The infamous Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba is being expanded to house up to 1,200 prisoners. Khaled Dawoud visits the camp and reports on the condition of 550 detainees from 42 nations " 'It's a machine like no other,' said the officer to the explorer, as he surveyed the machine with a somewhat admiring look." -- Franz Kafka, In The Penal Colony Colonel Price Gyurisko stood proudly in front of the entrance to Camp Five detention camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. Behind him was a sign reading "Maximum Security". Gyurisko described the camp as a "state of the art imprisonment facility". The building, which officially opened in May amid plans to expand the detention camp's total capacity to 1,200 prisoners, is made of pre-cast concrete. It is surrounded by barbed wire for security and green sheets to restrict the view from the outside. More significantly, it is fully computerised. Its many gates, along with the metal doors of 100 imprisonment cells -- currently half full -- and those of the tiny shower cells, the interrogation rooms and the clinic, are all controlled by touch screens and monitored 24/7 by video cameras. Even the shower water is controlled by soldiers through their computers, who turn it on for a few minutes at a pre-set temperature "which is not too hot, not too cold", according to the colonel. Gyurisko is the senior commander of the detention camps in Guantanamo and part of the Joint Task Force (JTF) responsible for running the camp and intelligence gathering. A total of 550 detainees from 42 countries, mainly Arab and Muslim, are now held in five camps in Guantanamo. Many have been here for nearly three years since the Afghanistan war ended in late 2001, toppling the extremist Taliban regime and scattering the terrorist Al-Qaeda organisation led by Osama Bin Laden. A total of 750 detainees, including three juveniles who were released earlier this year, were brought into Guantanamo when it first opened in January 2002. So far, 202 detainees have been released; the majority of them were set free by their countries of origin upon their arrival back home, and only a few are still detained. Several of those released went on to take up arms against the US army in Afghanistan, making one wonder whether the tough Guantanamo prison conditions only added to their determination to carry out their mission. THE MOST 'VALUABLE' PRISONERS: While showing reporters the two shower cells in a prison ward in Maximum Security Camp Five, Colonel Gyurisko confirmed that his soldiers "respect the cultural sensitivities of Muslims" -- that is, they only monitor the upper part of their bodies with cameras while the prisoners are taking their shower. Respecting "cultural sensitivities" also includes providing the detainees with "halal" Islamic food free of all pork products. Each of the four prison wards at Camp Five contains between 24 and 28 cells. Like all military officials and members of the JTF interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly during a three-day visit to the US naval base in Guantanamo, Colonel Gyurisko would not give exact figures or reveal the names or the breakdown of nationalities of the 550 detainees. Camp Five is home to the detainees who are seen as most "valuable", or most dangerous, among the prison's population. This includes all suspected members of either Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Officials at the camp said all those held there were arrested in Afghanistan, but press reports claim there are also a small number of detainees captured in Bosnia, certain African nations and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Each prison cell -- to judge by the ward emptied for journalists and shown off as a model of how detainees are treated throughout Guantanamo -- is 10x20 feet. Inside one cell, the few belongings given to each detainee were displayed: an orange prison uniform, which is allocated to those detainees who are seen as least cooperative; a pair of plastic flip-flops; a green plastic mattress; and a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran. "A copy of the Quran is provided to all prisoners, regardless of the level of their compliance," said Colonel Gyurisko. "Even when they destroy it or tear its pages, we give them new copies," he added. When asked why supposedly devout Muslims would go as far as to destroy a copy of the holy book, Colonel Gyurisko replied, "Sometimes they just want to do anything to express protest, and sometimes we find writing on the pages of the copies we give them." In the same cell, there is a small toilet and sink for each prisoner. The dark brown metal door of each cell has a small opening through which food is delivered, and through which detainees can extend their hands to be handcuffed before they emerge for either interrogation or a shower. There is another similar opening in the lower part of the door, where their feet are stuck out to be cuffed together in turn. A rather short corridor ends with a huge metal door that bangs loudly whenever closed, as do several other main gates in the complex. Soldiers warned journalists in advance that there would be a loud bang while closing the huge metal door that led to two so-called "rec' [recreation] yards" -- two 12x24 metal cages in the open-air where each detainee is allowed "between four to five minutes and an hour" to walk around and enjoy the sun. When asked about the obviously huge difference between the five minutes and an hour that prisoners may spend outside their solitary