Wikileaks recently released around 779 secret documents showing how America has trampled upon habeas corpus and the rule of law.
Included are details of an 89-year-old Afghan villager suffering from senile dementia and a 14-year-old boy who was an innocent kidnap victim, both of whom were sent to Guantanamo Bay. The old man was questioned about “suspicious phone numbers” found in his compound, while the boy was jailed because of “his possible knowledge of Taliban... local leaders”.
One British national, Jamal al Harith, who was jailed by the Taliban, was subsequently shipped off to Cuba; he was thought to have knowledge of their interrogation techniques. An Al Jazeera journalist was also held at Guantanamo Bay for six years, merely in order to be interrogated about the Arabic news network.
Systemic torture is the norm in Gitmo. See the award-winning documentary The Road to Guantanamo Bay for plenty of evidence of that. It’s all out in the open now, yet strangely the media is showing no signs of a feeding frenzy.
Had it been a bunch of Muslims doing these things, the whole world of journalism would have been up in arms! We would have seen video clips of torture equipment for at least a week on Sky News, with scrolling headlines like ‘Islamic group torturing innocent inmates in jail’.
Yet even after the Wikileaks exposition, the media seems to be more interested in the outdated and boring topic of radicalisation of Muslims. At least this is the general impression one gets of newspapers and media outlets.
The recent killing of Osama bin Laden has actually reopened the debate about the value of torture, as the New York Times reported on 3 May last. Some very evil people have alleged that torture helped the US locate ‘OBL’. This is a total lie. Bin Laden was killed with intel shared by Pakistan with America. This was clearly stated by President Obama in his speech after the killing, where he mentioned “co-operation and partnership between the US and Pakistan led up to the elimination of [Bin Laden]”. Moreover, Matthew Alexander, who is a former military interrogator, gave an interview to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now where he said that torture in fact slowed down efforts to find Bin Laden (you can watch this interview on YouTube).
When President Obama came to Ireland last month, we missed our opportunity to ask him what happened to his promise that he would close down Guantanamo Bay. Furthermore, the media needs to raise the issue of torture and oppose all those who want this inhuman and downright satanic practice to be acceptable on the basis of fake security and intelligence benefits.
n Glór Moslamach would like to thank Hamza Andreas Tzortzi, a well-known international Muslim speaker, and Michael Martin of Atheist Ireland for engaging in interesting debates that took place in Galway and Dublin some weeks ago. Such culture of debate is vital for the healthy engagement of Muslim and non-Muslim communities. We appreciate those who organised these debates and encourage them to continue their activities. They shall always have our full support.
We also recommend to our readers to seek out Andy Worthington's excellent article on this issue, titled ‘Osama Bin Laden’s death and the unjustifiable defense of torture and Guantanamo’.
Qasim Afridi is a member of the think tank Glór Moslamach.
glormoslamach@gmail.com
