Eighty-five Yemeni detainees still in Guantanamo: Sami al-Haaj

NewsYemen
May 18, 2008

SANA'A. The al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj, recently freed from the US Guantanamo bay, said that 85 Yemenis in Guantanamo are awaiting to be released and that US authorities have already decided to extradite them to Yemen since a year.

Sami al-Haj said in a call with the executive director of the Yemeni National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedom, called Hood, that 15 Yemenis were supposed to be handed over to Yemen last March. He said some Yemeni detainees have become mad because the prison authorities impose them to have [p]ills that cause hallucinations, in addition to their miserable conditions of detention cells.

Al-Haj has commended the role of Hood in defending him and other detainees in Guantanamo, revealing his intention to write a story about Yemeni detainees and the visit Hood representatives paid to Gitmo.

Hood has invited Sami al-Haaj to visit Yemen and talk about his experience and sufferings of all detainees who remain in Guantanamo.

The US authorities claim it has stopped the release of Yemeni detainees in Guantanamo after Yemen refused to meet US conditions including offering written guarantees that the Yemeni government will not torture returnees.

The Sudanese Sami al-Haj in Cuba was released from Gitmo early in May after six years in detention without charge.

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