cells, Colonel Gyurisko replied, "We only have eight rec' yards, and it depends how many prisoners we have to bring out everyday." MEET THE MEDIA: While Maximum Security Camp Number Five, modelled on a similar facility in Indiana for extremely dangerous convicted criminals, stands alone with a separate entrance, Camps One, Two, Three and Four are all grouped together inside a bigger compound named Camp Delta. The entrance to Camp Delta is through the centre of a huge metal fence, which is also surrounded by barbed wire. Detainees are assigned to one of its four camps according to their behaviour and level of compliance. Lieutenant Colonel Leon Sumptor, public affairs officer at Guantanamo, told a group of five Arab reporters who were given access to the naval base last week, that when new detainees first arrive, they are held at Camp Three for a while to test their compliance. Following this, they are moved to Camp Two where they are provided with slightly more privileges. In both camps Two and Three, detainees are given orange uniforms and considered high-risk prisoners. Camps One, Two and Three are each divided into several wards comprised of metal prison cells, each 8x10 feet, raised a few feet above the ground. They are open to the air, and are viewed by many as cages. During the hot and humid summers, when temperatures reach 40 degrees C, huge fans located at the corners of each ward are turned on. The same light green sheets that separate them from the nearby barbed-wire fences also shield the cells. The open cells face the Caribbean Sea, and Colonel Gyurisko said prisoners usually enjoyed a cool breeze most of the time. The entire visit by the team of journalists to Guantanamo was tightly controlled by a number of JTF public affairs officers and a retired woman soldier who is now working as a private contractor with a company that provides security for the camp. The security woman would interfere to stop questions directed at officers if she thought that they were seeking classified information or went beyond the mandate of the interviewee. She was also responsible for viewing all photos taken by digital cameras inside the camp and had the power to censor those that might reveal the identity of prisoners or any of the tight security measures, particularly watch towers. A document obtained by the Weekly, entitled "Guide to meeting the media" and issued by the JTF to public affairs officers who deal with visiting journalists, instructs them to link their answers to three main "command messages" regardless of the questions. These messages are: firstly, "The US is treating the detainees humanely and in the spirit of the Geneva Convention"; secondly, "Detainees at GTMO [Guantanamo] pose a threat to US security and will remain under US control as long as necessary"; and finally, "JTF-Guantanamo troops are doing an outstanding job. They are well equipped and trained to carry out their missions." If a public affairs officer becomes stuck in answering a question, the guide on dealing with the media advises them to use "bridging sentences" or "transitioning from the question asked to your command message. Use phrases such as 'I can't talk about this because', 'however, I can tell you', or 'what you might find interesting is...'" It also warns, "Everything you say is 'on the record', never answer 'off the record' questions. Simply say, 'I can't tell you off the record', and then bridge to a message. Most important: do not discuss policies or give opinions on policy; do not provide the enemy with propaganda material by grumbling and thoughtless complaining; and be polite, but firm with the media." During the tour, reporters were also allowed to visit an empty prison ward in Camp One, where detainees are generally more cooperative than those held in Camps Two and Three. The first privilege those staying in Camp One enjoy is that they are allowed to put on tan prison uniforms instead of the orange coloured ones, which Colonel Gyurisko conceded is not a colour very much appreciated in Muslim culture. Ironically, militant groups reportedly linked to Al-Qaeda who have carried out kidnappings and beheadings of Americans and other foreign nationals in Iraq have also chosen to dress their prisoners in orange uniforms similar to those handed out to the high-risk detainees in Guantanamo. After climbing a few stairs, we entered the prison ward, which was made up of 24 cells. Each cell was provided with a tan uniform, a prayer cap and rug, and one or two games for entertainment, such as chess or dominos. All these items were spread out on a metal bed, which stood relatively high above the ground, and bore a plastic mattress. There was also an oriental bathroom, at ground level, in each cell, as well as a small sink. But the most important privilege enjoyed by detainees in Camps One, Two and Three is that they can see each other and exchange conversations, whereas those held in Maximum Security Camp Number Five are kept in near solitary confinement for more than 23 hours a day. According to one senior investigator who spoke to reporters at Camp Five, the interrogation sessions give detainees a rare opportunity to get out of their cells and speak to other human beings. Those held in Guantanamo do not have access to media publications and do not know what is happening in the outside world, except for what their interrogators tell them. The senior interrogator said he informed prisoners of certain outside events if that might help him in his investigation, such as the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, or