I can't even read this. And we talk about Trump's Muslim ban? What kind of a
country is this? What kind of animals does our military turn our enlistees
into?
Miriam
Tortured and Wrongly Held at Guantánamo for 14 Years, Abdul Zahir Now Has
Freedom, but No Justice
Saturday, March 11, 2017
By Adam Hudson, Truthout | Report
Two protesters of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay look solemnly
toward the White House.
Before Barack Obama left office, he released 10 detainees from Guantánamo to
Oman. Among them was Abdul Zahir, a 45-year-old man from Afghanistan. Zahir
was detained at Guantánamo for 14 years, even though the US government later
admitted that he was wrongfully held. He was mistaken for another man who
shared his nickname, Abdul Bari. Zahir's story exemplifies the cruelty of
Guantánamo and the policies of indefinite detention and torture, which will,
in all likelihood, continue with Trump as president.
"I want to leave behind the bad things that happened to me while I have been
imprisoned. I want to focus on the positive things ahead of me, seeing my
family again, studying at university and perhaps being able to help others,"
Zahir said, according a press release provided by his lawyers before he left
Guantánamo. Zahir has three sons and speaks Arabic, Pashto and some Urdu,
Farsi and English. Before his capture, he worked as a translator, shuttle
driver and Arabic teacher.
US troops captured Zahir on July 11, 2002, during a raid in Afghanistan
targeting another man named Abdul Bari -- an alias also used by Zahir. The
raid occurred at a compound in Hesarak village, which is a few miles east of
Kabul and northeast of Gardez. Abdul Bari (not Zahir) allegedly helped
produce and distribute chemical or biological weapons for al-Qaeda.
A day or two after the raid, US forces recovered "suspicious items,"
according to a military intelligence assessment, including a white powder
that they initially believed was a chemical or biological agent. However, on
later examination, the substances turned out to be salt, sugar and petroleum
jelly. When the Periodic Review Board determined, on July 11, 2016, that
Abdul Zahir should be released, it also concluded that Zahir "was probably
misidentified as the individual who had ties to al-Qaeda weapons
facilitation."
Zahir was not the only Guantánamo detainee detained because of a mistaken
identity. In fact, another Guantánamo detainee among those released to Oman
-- Yemeni Mustafa al Shamiri -- was also mistaken for another man with a
similar name.
Torture and Assault in Guantánamo
Like every Guantánamo detainee, Zahir was tortured. His military defense
lawyer, US Air Force Lt. Col. Sterling Thomas told Truthout that after
Zahir's capture, US forces "gave him the treatment that they thought every
Brown person, every Muslim person they captured deserved -- they tortured
him."
Zahir was tortured by US forces at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and at
Guantánamo, where he was transferred on October 27, 2002.
Thomas explained that Zahir suffered beatings, exposure to cold
temperatures, cramped confinement, stress positions, hog-tying and sexual
assault. "He would be kept in very small rooms with the air conditioning
unit running full blast without proper clothing -- so, a pair of shorts --
and an iron bed," Thomas said. Zahir "would be placed in interrogation rooms
right under the air conditioner and they would make the room as cold as
possible, with his hands tied to his waist, and then he would be tied into a
fetal position on the floor in that very cold room." In addition, Zahir
"spent a year in a room that he called 'a cage for animals.' And in that
room, he had to eat, sleep, exercise and shower all in the same place.
Including elimination of waste."
During the time he spent in that small room, a group of US troops would come
into the room "wearing outfits meant to make him frightened" and "would
spray a burning gas above his head," while he was shirtless. Those troops
would "drop him to the floor and two people would sit on his lower back and
tie his hands and feet behind him," a practice known as "hog-tying." They
would "then pick him up like a sheep and take him elsewhere where they would
quickly immerse him in water that was flowing fast from a very big pipe."
After that, they would "take him back to where he was and drop him from
about one meter onto the ground still tied." Guards also grabbed and pulled
his testicles "violently, until he fell unconscious."
As a result of his torture, Zahir "suffered physically and emotionally." He
experienced major depressive episodes that led him to attempt suicide. Zahir
protested his treatment on numerous occasions. In one instance, after he
protested, a group of guards in riot gear (Forced Cell Extraction team)
tackled Zahir and "damaged his spine so badly that they had to conduct
surgery," said Thomas. Since then, Zahir has had to walk with a walker and
experiences internal organ issues.
Zahir's torture was par for the course at Guantánamo. As documented by human
rights groups like the Center for Constitutional Rights, beatings,
shackling, sexual assault and other forms of abuse have been standard
practice at Guantánamo, particularly in its early years. During the 2013
hunger strike, striking prisoners were force-fed, which is also a form of
torture. Torture violates international law, particularly the UN Convention
Against Torture.
