The New Nation - Internet Edition

From the Foreign Press: US torture and abuse make us all less safe

George Monbiot

Acts carried out in the name of the war on terror at Guantanamo have either failed or seriously backfired

When we learned last week that Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi had blown himself up in Mosul in northern Iraq, the US government presented this as a vindication of its policies. Al-Ajmi was a former inmate of the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay. The Pentagon says his attack on Iraqi soldiers shows both that it was right to have detained him and that it is dangerous ever to release the camp's prisoners. On the contrary, it shows how dangerous it was to put them there in the first place.

Al-Ajmi, according to the Pentagon, was one of at least 30 former Guantánamo detainees who have "taken part in anti-coalition militant activities after leaving US detention". Given that the majority of the inmates appear to have been innocent of such crimes before they were detained, that's one hell of a recidivism rate. In reality, it turns out that "anti-coalition militant activities" include talking to the media about their captivity. The Pentagon lists the Tipton Three in its catalogue of recidivists, on the grounds that they collaborated with Michael Winterbottom's film The Road to Guantánamo. But it also names seven former prisoners, aside from al-Ajmi, who have fought with the Taliban or Chechen rebels, kidnapped foreigners or planted bombs after their release. One of two conclusions can be drawn from this evidence, and neither reflects well on the US government.

The first is that, as the Pentagon claims, these men "successfully lied to US officials, sometimes for over three years". The US government's intelligence gathering and questioning were ineffective, and people who would otherwise have been iden tified as terrorists or resistance fighters were allowed to walk free, despite years of intense and often brutal interrogation. Should this be surprising? Without a presumption of innocence, without charges, representation, trials, or due process of any kind, there is no reliable means of determining whether or not a man is guilty. The abuses at Guantánamo not only deny justice to the inmates, they also deny justice to the world.

Al-Ajmi, the authorities say, initially confessed in the prison camp to deserting the Kuwaiti army to join the jihad in Afghanistan. He admitted that he fought with Taliban forces against the Northern Alliance. He later retracted this confession, which had been made "under pressure and threats". When the Americans released him from Guantánamo, they handed him over to the Kuwaiti government for trial, but without the admissible evidence required to convict him. Among his defences was that neither he nor his interrogators had signed his supposed testimony. The Kuwaiti courts, without reliable evidence to the contrary, found him innocent.

All evidence obtained in Guantánamo, and in the CIA's other detention centres and secret prisons, is by definition unreliable, because it is extracted with the help of coercion and torture. Torture is notorious for producing false confessions, as people will say anything to make it stop. Both official accounts and the testimonies of former detainees show that a wide range of coercive techniques - devised or approved at the highest levels in Washington - have been used to make inmates tell the questioners what they want to hear.

In his book Torture Team, Philippe Sands describes the treatment of Mohammed al-Qahtani, held in Guantánamo and described by the authorities (like half a dozen other suspects) as "the 20th hijacker". By the time his interrogators started using "enhanced techniques" to extract information from him, al-Qahtani had been kept in isolation for three months in a cell permanently flooded with light. An official memo shows that he "was talking to nonexistent people, reporting hearing voices, [and] crouching in a corner of the cell covered with a sheet for hours on end". He was abused, exposed to extreme cold and deprived of sleep for a further 54 days of torture and questioning. What useful testimony could be extracted from a man in this state!!

The other possibility is that the men who became involved in armed conflict after their release had not in fact been involved in any prior fighting, but were radicalised by their detention. In the video he made before blowing himself up, al-Ajmi maintained that he was motivated by his ill-treatment in Guantánamo. "Twelve thousand kilometres away from Mecca, I realised the reality of the Americans and what those infidels want," he said. He claimed he was beaten, drugged and "used for experiments" and that "the Americans delighted in insulting our prayer and Islam and they insulted the Qur'an and threw it in dirty places." Al-Ajmi's lawyer revealed that his arm had been broken by guards at the camp, who beat him up to stop him from praying.

