MANAMA, 12 February 2005 — Lawyers of a Bahraini prisoner at Guantanamo Bay claim that he was tortured by US soldiers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, shortly after being captured in December 2001.

The allegations include claims that he was made to walk barefoot over broken glass and had his head pushed into the glass before being interrogated.

It is also alleged that a live electric device was placed on his face and in the back during interrogation and had boiling liquid — possibly tea — poured over his head.

The latest claims have been made by lawyers acting for Juma Mohammed Al-Dossary, who is one of six Bahrainis now being held at the US base in Cuba.

The revelations follow a string of allegations that the American military has routinely abused prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan and come just days after lawyers for 11 Kuwaiti detainees made similar complaints public.

Al-Dossary, who has an eight-year-old daughter in Bahrain, says he was interrogated several times in Kandahar and on one occasion was beaten to the point of fainting.

“He was returned to the tent by soldiers who were cursing the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islam,” said lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, who is acting on behalf of Bahrainis at Guantanamo Bay.

Details of the horrific treatment were given to Colangelo-Bryan during a visit to see the six Bahrainis in Cuba last October.

They are now being made available after the US government inspected his interview notes and declared the information to be declassified.

Colangelo-Bryan says scars are still visible on Al-Dossary’s face where he claims it was pushed into the broken glass.

Upon arrival in Kandahar in January 2002, Al-Dossary says he was made to lie on the ground while soldiers walked on him, had a soldier’s boot put in his mouth, was kicked in the head and hit in the eye and was made to endure a “violent” cavity search.

“At that point Al-Dossary began to offer to do anything — such as admit to being a terrorist or sign a statement — in the hope of preventing further beatings,” said Colangelo-Bryan, who works for the New York law firm Dorsey and Whitney.

It is also claimed that during transfer from Pakistan to Kandahar by plane, Al-Dossary — who had undergone a stomach operation — was shackled in such a way that caused him pain.

When he complained about the pain he was allegedly hit and kicked in the stomach, causing him to vomit blood.

“During the subsequent two weeks that Al-Dossary spent in Kandahar, he was housed in freezing tents,” said Colangelo-Bryan.

“Soldiers would line up Al-Dossary and other detainees at night and threaten to shoot anyone who moved. Then, instead of shooting, the soldiers would beat anyone who moved. Because of the cold and being awakened by soldiers, sleep was virtually impossible. One bucket served as a bathroom for all detainees in a given tent. On one occasion, a soldier took a Qur’an and put it in the bucket.”

A decision by US District Judge Joyce Hens Green to allow the American government to appeal a decision last week has effectively halted legal proceedings.

Green ruled that all detainees are entitled to greater protection under the US constitution and the Geneva Convention, but agreed to “stay” all proceedings if an appeal against her decision is launched.

“Right now it is not clear that we will be able to do anything in a US court,” said Colangelo-Bryan.

“That is the most troubling aspect of the ‘stay’. It means in essence we can’t make any request for the court’s intervention. What we will do is try to continue working with lawyers for other detainees to make public the facts — making public what has been going on.”

He added that Al-Dossary’s allegations are backed up by eyewitness accounts by FBI officers, lawyers of other detainees and former detainees who have since been released.

“If the courts are not open to us in terms of presenting requests that detainees be treated humanely then we will have to try to rally public opinion,” said Colangelo-Bryan.

“Of course that kind of pressure has not produced tremendous results from the US government as yet. But in the light of other documents we know it is not just detainees complaining. We have FBI personnel corroborating stories we have heard from detainees regarding abuse they have suffered.”