Saudi detainee Shaker Amir narrates the horrible treatment he faced in Guantánamo

Al-Hayat
by Naser Alhaqbani
December 10, 2007                                                                                                             Get Arabic original here

In a letter to his wife.

Riyadh. Saudi detainee Shaker Amir, who was held in Guantánamo, narrated details about the torture he endured at the hands of the US soldiers upon transporting him from Afghanistan to Guantánamo (which he called “the evil island”). In a letter that was sent to Al-Hayat by his wife Omm-Juhaina, who lives in London, Amir accused a US soldier of humiliating the holy Quran.

Amir is going to be released soon in a group of 4 detainees, three of which will be delivered to the UK while he will be delivered to the Saudi authorities.

“He told me he the US soldiers assaulted him sexually”, Omm-Juhaina said.

Omm-Juhaina said she traveled with her husband to Afghanistan with their three kids to raise them in a Muslim environment. Amir was also interested in volunteer work. She added that her husband was first sold to the forces of the Northern Alliance (Taliban ex-opposition), and then to a group in Kabul that tortured him for two weeks before finally selling him to the US army which in turn deported him to a prison in the Baghram base. There, he was deprived from sleep and food for nine days till he lost 60 kilograms [approximately 132 pounds].

She added that Amir mentioned he was chained with other prisoners in freezing weather in Baghram, was forced to keep his arms raised up, and whenever he got exhausted and put his arms down, he would be beaten on his head.

Amir was then deported to Qandahar (South Afghanistan), where he was exposed to more severe torture. Omm-Juhaina said her husband told her: “They used to step with their army shoes on my back and head, humiliated my religion, my family, and my race, and moreover one solider grabbed my holy book and threw it in the toilet.“

“Then, they sent us to Guantánamo, the evil island; where they threatened me that I will never leave this place”, Amir said in his letter. Omm-Juhaina added that her husband was taken down on the ground, beaten badly, kept naked, and assaulted sexually. When the soldiers gave him prison clothes, they gave him very small sizes and started the degradation, humiliation, and ill treatment that continued for four years.

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