[Ppnews] Lawyers release Guantanamo video

[Political Prisoner News]

Video Link
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/2008715131747623443.html


UPDATED ON:
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
17:27 Mecca time, 14:27 GMT

Lawyers release Guantanamo video

The US prison base in Cuba has been
highly controversial

Lawyers for a young Guantanamo detainee have released video footage 
of his interrogation at the US prison facility in Cuba.

The video, released on Tuesday, shows Omar Khadr, a Canadian accsued 
of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan, crying as agents of the 
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) question him.

In the tape, apparently shot from a ventilation shaft, Khadr is asked 
what he knows about al-Qaeda and questioned about his Islamic faith.

The footage from February, 2003  covers seven and a half hours of 
questioning over three days of Khadr, who was just 15 years old when 
he was captured in Afghanistan in 2002.

At times, Khadr weeps uncontrollably and pulls at his hair in despair.

A 10-minute tape was initially posted on the internet and a complete 
version was due to be issued later on Tuesday by Khadr's lawyers, 
following Canadian court orders.

At one point, an interrogator tries to calm Khadr, who is clearly 
distraught, saying he needs to get a "bite to eat" and adding: "I 
understand this is stressful."

When Khadr complains his compatriots have not helped his case, an 
interrogator replies: "We can't do anything for you."

The 10-minute video shows no beating or physical abuse of Khadr. But 
he is seen showing his interrogators wounds he claimed were sustained 
on being tortured.

In the video, Khadr is heard screaming at one point: "Kill me, Kill".

'Softened up'

Khadr, now 21,  remains behind bars at Guantanamo. The video's 
release comes after Canadian media reported that government documents 
showed Khadr was forcibly deprived of sleep by his US captors in 
Guantanamo to soften him up for questioning.

Citing government files released by court order, Canadian media said 
Khadr was moved to a different cell every three hours to make him 
more amenable to talking in what US authorities described as their 
"frequent-flyer programme".

"At three-hour intervals he is moved to another cell block, thus 
denying him uninterrupted sleep and a continued change of 
neighbours," said the report from the foreign intelligence division 
of Canada's foreign affairs department, quoted by Canadian television 
and newspapers.

Khadr is the youngest detainee in the US "war on terror", accused of 
throwing a hand grenade that killed a US soldier in a clash in Afghanistan.

Khadr's mother and sister have publicly pleaded his innocence in 
Canada but another brother Abdullah is in a Toronto jail fighting 
extradition for conspiring to kill US forces in Afghanistan.

The father of the family Ahmed Said was an alleged al-Qaeda financier 
who died in a shootout with Pakistan forces in 2003 the same year 
another brother Abdurahman was released from Guantanamo.

Human rights groups have demanded Khadr be released because he was 
only 15 at the time of his capture.

But just last week the Canadian prime minister told reporters he 
would not ask the US government to repatriate him.

Khadr's lawyers say they hope the video will shame Canadian 
politicians into action.
  Source: Al Jazeera and agencies





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