The accounts of people released from Guantánamo describe treatment that would radicalise almost anyone. In his book Five Years of My Life, published a fortnight ago, Murat Kurnaz maintains that one of the guards greeted him on his arrival with these words. "Do you know what the Germans did to the Jews? That's exactly what we're going to do with you." There were certain similarities. "I knew a man from Morocco," Kurnaz writes, "who used to be a ship captain. He couldn't move one of his little fingers because of frostbite. The rest of his fingers were all right. They told him they would amputate the little finger. They brought him to the doctor, and when he came back, he had no fingers left. They had amputated everything but his thumbs." The young man - scarcely more than a boy - in the cage next to Kurnaz's had just had his legs amputated by American doctors after getting frostbite in a coalition prison in Afghanistan. The stumps were still bleeding and covered in pus. He received no further treatment or new dressings. Every time he tried to hoist himself up to sit on his pot by clinging to the wire, a guard would come and hit his hands with a billy-club. Like every other prisoner, he was routinely beaten by the camp's Immediate Reaction Force, and taken away to interrogation cells to be beaten up some more.

Fathers were clubbed in front of their sons, sons in front of their fathers. The prisoners were repeatedly forced into stress positions, deprived of sleep and threatened with execution. As a senior official at the US Defense Intelligence Agency says, "maybe the guy who goes into Guantánamo was a farmer who got swept along and did very little. He's going to come out a fully fledged jihadist."

In reading the histories of Guantánamo, and of the kidnappings, extrajudicial detention and torture the US government (helped by the United Kingdom) has pursued around the world, two things become clear. The first is, that these practices do not supplement effective investigation and prosecution; they replace them. Instead of a process which generates evidence, assesses it and uses it to prosecute, the US has deployed a process that generates nonsense and is incapable of separating the guilty from the innocent. The second is, that far from protecting innocent lives, this process is likely to deliver further atrocities. Even if you put the ethics of such treatment to one side, it is surely evident that it makes the world more dangerous.

-The Guardian Weekly

105 ex BNP MPs demand release of Tarique, Koko

Staff Reporter

A total of 105 former lawmakers of BNP yesterday demanded the release of Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman, sons of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia immediately to send them abroad for better treatment abroad on humanitarian grounds.

In a joint statement signed by Principal Sohrab Uddin if said that it was regretable that though former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been released for better treatment abroad but the two sons of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman and Begum Khaleda Zia were not allowed on the same ground.

"It is very painful that Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman are seriously ill. They are facing death. But the government is keeping mum and not taking any measure for them," they said.

The former BNP MPs argued why the humanitarian ground would not be applicable to them when Sheikh Hasina was released on similar ground.

"Two systems of laws cannot be applied in the same country," they said.

They also demanded the release of all political prisoners, including Begum Khaleda Zia and withdrawal of state of emergency for the return of traditional politics.

The former lawmakers also include Shajahan Chowdhury, Selim Reza Habib, M Ilias Ali, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, ABM Ashraf Uddin Nizam, Engr Shamsuddin, Kalimuddin Ahmed Milon, Abul Hossain Khan, Kazi Rafiqul Islam, Abul Kalam Azad, M Nurul Islam, Habibul Islam Habib, Prof Shahidul Islam, Moshiur Rahman and Abul Khair Bhuiyan.

Reconditioned vehicles to go beyond buying power of people: BARVIDA leaders say

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA) has claimed that reconditioned cars will go beyond purchasing power of people if the proposed budget of 2008-09 becomes effective.

Addressing a press conference at a local hotel yesterday, the BARVIDA leaders said the proposed budget, if implemented, would pave the way of importing new cars. Though the prices of ordinary non-luxurious microbuses would 'somewhat' go down, it will have 'no impact' on industrial sector at all, they claimed.

In his budget speech, the Finance Adviser proposed to reduce supplementary duty on importation of ordinary non-luxurious microbuses used for transportation of industrial raw materials and passengers, to 20 per cent from 60 per cent.

The BARVIDA leaders claimed that the prices of different types of motor vehicles, having more than 2350cc capacity, would increase by minimum Tk 5 lakh to maximum Tk 12 lakh each.

BARVIDA president Abdul Huq read out a written statement while secretary general Md Abdul Hamid Sharif replied to queries of journalists.

