INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Articles Allege Sexual Humiliation, Hunger Strike,

Published: Sun 23 Oct 2005 11:59 AM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS MANAMA 001553
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR R, NEA/ARPI, S/WCI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KAWC PTER ASEC PREL KPAO BA
SUBJECT: ARTICLES ALLEGE SEXUAL HUMILIATION, HUNGER STRIKE,
OF BAHRAINI GTMO DETAINEES
REF: MANAMA 1547
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. Not
for Internet distribution.
1. (U) This is an action request; please see para 7.
2. (U) Sister newspapers Arabic daily Akhbar Al Khaleej and
English daily Gulf Daily News October 19 and 20 published two
articles alleging the sexual humiliation of Juma Al Dossary
and the advanced hunger strike of Issa Al Murbati, both
Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo. American lawyer Joshua
Colangelo-Bryan, from the firm Dorsey and Whitney, met with
Al Dossary, Al Murbati, and the four other Bahraini detainees
at GTMO - Salah Al Balooshi, Adel Kamel, Shaikh Salman bin
Ibrahim Al Khalifa, and Abdulla Al Noaimi - during an October
16 visit.
3. (U) According to the October 20 article, Al Dossary
claimed that in September 2002 he was chained to the floor in
an interrogation room and had his clothing removed by four
military police officers. A female interrogator allegedly
stripped naked while standing over the detainee and "smeared
her menstrual blood over various parts of his body." In
another incident in mid-2003, Al Dossary claimed he was taken
into an interrogation room from which he could see a naked
man and woman having sex on a table in an adjoining room.
When finished, the man and woman entered the interrogation
room and asked Al Dossary to reveal the identities of Arab
men in photographs, promising him he could have sex with the
woman if he cooperated. Al Dossary further alleged that he
observed U.S. Marines in Afghanistan use pages from the Koran
to shine their boots and saw a cross placed on top of a
mosque at the Kandahar air base.
4. (U) In a statement to Colangelo-Bryan, Al Dossary said
that his physical condition had deteriorated and he
experiences pain and numbness in his neck and left arm and
suffers from headaches, nausea, and sudden rapid increases in
his heart rate. He says he has seizures and nightmares and
believes he needs psychological treatment, but does not trust
any doctor at GTMO.
5. (U) The October 19 article quotes Colangelo-Bryan saying
that he observed Al Murbati with a feeding tube inserted into
his nose. The attorney says Al Murbati lost a tremendous
amount of weight and looks exhausted. "There is nothing to
suggest he will end this hunger strike," Colangelo-Bryan
said. According to the article, U.S. officials state 24
detainees are still on a hunger strike, down from 200 last
month.
6. (SBU) The Embassy received a diplomatic note October 23
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referencing the two
newspaper articles. The Ministry requests the USG to check
on the veracity of the allegations made in the stories and to
pass any available information.
7. (SBU) Action request: Embassy has talking points on the
hunger strikes, but requests talking points to respond
publicly to questions about the treatment of Al Dossary, as
well as any points that could be conveyed privately to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the diplomatic
note.
MONROE
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