertion. He had refused to return to his unit in Iraq, citing moral
reasons, the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi
civilians and prisoners. Amnesty International considered him to be a prisoner
of conscience, imprisoned for his conscientious opposition to participating
in war. The sentence was imposed despite a pending decision by the army
on his application for conscientious objector status. He was detained in
a military prison, and then set free on February 15, 2005, just three months
before his one-year sentence was over.
Background Information
Camilo Mejia was deployed to Iraq in April 2003, where he started to doubt the morality and legality of the war. In October 2003 he returned home for two weeks leave. He failed to return to duty in Iraq and filed for discharge as a conscientious objector on 16 March 2004 stating that he believed the war and occupation of Iraq to be "illegal and immoral".
In his conscientious objector application, Camilo Mejia described the conditions of detention and treatment of Iraqi prisoners, including instances where soldiers were directed to "break the detainees’ resolve", and who took actions which included banging on metal walls with sledgehammers to enforce sleep deprivation, and loading pistols near the ears of prisoners. He also described witnessing the killing of civilians, including children.
Conscientious Objector
Any person who, for reasons of conscience or profound conviction, refuses to perform service in the armed forces or any other direct or indirect participation in wars or armed conflicts. This can include volunteer soldiers who have developed a conscientious objection after joining the armed forces. Wherever such a person is detained or imprisoned solely because they have been denied or refused their right to register an objection or to perform a genuinely civilian alternative service, Amnesty International considers that person to be a prisoner of conscience.
AI also considers conscientious objectors to be prisoners of conscience if they are imprisoned as a consequence of leaving the armed forces without authorization for reasons of conscience, if because of those reasons, they have taken reasonable steps to secure release from military obligations.
It is evident from the statement Camilo Mejia has made in his application for conscientious objector status that he is a genuine conscientious objector whose objection to war evolved in response to witnessing human rights violations in Iraq. He sought discharge as a non-US citizen with more than eight years service with the US army on the basis of such objection, and subsequently applied for conscientious objector status. Accordingly, AI believes that he should not have been tried and imprisoned for "desertion."
Evidence of Torture
Since April 2004, photographs of US agents mentally and physically torturing
and abusing Iraqi detainees in Iraq have been published around the world
AI has documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Iraq
and raised its concerns with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) as
well as the US and UK governments:
- According to reports, detainees were forced to lie face down on the ground,
handcuffed, hooded or blindfolded during arrest.
- During interrogation they were reportedly repeatedly beaten and restrained
for prolonged periods in painful positions.
- Some were also subjected to sleep deprivation, prolonged forced standing,
and exposed to loud music and bright lights to disorient them.
- Some died in custody allegedly as a result of torture.