It was told at the press conference that the Finance Adviser proposed in the new budget to reduce dealers' commission to 20 per cent from 30 per cent alongside the readjustment of year-wise depreciation rates as 5, 10, 20 and 30 per cent respectively. "If this proposal is implemented, motor cars will go beyond the purchasing power of people," Abdul Huq.

He also called for imposing cc-based specific duties to "ensure transparency and accountability."

The BARVIDA leaders also made a unique claim at the press conference that customs intelligence officials had been questioning the car importers and seizing their registers and documents on the basis of the reports published in the newspapers.

"Motor vehicles are imported and duty is imposed according to the existing rules. So, we demand an end to unnecessary harassment of importers and sellers of motor vehicles being appeared at the showrooms," Huq said.

One killed in Comilla bomb explosion

UNB, Comilla

A shop owner was killed and two other people were injured in a bomb blast at his scrap shop at Sabujpara village in Brahmanpara upazila Wednesday.

Police said the explosion took place as the shop owner Billal Hossain touched a round-shaped object at his shop at about 10am. He could not identify it as a bomb. Thinking it a scrap he bought this from local people

Two legs of Billal were blown off in the blast that also left two others, Abid Ali, 70, and Ashraful Haque, class VII student of Barodhusia High School, injured. The injured were admitted to Comilla Medical College Hospital where Billal died.

Abid and Ashraful, residents of the village, were at the shop during the explosion.

56 Bangladeshis return home after serving 2 yrs in Indian jail

UNB, Benapole

Fifty-six Bangladeshi nationals, who went to India in search of good jobs, returned home Tuesday after serving two years imprisonment in Indian jail.

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) handed over them to BDR and immigration police through Benapole border in the evening.

Of the returnees, 54 were from Satkhira and one each from Sylhet and Dinajpur districts.

Police said the Bangladeshis went to India through brokers two years back in search of lucrative job there. Later, they were detained by Indian police and sent to Domdom jail.

Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association undertook measures for their release.

Following the hand over, two officials of the association formally received the Bangladeshis from the port thana.

Bid to lease out 28 offshore gas blocks: HC issues rule on govt

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the government to explain why the invitation of international tender for leasing out 28 offshore blocks for oil-and-gas exploration "should not be declared illegal".

An HC division bench comprising Justice M Imman Ali and M Emdadul Haque issued the rule nisi at a time when the bidding process is already underway. The writ is returnable within two weeks. Petrobangla chairman, Law secretary and Energy secretary have been made respondents to the writ.

Dialogue with UPR held: Confidence among political forces to be built: Zillur

BSS, Dhaka

Commerce Adviser Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman on Wednesday said the government is committed to building confidence among all political forces through dialogue to move the country forward.

"We hope that an atmosphere of confidence would firmly be built up and we will be able to move the country forward by forging unity through the dialogue," he said at a joint press briefing after holding talks with the Unity for Political Reforms (UPR) at the Chief Adviser's Office here.

Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was present at the dialogue in which UPR President ASM Abdur Rab led a six-member delegation of his party.

Following the talks, both the sides termed the meeting as cordial, open and fruitful and said new important issues came up for discussion during the dialog.

Dr. Hossain Zillur said the main objective of the government is to involve all political forces in the talks aiming at forging unity among all stakeholders.

Replying to a question on the release of detained BNP chief and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and her two sons, he said the government is attaching utmost importance to integrating legal procedures with humanitarian aspects to deal with the matter.

He said steps were made to release Sheikh Hasina so that she can go abroad for treatment for a particular period.

Responding to another question whether the government will sit for dialogue with the Awami League, Dr. Hossain Zillur said the government is eager to talk with all stakeholders, including the Awami League.

South Asian ties must to ensure food security

BSS, Dhaka

Speakers at a seminar here on Wednesday underscored the need for strengthening regional cooperation in mobilising collective resources to ensure food security in South Asia.

They said the policy level mindset of the biggest neighbour needs to be changed to help Bangladesh get due share of water under treaties and grow more food to negate hunger.

The observations came at a seminar on 'Food Security and Water Issues in South Asia', organised jointly by Imagine a New South Asia (INSA) and Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) in cooperation with ActionAid Bangladesh at CIRDAP auditorium here.

