MANAMA, 21 November 2005 — Bahraini detainees released from Guantanamo have accused US President George W. Bush of “blackmail”.
Three Bahraini detainees released earlier this month from Cuba’s notorious Guantanamo Bay detention center, accused Bush of using the detainees as a currency to “blackmail” other governments.
Two of the three, speaking during their first public appearance here on Thursday, pointed out that they were able to use the Iranian-Afghan border to enter Afghanistan prior to the start of hostilities there.
They also said that they intend to sue the US for damages after they were held at the site for four years without being charged.
The press conference delivered a devastating blow to efforts by US lawyers and Bahraini activists seeking to release the other three being held there.
Former detainee Abdulla Majid Al-Nuaimi, whose home served as a venue for the press conference, said he doubted the accuracy of the reports suggesting that Juma Al-Dossary attempted suicide.
“All the detainees were God-fearing people who recited Qur’an and prayed regularly and I doubt that Al-Dossary attempted suicide,” he said. “American soldiers there had higher suicide rates, and I know of cases where one solider jumped into the sea while another put a gun to his head to take their lives.”
On Wednesday, US lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said he feared that the 30-year-old Al-Dossary, who tried to hang himself during the lawyers’ visit on Oct. 15, was suffering from facial paralysis.
Colangelo-Bryan who last saw Al-Dossary during a visit on Nov. 12 said that attempts by hospital staff to insert an intravenous tube into Al-Dossary’s arm failed because his skin was “too rubbery” for the needle to penetrate.
“Juma was brought to the hospital in a wheelchair and we did not see him stand at all during our visit,” he said. “He was wearing a neck brace while we met him. For part of our visit, he appeared to be suffering from some sort of paralysis to his face that made it difficult for him to articulate his words clearly.”
He also said that Al-Dossary, who is believed to be taking part in the present hungerstrike at the camp, was dehydrated and that he and lawyer Mark Sullivan watched a corpsman and a nurse try six times to insert a needle through which fluids would be given to Juma intravenously.
Al-Nuaimi, who refused to distinguish between one Islamic group and another when asked about Al-Qaeda, refused to hold the group responsible for terrorist attacks including the most recent one in Jordan. He accused the US of masterminding such attacks to use as an excuse to pursue their agendas in other countries and intervene in their internal matters.
The third released detainee Shaikh Salman ibn Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, 26, left the press conference shortly after it started with no explanation given for his sudden departure.
