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Guantanamo worse since Obama's election: ex-detainee

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A freed Guantanamo prisoner has said conditions at the U.S. detention camp in Cuba have worsened since President Barack Obama was elected, claiming guards wanted to "take their last revenge."

Binyam Mohamed, the first detainee to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay since Obama took office, also said British agents "sold me out" by cooperating with his alleged torturers, in his first interview since being released to be published Sunday.

Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian-born former British resident, gave further details of what he has called the "medieval" torture he faced in Pakistan and Morocco, as well as in a secret CIA prison in Kabul and at Guantanamo.

"The result of my experience is that I feel emotionally dead," he told the Mail on Sunday newspaper. "It seems like a miracle my brain is still intact."

Far from conditions at Guantanamo improving since Obama was elected in November, Mohamed said the situation there was worse now than before.

The U.S. president had promised during his campaign to shut down the Guantanamo prison and two days after taking office announced it would close this year.

"Since the election it's got harsher," Mohamed told the newspaper. "The guards would say, 'yes, this place is going to close down,' but it was like they wanted to take their last revenge."

He also claimed the Emergency Reaction Force at Guantanamo, a team which he said punishes inmates in their cells and once almost gouged his eyes out when he declined to give his fingerprints, is now being used more often.

Mohamed said he was beaten at Guantanamo and also described mistreatment at other detention centers. He said his chest and penis were slashed with razors while he was held in Morocco.

In Afghanistan, he said he lived in constant darkness for five months and "came close to insanity" after being forced to listen to the same album by rapper Eminem at a deafening volume for a solid month.

He flew back to Britain last month, tasting freedom for the first time since 2002 when he was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of attending an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and plotting to build a radioactive "dirty bomb".

But the United States never charged him, and British police also questioned him on his return and let him go free.

In the newspaper interview, Mohamed gave further details of his claim that British officials had colluded in his alleged torture.

He said while he was in Morocco in 2002, his Moroccan interrogators "started bringing British files to the interrogations... it was obvious the British were feeding them questions about people in London.

"When I realized that the British were cooperating with the people torturing me, I felt completely naked," he said. "They sold me out."

He said he subsequently made false confessions about one plot to build a "dirty" nuclear bomb and another to blow up apartments in New York linked to alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The paper also quoted two telegrams, shown to Mohamed by his military lawyer, from Britain's MI5 security service to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in November 2002. They allegedly detail specific questions that the British wanted to be put to Mohamed.

"We note that we have also requested that briefs be put to Binyam Mohamed and would appreciate a guide from you as to the likely timescale for these too," one is quoted as saying.

"We fully appreciate that this can be a long-winded process but the urgent nature of these inquiries will be obvious to you."

In response to the claims, Britain's Foreign Office released a statement saying: "We abhor torture and never order it or condone it. In the case of Binyam Mohamed, an allegation of possible criminal wrong-doing has been referred to the Attorney General. We need now to wait for her report."

Mohamed is undergoing therapy to come to terms with his experiences.

Looking to the future, he said he wanted to stay in Britain, which is currently considering whether to let him remain, despite his allegations against its officials.

"It's the only place I can call home," he said. "I want to live a normal life, to find a wife, get married, have a family, a job.

"Meanwhile, I'll do whatever I can to get the other innocent prisoners out of Guantanamo."

© Wire reports

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

12 Comments
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Question: Who in their right mind would believe what a released Jihadist says.

Answer: Democrats of course. Well, at least that was before Obama was elected.

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Guantanamo worse since Obama's election: ex-detainee

Who in their right mind would believe what a released Jihadist says.

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This isn't the same Binyam Mohamed that received dirty bomb training in Pakistan and was planning to blow up stuff with his partner Jose Padilla is it? This isn't the same Binyam Mohamed who was arrested in Karachi trying to fly to London with a forged passport is it? This isn't the same Binyam Mohamed who admitted to receiving paramilitary training in the al Farouq training camp is it? Must have the wrong innocent guy.

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“Meanwhile, I’ll do whatever I can to get the other innocent prisoners out of Guantanamo.”

And he is being true to his word, lies and deception and using the media to spread this exact type of nonsense are all part of the terrorist playbook.

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Investigate it, and lay any necessary charges on the guards if found guilty. The guards taking a 'last revenge' as the result of Gitmo closing as Obama promised is not at all the president's fault. If he does NOTHING about it, then THAT is his fault.

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Guantanamo worse since Obama's election: ex:detainee

Sure.

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Guantanamo worse since Obama's election: ex-detainee

Of course.

Whatever.

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Wait, so the British were cooperating? We already know the Canadians as well. Gosh....it's like....I dunno.....it's like other governments criticize Gitmo on the one hand to keep their people happy, then go along with it secretly on the other.

If your nation had an out of control Arab/Muslim population that riots on a dime, you would want your government to behave the same way. The only reason the United States is allowed to imprison and torture Arab Muslims the straight forward way they do is that the American Arab Muslim population is small and relatively well integrated into their society. They don't riot. The American government certainly wouldn't dare treat Africans or Mexicans the way they treat the Arabs.

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The guards out to be the inmates. We haven't heard the worst, guaranteed.

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Guantanamo Bay and all the other torture facilities around the world are designed to produce terrorist,capturing a few real ones and putting them with the innocent is a good way to recruit new ones, the war on terror then can continue as long as "they" want it to and the big companies make plenty of money. Arms are not free but the terrorist seem to have plenty! Why? and How? ask yourself.

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Governments are not cohesive units. This is especially true when they are allowed to keep secrets.

Governments keep so many secrets that it is impossible for those who have the authority to read all the reports to keep up. Just choosing the correct reports is a task.

But it is also true that some are playing both sides and know it perfectly well. Like I said, governments are not cohesive units. They are made up of many players.

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“When I realized that the British were cooperating with the people torturing me, I felt completely naked,” he said. “They sold me out.”

Wait, so the British were cooperating? We already know the Canadians as well. Gosh....it's like....I dunno.....it's like other governments criticize Gitmo on the one hand to keep their people happy, then go along with it secretly on the other.

Nah, that can't be it.

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