INSA Regional Steering Committee Chairperson Dr Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed chaired the programme, while Justice Mohammad Habibur Rahman attended it as the chief guest.

Adviser for Women and Child Affairs Rasheda K Chowdhury, former Education Minister Dr Osman Farruk, Awami League leader Begum Motiya Chowdhury and Workers Party leader Rashed Knan Menon spoke as special guests.

Mashfiqus Salehin presented a keynote paper on 'Regional Implications of Water Resources Management Intervention in South Asia', while Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri presented another paper on Regional Food Security: Way Forward' in the seminar.

Justice Habibur Rahmnan said Bangladesh was passing through a hard time due to price hike of essentials at national and international markets.

Inclusion of DND area within city corporation urged

Staff Reporter

Leaders of DND Unnayan Nagorik Forum yesterday demanded of the Government to include Konapara, Signboard and Shympur within the city corporation area immediately.

They made this demand at a press conference in the Dhaka Reporters' Unity.

President of the Forum Fariduddin Sarkar presided over the conference. Its General Secretary Firoz Ashrafi, SM Wasi Uddin Nurani, Dr Jahangir Alam, Aminur Rahman, Mahbubur Rahman, Abu Taher, Ashraful Anam Shamim, Moulana Asaduzzaman, and Moulana Ibrahim were present at the function.

They pointed out their various problems including environmental pollution by the industrial waste, narrow roads, week drainage system, lack of adequate educational institutions and hospitals. The people of the DND area were deprived of their rights, they claimed.

They demanded the Government's proper initiatives to solve their problems.

Britain plans 42-day detention without trial

BBC Online

David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of making "so many concessions" in his bid to win the terror detention limit vote the legislation was now "unworkable".

He said the PM's case for extending the limit from 28 to 42 days would be stronger if it had the backing of the police and security services.

Brown accused Cameron of leading "opposition for opposition's sake".

Lib Dem Nick Clegg asked why the PM was "playing politics with our liberties" over a move that was "unnecessary".

The heated exchanges came just hours before a crunch vote at about 1800 BST over extending the terror detention limit to 42 days. No 10 says it looks "very close" and a new compensation deal is being offered for suspects held but then not charged.

"We will always look at the evidence, but on the evidence we have seen to date, I see absolutely no reason not to repeal this"

The Conservatives, Lib Dems and about 30 Labour MPs oppose the 42-day extension.

The result is expected to be so close that it might hinge on how the nine Democratic Unionist Party MPs vote.

To defeat the government, some 33 Labour MPs need to rebel, assuming all other MPs - including those of the DUP - also vote against it.

Opening the Commons debate, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the "reserve power" was necessary to counter a threat that is "more ruthless than we have ever faced before".

The government was "not proposing an automatic or immediate extension to pre-charge detention beyond 28 days", she said. It would only be used with the support of the director of public prosecutions, the backing of Parliament in a vote, with judicial safeguards and only for a temporary period.

She confirmed that suspects held beyond 28 days but then released without charge would be eligible for an "ex gratia" compensation payment.

It was the job of government, the police and prosecutors to protect the public from terrorist attack, but it was the job of Parliament "to give them the tools to do that", she said.

But shadow home secretary David Davis countered that it was the "job of Parliament to defend the liberties we have had for centuries".

He said he feared the 42-day plan would "actually mean more innocent people being put in a cell for six weeks".

Earlier he conceded it was "unlikely" the government would lose the vote in the Commons, but predicted it would be defeated in the Lords.

He said the Conservatives would "almost certainly" reverse it if they were in office.

The prime minister's official spokesman said Brown was in "robust spirits" and holding meetings with MPs on Wednesday in order to "maximise parliamentary support".

Proposed budget is populist but reckless: Shamannay

Staff Reporter

Shamunnay, a think tank, in its budget reaction yesterday termed the proposed outlay as "populist but reckless" and said it will further increase inflation and people's burden.

"The proposed budget has come at a time when people are suffering from high inflation, severe food and employment crises. But the government's plan to overcome the huge deficit indicates that it will only encourage inflation," Shamunnay chairman Dr Atiur Rahman said.

