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Letter from Guantanamo: British Detainee Says He Was Subjected
to Torture, Witnessed U.S. Soldiers Commit Murder
Plight of Guantanamo Detainees Brought to New York Stage
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Guantanamo, President Bush and
the Invasion of Iraq
8:01-8:08 Headlines
8:08-8:09 One Minute Music Break
8:09-8:58 Letter from Guantanamo: British Detainee
Says He Was Subjected to Torture, Witnessed U.S. Soldiers
Commit Murder
INTRO: In a rare uncensored letter from Guantanamo Bay,
British detainee Moazzam Begg writes that he was tortured
and abused by U.S soldiers during detention and that he witnessed
U.S. soldiers murder two detainees in Afghanistan. We speak
with president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Michael
Ratner.
The Bush administration is arguing that the president can
detain enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay as long as necessary
to protect national security and that they have no constitutional
rights to hear charges against them.
Facing a deadline to give a federal judge some answers about
60 of the so-called enemy combatants held at the notorious
the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, the government filed a 96-page
response detailing the reasons it believes it doesn’t
need to explain why they were detained or how long they might
be imprisoned. More than 550 people have been held at Guantanamo
without charge or trial for more than two years now.
Government lawyers wrote the detentions are a “integral
and inexorable part of the Commander-in-Chief”s power
to defend the nation and vanquish the enemy."
But the deputy commander of the joint task force that controls
Guantanamo thinks otherwise. Brigadier General Martin Lucenti
told the Financial Times “Most of [the detainees]
weren’t fighting. They were running. Even if somebody
has been found to be an enemy combatant, many of them will
be released because they will be of low intelligence value
and low threat status."
Either way, the Pentagon is planning to construct a permanent
prison facility in Guantanamo - known as Camp Six. Some see
it as a move to fortify the makeshift prison and ultimately
place all remaining detainees in permanent structures.
One of those remaining detainees is British citizen Moazzam
Begg. He was detained in Pakistan in 2001 and has been imprisoned
without charge or trial in Guanatanmo after being transferred
there from a base in Afghanistan. Since arriving in Guantanamo,
Begg has had no contact with fellow prisoners and has been
kept in solitary confinement for over 600 days. Last April,
his father Azmat Begg joined us in our studio to talk about
his son’s imprisonment. Here is some of what he had
to say:
- Azmat Begg, father of Moazzam Begg speaking on Democracy
Now! April 2004.
Well, in Moazzam Begg’s latest letter revealed last
Friday, he says he was tortured and abused during detention
and that he witnessed U.S. soldiers kill two men in Afghanistan.
In the uncensored letter, Begg protested his innocence of
any crime and demanded to know the reason for his detention.
He said he was denied natural light and fresh food, had been
held in solitary confinement, and was forced to sign and initial
documents presented to him by U.S. officials. He also said
he was physically abused, stripped and paraded in front of
cameras held by U.S. personnel.
The letter came past the usual U.S. military censors, but
it was the first communication from Moazzam Begg that was
entirely unclassified. It was dated July 12 2004, and addressed
to the military command at Guantanamo Bay. In it Begg requests
that it be copied to his lawyers and US and British authorities.
- Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional
Rights. He is author of Guantanamo: What the World Should
Know.
Plight of Guantanamo Detainees Brought to New York
Stage
INTRO: A new play in New York titled "Guantanamo: Honour-Bound
to Defend Freedom" portrays the plight of British detainees
at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The script is based on the
spoken and written testimony of Guantanamo detainees, family
members, lawyers and public officials. We hear an excerpt
of a reading of Moazzam Begg.
A new play off-broadway in New York portrays the plight of
British detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The script is based on
the spoken and written testimony of Guantanamo detainees,
family members, lawyers and public officials. The play was
first staged in London and came to the US this summer.
The play is based on the lives of actual detainees - One
of those detainees is Moazzam Begg. This is en excerpt from
the play “Guantanamo - Honour-bound to Defend Freedom”
played by actor Aasif Mandvi playing Moazzam Begg.
- Excerpt of “Guantanamo - Honour-bound to Defend
Freedom” – Moazzam Begg played by Aasif Mandavi.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Guantanamo, President
Bush and the Invasion of Iraq
INTRO: Once a leading campaigner against apartheid, former
South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu has become a vocal
critic of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. We speak with
the Nobel Peace Prize winner about the similarities between
Guantanamo Bay and apartheid in South Africa, President Bush
and the invasion and occupation Iraq.
An excerpt of “Guantanamo - Honor-Bound to Defend Freedom.”
This weekend, former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu
made his debut on the play as a British judge, Lord Justice
Steyn who questioned the legal justification of the detention
regime.
Once a leading campaigner against apartheid, Nobel Peace
Prize winner Archbishop Tutu is a vocal critic of the Guantanamo
system. I had a chance to speak to him last weekend. I began
by asking him for his response to what is happening at Guantanamo.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace prize winner.
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and John Hamilton.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
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