RIYADH, 29 November 2006 — A delegation of lawyers representing Saudi detainees held at Guantanamo Bay has informed Human Rights Watch (HRW) officials here that the detainees are still receiving brutal and inhumane treatment.

The lawyers noted that the detainees had written letters in which they tell of prisoners being shot at and gassed by guards. A letter read out to HRW officials by Abdul Aziz Al-Subayil, a Saudi lawyer who represents some of the detainees, revealed that the Holy Qur’an was also being desecrated by guards.

The letter said: “We saw horrible things going on... Detainees being shot at, the desecration of the Holy Qur’an, as well as guards using gas canisters on detainees. Some of the gases choke prisoners; others make them unconscious. One Afghan was shot 12 times because he wanted to protect the Holy Qur’an in his possession from being desecrated.”

The detainee said he did not know when he would be able to write to his lawyer again since the guards were constantly confiscating pens and personal papers and would only give a short time for him to read the lawyer’s response.

Nahis Al-Habadri — whose brother’s body was returned to the Kingdom after US officials said he had committed suicide in Guantanamo — said that US authorities had not sent his lawyer the necessary papers they had requested. “We asked them for seven things, among which was the death certificate which mentioned the time of death as well as the video tapes from cameras which keep them under surveillance on a 24-hour basis. These have not been sent despite many appeals,” he explained.

He said US authorities had sent a death certificate without mentioning the time of death. He also refused to accept that his brother had committed suicide. “When we received his body, we saw several bruises on his head. We all saw that his Adam’s apple had been removed and there were indications on his arm that he had had several injections.”

Umm Badr, one of the two mothers who attended the meeting with HRW officials, said she had not heard from her son since last April. “All his letters to us have stopped and we no longer know anything about him.”

Kenneth Rose, executive director of HRW, said part of the delegation’s mission here in the Kingdom was to receive information from the families of Saudi prisoners. He said the organization was pressuring the US government either to release the prisoners since no evidence against them exists — or to put them on trial.

Rose explained to the families of the Saudi detainees that HRW was not affiliated to any American or other government, and said: “We can criticize the US government.”

He pointed out that their agenda in the Kingdom was to visit prisons and government institution as well as to talk to people who have been tried under the Kingdom’s legal system. “Our success depends on the free access we are given,” he said.