Dr Atiur made the remarks in a paper presented at a post-budget view-exchange meeting held at the Shamunnay conference room in the city.

The main features of the new budget included challenging revenue target, not fully compatible with PRS-2 and MDG targets, cut in development budget despite the highest-ever budget deficit, according to Dr Atiur.

He said the budget deficit is higher than development budget by Tk 4980 crore and borrowing from banking sources increased by 30 per cent from the last year's revised budget.

The economist voiced concern that private investment may fall following the budget as high amount of loan from banks may create a crowding out problem.

"If the crowding out problem is created, private investors will lose their interest for investment. And for the same reason, if the rate of interest increases production cost will be high which in turn will increase inflation. This might affect the people of low income group adversely," he noted. He was critical of the proposed budget for reduced allocation to several important sectors like electricity, energy, transport and communication.

Welcoming the government's plan to procure 32 lakh tons of rice, the

Shamunnay chairman said Bangladesh should target a procurement plan of 40-50 lakh tonnes of rice.

He proposed having a food stock of at least 15 lakh tonnes for the country's food security.

MiG purchase case: Charge hearing against Hasina adjourned

BSS, Dhaka

The trial Court yesterday adjourned till June 19 the hearing to frame charges in the MiG-29 fighter jets graft case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and others.

Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder fixed the next date of hearing granting the defence counsels' prayer saying they could not completely go through the relevant documents and evidence (alamats) of the case.

Earlier, on a prayer the court granted regular bail to former Chief of Army Staff General (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, an accused of the case, who was free on ad-interim bail. Besides, hearing on another prayer seeking relief from his personal appearance in the court on health grounds ended today, but the order was not passed. All of them are on bail and appeared before the court. Advocate Sahara Khatun appeared as personal representative of Sheikh Hasina as the court granted a petition the day before yesterday exempting her from appearing in person in the court.

Mitford in pitiable state

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

Patients arriving at the Emergency Ward of the Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, known as Mitford Hospital, are deprived of proper treatment due to shortage of medical equipment, power and water.

While visiting the hospital, this Correspondent found bloodstained cottons and gauges scattered on dirty, potholed floors, ceiling fans hanging on rusty iron rods, and spit all around the walls speak of the filthy and unhygienic condition of the Emergency Ward at Mitford Hospital.

"There is no way to sterilise equipments before use here because we do not have any gas supply. We have to use spirit and soap and normal water for sterilising. But there are times when we don't have supply at all," said a nurse at the city's second largest public hospital.

The Emergency Ward was shifted to its present site, which happened to be a godown only last year.

"The previous Emergency Ward was a better place with tiles and required medical equipment," said an Emergency Medical Officer (EMO), who has been working there for the last four years.

If 50 people come to the emergency department in case of any accident, it would not be possible to provide them with all the necessary treatment, said the EMO adding "We do not have an adequate casualty service yet."

A large number of people from the southern part of the city depend on this hospital established in 1820 on the bank of the River Buriganga.

People from Keraniganj and other places across the river receive treatment at this hospital, which can hardly accommodate all the incoming patients, said a senior physician of the hospital.

About the garbage that remain scattered inside the toilets and on the floors in other parts of the hospital, he said it doesn't depend only on the hospital staff, but it is also the responsibility of patients and their attendants who dump them at corners although there are dustbins all around. Tender to repair the emergency department, dormitory for doctors and nurses are also under process, he said.

The stench at the dirty corridors of the 600-bed hospital forces doctors and visitors to put handkerchiefs on their noses, witnesses said. The emergency section has four rooms with wastes, cracked floors and without windows. The rooms contain six observation beds.

This correspondent found that medical wastes were carelessly tossed into metal buckets, which have little inside than outside. The only ventilation system was provided through a few holes on top of the brick wall in only two of the rooms. Electric fans were suspended on long iron rods from the almost dilapidated ceiling. The toilets, kitchens and floors of different wards of the over-crowded hospital were littered with garbage.

To stop spreading of dusts, the employees of the emergency section sprinkle water in the potholes five to six times each day, said a Class IV employee.