For years, defense lawyers tried to get Zahir released, or at least secure a
fair trial. Vermont lawyer Robert Gensburg challenged Zahir's confinement
with a habeas corpus action but was unsuccessful. Zahir was then brought up
for trial before a military commission, which is when fellow Vermont lawyer
David Sleigh and military co-counsel Lt. Col. Sterling Thomas joined Zahir's
defense team.
In 2006, Zahir was charged with conspiracy, materially supporting terrorism
and killing civilians in connection with a grenade attack that wounded
Canadian journalist Kathleen Kenna. However, the military commission
temporarily shut down, his case never went to trial, and charges were
dismissed. According to Thomas, Zahir made numerous, contradictory
statements under torture -- statements that the US government tried to use
against him -- but there was no physical evidence tying him to the attack.
Thomas also mentioned that part of the reason Zahir was held for so long is
because the US government tortured him and did not want those details made
public in a civilian court.
How Do Mistaken Identity Cases Occur?
New Guantánamo intelligence reveals that the vast majority of detainees are
not the "worst of the worst" as the US government claimed, according to the
Miami Herald. In fact, some of those who were captured and incarcerated at
Guantánamo had nothing to do with al-Qaeda.
This reality has always been clear to some people within the US government.
One of them is Mark Fallon, a retired 30-year federal investigator who, from
2002 to 2004, headed the Pentagon's Criminal Investigation Task Force
(CITF), established to investigate cases that would be brought before a
military commission. In the early days, Fallon said it was clear to him and
CITF that most of the people arriving at Guantánamo were not the
super-villain terrorists portrayed by the US government. "We were frankly
shocked at who wound up there going on the first plane loads. It was clear
it wasn't senior al-Qaeda leadership or main al-Qaeda men. It was just
people who were kind of scooped up and a lot of them were paid bounties for.
They were not very effectively, for the most part, screened very well in
Afghanistan," Fallon explained to Truthout.
Only 5 percent of Guantánamo detainees were captured by US forces.
Meanwhile, 86 percent were captured by Afghan tribal allies or Pakistani
security forces and handed over to US custody, according to a Seton Hall
study. The detainees captured by Pakistan or Afghan tribal allies "were
handed over to the United States at a time in which the United States
offered large bounties for capture of suspected enemies." Very few were
actually al-Qaeda fighters. "Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as
al Qaeda fighters," according to the study, while 40 percent had "no
definitive connection with al Qaeda" and 18 percent had "no definitive
affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban."
It's not a huge surprise that false charges and cases of mistaken identity
occurred amid this race to incarcerate. Fallon said that JTF-GTMO (Joint
Task Force Guantánamo), which runs the Guantánamo prison, was looking for
anything to pin on detainees. For example, part of JTF-GTMO's threat
indication criteria was whether a detainee possessed a common item like a
Casio F-91W or A159W wristwatch because it was "the sign of al-Qaida,
[which] uses the watch to make bombs," which Fallon called "sad" and
"comical." Fallon said CITF concluded "an overwhelming majority" of
detainees had no intelligence or investigative value and should be released,
while JTF-GTMO argued for further detention. However, it was JTF-GTMO's
assessments that caught the White House's ear, while voices like Fallon's
were marginalized. Fallon shares his insider perspective on how the US
government implemented torture in a book called Unjustifiable Means: The
Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to
Torture.
Meanwhile, Abdul Zahir will be attempting to get back on his feet, reunite
with his family and begin rebuilding a life that was all but shattered.
Despite his torture and horrific treatment at the hands of the US
government, Zahir says he does not hate the United States or harbor any
bitter feelings. Rather, he is focused on moving his life forward. Sterling
called Zahir's resolve "remarkable" and said, "He's been through things that
no human being should have to suffer through. Regardless of what they did.
And he had done nothing that was a crime."
Moving on could be difficult for Zahir. Many former Guantánamo and CIA black
site detainees continue to face mental health problems even after being
released, such as depression and post-traumatic stress. That makes it
difficult for them to readjust into normal society. This means true justice
for Guantánamo detainees entails more than just releasing them to another
country. It also must include redress for the torture inflicted upon them
and the physical, mental and emotional problems resulting from that abuse.
However, true justice does not currently seem within reach for current and
former Guantánamo detainees. There arecurrently 41 detainees in Guantánamo,
including 26 held in indefinite detention -- people whom the government does
not have enough untainted evidence to prosecute but claims are too dangerous
to release. Like torture, indefinite detention also violates international
human rights law. While the Trump administration has dropped the idea of
reopening secret prisons, it does want to keep the Guantánamo prison open
and put new detainees there. According to the Miami Herald, the Guantánamo
military prison could hold another 200 or so prisoners.
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
Adam Hudson
Adam Hudson is a journalist, writer and musician based in the San Francisco
Bay Area. He typically covers US foreign policy and national security,
Guantánamo, police brutality and Bay Area gentrification. His work has
appeared in Truthout, AlterNet, Al Akhbar English, teleSUR English and The
Nation magazine. On the side, he plays drums in an alternative rock band
called Sunata.
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