MANAMA, 18 August 2004 — In their first public meeting, families of the six Bahraini detainees in Guantanamo criticized the government’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones, as efforts by activists to highlight their case intensified.

The families alleged that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior were not doing enough to ensure that the detainees were being treated properly.

Their grievances were expressed during a meeting with members of Parliament on Monday night.

Abdulgaffer Al-Murbati, brother of detainee Isa Al-Murbati, accused the security delegation that visited the detainees twice of cooperating with the US interrogators instead of using the visits to inspect the conditions of the detainees.

“Following the second visit — which took place in May — they raided my brother’s house and took notebooks and phonebooks to hand over to the Americans,” he said.

“We were expecting them to come back with information of how they were doing and to meet with us to let us know what was their latest status,” Al-Murbati said.

Claims of the raid and confiscation of the notebooks have been denied by officials at the Ministry of Interior.

The families also said that the security delegation misled them about how their loved ones were being treated.

“The delegation always assured us that they were not being tortured and that they were in good health,” said Abdullah Kamel, brother of detainee Adel Kamel Haji.

The latest report of torture surfaced when a released Arab detainee early this month spoke of how he witnessed US soldiers assaulting Sheikh Salman ibn Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s royal family held at Guantanamo Bay.

Earlier three released British detainees said that they witnessed eight US soldiers beat and kick detainee Juma Mohammed Al-Dossary smashing his face into the floor and breaking his nose, while he was recovering from an operation on his stomach.

Ministry of Interior Undersecretary and the head of the human rights committee at the ministry, Lt. Gen. Sheikh Daij ibn Khalifa Al-Khalifa on Aug. 9 said that there was no evidence to support those claims.

Khaled Al-Dossary, brother of detainee Juma Al-Dossary, also attended the meeting along with his mother and sisters. He said his family had suffered as a result of his brother’s arrest.

The other two Bahraini detainees are Salah Abdul Rasool Al-Balooshi and Abdullah Majed Al-Nuaimi.

The families spoke about the occasional letters they receive from the detainees. They said US officials routinely censor the letters and use black markers to delete parts not favorable to them. They also said that the letters were always the same and contained no information about their conditions.

Islamist MPs Salah Ali, Ali Ahmed, Hassan Bu Khamas and Sheikh Mohammed Khaled assured the families that the case of the detainees would be reviewed when Parliament reconvenes.

“We do not want you to lose hope,” he told the families. “Every possible effort to secure their release and well-being will be explored and sought”.

MP Sheikh Khaled said there has been increasing demand to push for the release of the six Bahrainis after two and a half years of detention in Guantanamo. He said they were collecting signatures for a mass petition, to be delivered to President George Bush, demanding the Bahrainis’ release. The petition is part of a nationwide campaign launched in early May by the Bahrain Human Rights Society to put pressure on the US government for the release of the six Bahrainis.

The families are now exploring the possibility of seeking a meeting with King Hamad and organizing a peaceful vigil outside the US Embassy in Manama.