Former Guantanamo prisoners sue U.S.

by repost

Wed, Oct 27, 2004 7:10PM

SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO - Four British citizens who were released from Guantanamo Bay are suing the U.S. government for $10 million US each.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, along with a Washington law firm, filed the suit on behalf of Shafiq Rasul, 26, Asif Iqbal, 22, Rhuhel Ahmed, 22 and Jamal al-Harith, 37.

The four were held at the U.S. military prison for nearly three years after being captured in northern Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance in November 2001.

They were handed over to British authorities in March.

The lawsuit alleges that the men were chained to the floor of a cold room for up to 14 hours a day and exposed to bright strobe lights and loud music.

They also say they were stripped naked and forced to watch videos of other prisoner whom they allege were forced to sodomize each other.

Some of the men say they were injected with drugs during interrogation.

The U.S. military denies the allegations and says the men were being legally held after they fought for al-Qaeda against U.S. forces in Afghanistan

Among those named in the lawsuit are Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Maj.-Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who is the former head of the Guantanamo prison and now runs Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/10/27/prisonsuit041027.html

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§Guantanamo four plan to sue US

by BBC

Wed, Oct 27, 2004 7:11PM

Four British men held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for nearly three years are suing the US government.

The ex-detainees are alleging torture and other human rights violations.

In the first action of its kind, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal al-Harith each demanded £5.5m, in the suits filed in Washington DC.

But a Pentagon official said the allegations were false and the men were not entitled to a pay out because they had been captured in combat.

Among the defendants named are US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers.

'Beatings' claim

The former detainees - three from Tipton in the West Midlands and Mr al-Harith, 37, from Manchester - filed the suits in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The men were released from the US naval base in Cuba in March.

They claim they were subjected to beatings and abuse during their "arbitrary" detention at Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

After they were freed, all the men were questioned by British police but released without charge.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3959635.stm

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