Mohammed Ali Salem al Zarnuki: Allegations of Abuse

p. 20844

Designated Military Officer: The Detainee stated, "You killed my brother because he was defending the Koran, and I want to die too, and I want you to kill me."

Detainee: Yes, this is true. We did say this when the guards went in and beat our brother in solitary and they beat him and brought him out of his cell. He was unconscious, he was covered in blood upon blood, and they took him out. When other people saw him being taken out, they said he had been killed. So, yes we all said this. We would rather have died th[a]n to sit there and see this. So, we all got very angry as Muslims. As Muslims we all love each other. So we got angry, because of what they did to our brother, because he was defending the Koran. There was a huge problem in the camp and even our brother was in the hospital for three years paralyzed and he only left very recently and went back to Saudi Arabia. I did say these words and I was in a state of extreme anger, because of what happened to my Muslim brother.

pp. 20852-20853

Detainee: I have health problems. First thing, my back, the soldiers in Bagram hurt my back. I’ve been suffering from it for the past three years and the infirmary refuses to treat me…to x-ray [anything or me]. My knees also hurt and they didn’t do anything for me. They gave me pills…pain relief. The pain would go away for a little bit but then it always comes back. They didn’t do any examination or anything. The [third] problem, I had an operation here, at the hospital here, they told me that the numbness would go away in six months. Now, two years later, I still have no feeling over here. Detainee pointed at his lower right abdomen. The fourth problem, my eyes have pain. I talked to them about it. They brought me glasses. When the glasses broke I gave it to the guards so they could fix it, it’s been two years. They took the glasses, they never brought them back and now I still have pain. Fifth problem, I have this thing on my forehead. It hurts me when I pray and there’s pressure on it. I talked to them about it in the first hearing. They took me and they did an examination outside the prison. After three and half months they said they got the results from America that this is a normal ailment, its just blood. I told them well go ahead and operate on it, so they said okay we’ll give you an appointment with a surgeon. It has been four months and they [still haven’t done] anything. Every time I talk to them about it, they say it[']s okay, it[']s just a small thing, it[']s not a problem and they don’t do anything. When I press on it like this (Detainee raised his index finger and proceeds to poke the bump on the center of his forehead), or I put pressure on it, it hurts me. These are five problems I have and they won’t do anything about any of them.

Presiding Officer: Thank you very much. I’ll make sure that we’ll tell people about all five. I am not a doctor and I will definitely put all this in our report and it will definitely be seen. The information will definitely be seen.

Board Member: I just want to ask whether or not any of these problems occurred while you were here at Guantanamo?

Detainee: All of it, yes.

Board Member: “Your back was hurt in Bagram?”
Detainee: “My back was [hurt?] in Bagram, when the soldiers pushed me off the plane in Bagram. They did it very harshly and they hit my back and it kind of snapped a little bit. Now when I bend over or lean back it hurts. It’s right in the middle of my back. Because of the metal in the cell and temperature the pain it hurts more. If I were in Yemen I wouldn’t have any of these problems. My only problem in Pakistan; I had some spots but there gone.