Background Briefing

<<previous  |  index

X. After-effects

Former detainee A. told Human Rights Watch: 

[I]t has left its impression on me: I feel terrified sometimes and see terrible nightmares.  I dream I am in prison and then I shout and I wake up, and perspiration is running from my back.  Therefore, I visit a psychiatrist and take medicines, which is very expensive and I cannot afford it.83 

Mohammad Taher, told Amnesty International that he had suffered mentally from this detention and that he was having difficulty remembering things,84 while another Afghan former detainee, Abdur Rahim, has stated that mental health problems experienced since his release from Guantanamo mean that he “cannot talk to people for a long period of time.”85 Tarek Dergoul, one of the Britons released from Guantanamo, told the Observer newspaper:  “I get migraines, I’m depressed and I suffer from memory loss.  There’s stuff that happened, embedded in my head, that I can’t remember.”86 

Sayed Abassin complained of the toll taken by sleep deprivation because of the twenty-four-hour illumination, and because guards would not allow him to cover his head with a blanket to make sleep easier.  He told Amnesty International that he has had problems with his eyesight since his release.87

Some of those released, such as A. from Afghanistan, expressed a fear of reprisals:

I have told all of my story to you, although I was warned not to do so by the officer who released me.  [An American.]  He told me not to host Al-Qaeda or assist them or the Taliban, and then added I had to control my tongue and not say anything against the American attitudes and behavior… They told me not to say anything about what happened in Guantanamo.88

Former detainee Yuksel Celikgogus, from Turkey, told the Hurriyet newspaper in early December 2003 that a condition of his release was that he did not speak of his experiences in detention:  “They [US forces] will come and take me away if I tell what happened in Guantanamo,” he said.  Nevertheless, he was reported to be planning legal action against the US government over his detention.89

Jamal al-Harith told the British Daily Mirror newspaper in an interview shortly after his release from Guantanamo in March 2004:

I woke up last night when I heard the keys of someone returning to their hotel room.  I woke up in a fright and thought one of the guards was coming to put on my chains.  I then realized that the light in the room was on.  When locked up in our cages, the lights were on as well, and I thought to myself: ‘You can sleep in the dark now’—and I switched it off.90





[83] Human Rights Watch interview with A. (name withheld), February 6, 2004.

[84] See Amnesty International, “United States of America: The threat of a bad example,” AI Index: AMR 51/114/2003, August 19, 2003.

[85] “Guantanamo Memories, From Outside the Wire”, www.cageprisoners.com, available online at: http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=2105, accessed on July 1, 2004.

[86] David Rose, “They tied me up like a beast and began kicking me”, The Observer, London, 16 May 2004, available online at: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1217969,00.html, accessed on May 18, 2004.

[87] See Amnesty International, “United States of America: The threat of a bad example,” AI Index: AMR 51/114/2003, August 19, 2003.

[88] Human Rights Watch interview with A. (name withheld), February 6, 2004.

[89] “US sacks Guantanamo defence lawyers over criticism”, available online at: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2003-daily/04-12-2003/world/w14.htm, accessed on December 4, 2003.

[90] “My Hell in Camp X-ray,” Jamal al-Harith interview by Rosa Prince and Gary Jones, Daily Mirror, London, March 12, 2004, available online at: http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=890, accessed on July 1, 2004).


<<previous  |  indexOctober 2004