Guantánamo Prisoners Told FBI of Qur'an Desecration in 2002, New Documents Reveal
May 25, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@aclu.org
NEW YORK -- New documents released by the FBI include previously undisclosed interviews in which prisoners at Guantánamo
complain that guards have mistreated the Qur'an, the American Civil Liberties Union said today. In one 2002 summary, an
FBI interrogator notes a prisoner’s allegation that guards flushed a Qur'an down the toilet.
The disclosure comes on the heels of controversy over a Newsweek report saying that government investigators had
corroborated an almost identical incident. Newsweek ultimately retracted its story because a confidential government
source could not be confirmed.
"The United States government continues to turn a blind eye to mounting evidence of widespread abuse of detainees held
in its custody," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "If we are to truly repair America's standing in the
world, the Bush Administration must hold accountable high-ranking officials who allow the continuing abuse and torture
of detainees."
According to the FBI documents, a detainee interviewed in August 2002 said that guards had flushed the Qur'an in the
toilet. Others reported the Qur'an being kicked, withheld as punishment, and thrown on the floor, and said they were
mocked during prayers.
The release of the FBI interviews follows the disclosure last week of Defense Department documents regarding other cases
in which military personnel mistreated the Qur'an and used a religious symbol to taunt detainees.
In the documents released today, one detainee informs his FBI interviewers that using the Qur'an "as a reprisal or as an
incentive for cooperation has failed," and that the only result would be "the damage caused to the reputation of the
United States once what had occurred was released to the world." While another detainee acknowledged that there might be
"a legitimate need to search the book for hidden items," he objected to the abusive manner in which the searches were
conducted.
"The United States government’s own documents show that it has known of numerous allegations of Qur'an desecration for a
significant period of time," said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. "Its failure to
address these allegations in a timely manner raises grave questions regarding the extent to which such desecration was
authorized by high-ranking U.S. officials in the first place."
In addition to complaints about treatment of the Qur'an, the latest documents include reports of:
Beatings. On August 23, 2002, a detainee told an interviewer of being "kicked in the stomach and back by several
individuals" after being turned over to U.S. authorities. On one occasion during prayer time, a soldier placed his foot
on [his] head and sat on his head." Another interviewer was told on August 28, 2002 of a detainee being "kicked
violently in the jaw" after he tripped and fell while handcuffed.
Planned Suicides. Several detainees spoke of suicidal thoughts while in custody. In December 2002, one reported that
"40-50 detainees intended to commit suicide after Ramadan ended because they were tired of being detained with no
prospect of being released and they were tired of being mistreated by guards."
Hunger Strikes. An interviewer noted that the "mental condition of the detainees is to the point where the detainees are
participating in a hunger strike. [They] are upset with the way they are treated by the guards." One man had not eaten
in six days or changed his clothes and "insisted on being charged with a crime or released."
Sexual Assaults. In April 2003, a detainee told interviewers that a female guard fondled his genitals while male guards
held him down. She told him that she was having her menstrual period and "she wiped blood from her body on his face and
head." (A similar incident is described in a recently released book by former Guantánamo interrogator Erik Saar.)
The FBI released the documents last week in response to a federal court order that directed the FBI and other government
agencies to comply with a request under the Freedom of Information Act filed by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional
Rights, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace. The New York Civil Liberties
Union is co-counsel in the case.
To date, more than 35,000 pages of government documents have been released in response to the ACLU's Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit. The ACLU has been posting these documents online at . The documents released this week are online at http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/052505/.
Tomorrow, the ACLU will return to court to argue that Defense Department and CIA are unlawfully withholding documents
concerning abuse and torture of prisoners.
The FOIA lawsuit is being handled by Lawrence Lustberg and Megan Lewis of the New Jersey-based law firm Gibbons, Del
Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C. Other attorneys in the case are Singh, Jameel Jaffer, and Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU; Arthur N.
Eisenberg and Beth Haroules of the NYCLU; and Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
SOURCE URL:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18320=206