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-Caveat Lector-
>From the top British broadsheet newspaer The Observer
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,866235,00.html
Al-Qaeda suspect 'is starved of food and sleep' at army base where
two have died
Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir
Sunday December 29, 2002
The Observer
The letter contained only hints of what Moazzam Begg's interrogators
may have done to him. He wrote of hunger and being kept awake by
bright lights. 'I still don't know what will happen with me,' he
lamented to his wife back home in Birmingham.
Begg, 35, was writing from Bagram military base just outside Kabul.
He is the only British prisoner inside a cluster of metal shipping
containers at the heart of the United States army part of the base,
which serves as a 'jail' for al-Qaeda suspects.
Now the camp is at the centre of a furious row over US behaviour in
the war on terror. Evidence is growing that prisoners inside the
containers are being tortured by American soldiers and CIA agents.
Begg may have written of more damaging details of his own treatment,
but many of his previous letters were never delivered.
It appears the US soldiers at Bagram have much to hide. Human rights
groups are calling for an inquiry into the methods used by American
interrogators at Bagram and other bases in Afghanistan.
US officials have admitted that suspects captured in the region
are 'softened up' on their way to detention by brutal beatings from
US military police and special forces soldiers. They are confined to
tiny rooms, blindfolded and thrown into walls. They are tied up in
painful positions, subjected to loud noises and deprived of sleep by
having lights shone on them all day and night. Sometimes they are
forced to stand for long periods in black hoods or wearing goggles
which have been spray-painted so as to render them blind.
The aim is to disorientate and confuse the suspects, as they face a
barrage of questions about their activities in Afghanistan and
elsewhere. It is believed that some, who had battle wounds when
captured, are denied painkillers as a further way of coaxing
information from them.
'Pain control is a very subjective thing,' one US official said,
deadpan, to the Washington Post last week.
Those who do not crack, or perhaps have nothing to tell, are often
handed over to foreign intelligence services such as those of Morocco
or Saudi Arabia, where less sophisticated and bloodier torture
techniques are regularly employed.
Critics point out that the US forces have picked up innocent men
before. In October three Afghan men were released without charge
after they had been held for a year at the American base at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. They were given $500 compensation between
them.
So far the US has admitted that two men held at Bagram have died in
custody - one from a heart attack and the other from a pulmonary
embolism, or blood clot on the lung. A criminal investigation is now
under way, but no reason has been given of what caused the men's
injuries.
In the case of Begg, who grew up in the Moseley area of Birmingham,
the Americans have been equally silent. Foreign Office officials
admit that after 11 months of asking they have still not been able to
see him to check on his health. 'We are still pressing the Americans,
but as yet we have not been allowed access,' said a spokesman.
Begg has not seen a lawyer, a Red Cross official or any member of his
family either since he was arrested in the Pakistani capital of
Islamabad last February.
Just why the Briton was sought by the Americans is also a mystery.
But they wanted him badly. When the US bombing began in November
2001, Begg closed down the school he had opened in Kabul and moved to
Pakistan. It was there that he was arrested, bundled into a car and
smuggled back over the border into Afghanistan, first to Kandahar and
then to Bagram.
The last time his father, Azmat Begg, heard Moazzam's voice was in a
call from a mobile phone as his son lay in the boot of his captors'
vehicle. After a few panicky moments the call suddenly ended.
Despite being a devout Muslim, Moazzam Begg attended a Jewish primary
school in the West Midlands. He studied law at a Birmingham college
but dropped out in 1994 to join a charity delivering aid to Muslims
in Bosnia.
His family portray him as a family man who worked as a translator and
took his wife and three young children with him to Afghanistan.
'I am worried like a father who would worry about his son,' said
Azmat Begg, 64. 'He is a lovely and bright boy and obedient. He never
tells lies and always does the right thing. He told me he wanted to
start a school in Afghanistan to improve the literacy rates there.'
Certainly his letter to his wife showed a man anguished about his
family. 'The most difficult thing in my life is being away from you
and the kids,' he wrote.
However, security sources point to raids on Begg's British home by
anti-terrorist police. The first was several years ago and the second
was carried out last summer, when a computer, five floppy disks and
two CD-roms were taken. Neither raid resulted in any charges.
But human rights activists say suspects at Bagram - whether innocent
or guilty - should not be tortured. This, they say, undermines the
war on terror.
'How can the US descend to the level of using terror in the war on
terror? What sort of victory is that? This is illegal and it is
appalling,' said Jamie Felner, a US director of Human Rights Watch.
Amnesty International has also condemned the treatment of detainees
such as Begg. 'The US must ensure that its actions in relation to
those in custody comply with international law and standards,' said a
spokesperson. 'This is crucial if justice is to be done.'
Please let us stay on topic and be civil.
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
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