Chronicle on Cuba - February 2005

Terrorism

February 7: Nearly a dozen detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp contend they were wrongly imprisoned after repeated abuse by US troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including beatings with chains, electric shock and sodomy, their lawyer said. "These are classic stories of men who ended up in Guantanamo by mistake,'' charged attorney Tom Wilner, who represents 11 Kuwaiti prisoners held in the detention center at the US Navy base in eastern Cuba. Most of his clients say they falsely confessed to belonging to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terror network as a way to stop the abuse, Wilner said. He said one is too angry over his treatment to discuss details of his case, but all argue their detentions are unjustified. (The New York Times, 8/2/05)

February 9: Lawyers for a Canadian detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old asserted in a document that he was repeatedly abused by his American jailers. Mr. Khadr's situation has received considerable attention, especially in Canada, where his lawyers held a news conference to criticize the Canadian government for what they said was its failure to press for his release. (The New York Times, 9/2/05)