the elections that took place two months ago in Afghanistan. "But not all detainees necessarily know that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was toppled," and that Iraq was now occupied, he added. Illustration: Gamil Shafik Asking the interrogator how useful information provided by detainees who had already been held for three years could be, he replied that while this definitely limited the scope of their knowledge, they could still be useful in providing background information on Al-Qaeda, its tactics, recruitment methods and financial network. He added that some of the detainees had only started speaking to interrogators recently, and he did not deny that incentives were offered to those who cooperate. "In one incident, a detainee said he would cooperate if we helped in providing information on the fate of his family. We said we could not promise, but would try our best. When we provided the information he wanted, he became much better and started talking." Reflecting the sour feelings some detainees have towards their captors, Colonel Gyurisko said that one of the privileges granted to well-behaved detainees in Camps One, Two and Three is an empty paper cup to drink water from. "But if detainees misbehave and use the cup to fill it up with urine or human faeces to throw in the faces of soldiers, they don't get one," he said. While dealing physically with detainees, soldiers were seen wearing plastic gloves. Lieutenant Colonel Sumptor said that was because in several incidents detainees tried to "bite the soldiers", since that was the only way they had to inflict injury while chained. After the detention ward in Camp One, we were taken to see the two "rec' yards", which are larger than those in Camp Five. Reporters were allowed to watch one detainee who was kicking a football alone in one of the "rec' yards". With a long beard and wearing a tan prison uniform, he kicked the ball hard against the wire fence of his cage, making it bounce back with a loud crash. That was the only sport he was allowed to play, for a maximum of one hour each day. One of the reporters tried to shout at the detainee, greeting him in Arabic, "Al- Salamu Alaykom", or "Peace be upon you". He replied quickly in similar words, but did not stop slamming the football against the fence of his cell. Camp Four is considered the best and most humane of all five camps at Guantanamo, as it is the only place where prisoners are allowed to live in small communities. They are also allowed out of their cells into the open-air for a period ranging between seven and nine hours a day, said Colonel Gyurisko. Each "unit" in Camp Four, housed in a moveable wooden house, contains 10 beds, a separate bathroom, shower space and two water coolers that are filled with ice twice each day. Detainees are provided with white prison uniforms. They can practice sports such as volleyball and football, share food among themselves, and were seen mixing with soldiers, exchanging talk and a few laughs. Colonel Gyurisko said that a new unit was recently built in Camp Four, and that there were plans to expand its population above the 100 detainees currently held there. He added that most of those released from Guantanamo came from Camp Four, but he would not reveal whether any similar releases were planned in the near future. In Camp Four, journalists were also allowed to get close to the detainees. Some of them gathered in front of the doors of their units, staring at reporters and willingly posed for photos. I could not resist breaking the strict security rules and initiated a conversation with one of the prisoners. After telling him I was from Egypt, he replied that he came from Saudi Arabia. Other detainees who were listening to the conversation later started calling to me in Egyptian dialect. One of them asked, "How are you, Hosni?" in reference to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. As I was leaving Camp Four, a bearded man came up and started speaking to me in Arabic, but his accent indicated that he was of Pakistani or Afghani origin: "Where are you from? How did you come here? This is the first time we see people from the outside world. We don't know anything here." The retired army officer responsible for security immediately interfered, saying, "You should not initiate a conversation with detainees," and asked for a translation of the conversation that had taken place. The bearded man also asked me, "How is Bin Laden?" I translated the first part of our conversation for her, but I left that last bit out. ENEMY COMBATANTS OR PRISONERS OF WAR?: Since the opening of the Guantanamo detention centre, the Bush administration has refused to treat those captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan and during the ongoing "war against terror" as prisoners of war (POWs). The administration stated that the detainees were not members of a regular national army, and has used that justification to deprive them of the many rights guaranteed to POWs by the international Geneva Conventions. Instead, they were dubbed "enemy combatants" and denied the basic rights of those detained awaiting charges, including access to lawyers and the right to a fair trial. Brigadier General Martin Lucenti, the JTF deputy commander, said that as a soldier he knew that POWs were generally kept in prison as long as hostilities continued, "and since the war against terror is ongoing, these inmates could be kept here as long as necessary". He added that the detainees were also allowed visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) once every three months, giving them the chance to write letters and to receive mail from their relatives. On 30 November, The New York Times published extracts from a classified report by the ICRC -- written following a visit to Guantanamo in June 2004 -- and handed to the White House, as well as to the defence and state departments. ICRC reports are confidential and their findings are only discussed with concerned governmental authorities, in return for continued access to detainees. But in the parts leaked from an official US memo to The New York Times, the ICRC said that the US military has used psychological and sometimes physical coercion "tantamount to torture" against Guantanamo prisoners. It also alleged that doctors and other medical workers at the detention camp participated in planning the interrogation of detainees, describing such behavior as a "flagrant violation of medical ethics". The New York Times reported that detainees were also subjected to beating, humiliating acts, deprivation of sleep, cold temperatures, solitary confinement, and were forced to listen to loud heavy-metal and rap music for hours on-end. Brigadier General Lucenti vehemently denied that any torture or abuse of the detainees had taken place since he began work there seven months ago. However, he added that disciplinary action had been taken against 10 soldiers who had acted "aggressively" towards detainees and were reported by their own colleagues. Investigations into the torture of detainees by US occupation troops in Iraq discovered that the tactics used there were adapted from a manual on pressure techniques approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the Guantanamo camp. Some of the techniques were later dropped, but had generated an obvious attitude among many soldiers that they could mistreat detainees and use force against them since they were suspected terrorists who posed a threat to US security. The ICRC issued a statement on 2 December in which it neither denied nor confirmed The New York Times report. After stating that it remained convinced that "its policy of direct and confidential representations to the detaining authority best serves" the interests of detainees, it pointed out that it "remains concerned that significant problems regarding conditions and treatment at Guantanamo Bay have not yet been adequately addressed". In earlier reports, the ICRC stated that there had been at least 34 suicide attempts by 21 detainees at Guantanamo. The last attempt dated to January, said Captain Steve Edmondson, the director of the prison hospital. He also denied the ICRC charge that his doctors took part in planning interrogations of detainees, and said the report's author had a "different understanding of medical ethics". Christophe Girod, a senior Red Cross official in Washington, said that the "open-endedness of the situation and its impact on the mental health of the population has become a major problem." He added, "One cannot keep these detainees in this pattern, this situation, indefinitely." Using the fact that the territory where the detention camp is built is not officially part of US soil, but is rented from Cuba under a perpetual lease issued 103 years ago, the Bush administration also deprives Guantanamo detainees of access to US courts and legal procedures. The United States controls a total of 117 square kilometres, split between the two sides of Guantanamo Bay, in the southeast corner of the island of Cuba. Originally used as a naval base to refuel ships and confront flows of Haitian refugees, the opening of Guantanamo prison in early 2002 has meant a lot of construction work as facilities have been rapidly expanded over the past three years. Ferries and speed boats equipped with heavy machine guns and driven by Coast Guards move nearly 10,000 people, mostly military and civilians providing services linked to the detention camp, between the two sides of the bay each day. The detention camps occupy only a small part of the Eastern side of Guantanamo Bay, known as Windward. Apart from this area, the rest of the base resembles any small American town, with fast food restaurants, gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts and a shopping area. In a historic ruling in late June, the US Supreme Constitutional Court declared "a state of war is not a blank check for the president", and said detainees, both Americans and foreign nationals, must be given the right to challenge their detention before a judge or other "neutral decision- maker". The court also noted that Guantanamo was "territory over which the United States exercises exclusive jurisdiction and control", and therefore should not be excluded from the mandate of the US judicial system. Immediately afterwards, the Defense Department improvised several options, so as to appear to be intending to implement the Supreme Court ruling, such as conducting "combatant status review tribunals" in order to determine whether detainees were correctly dubbed "enemy combatants". Since August, the cases of 490 detainees have been reviewed, and in the decisions reached so far in 193 cases, all were found to be "enemy combatants", except for one elderly Pakistani man. One-third of the detainees refused to stand in front of these military review boards -- described by the JTF officials as an "administrative measure, and not a trial" -- because, in the words of one 22-year-old Syrian detainee whose combatant status review tribunal reporters were allowed to observe, they considered them "a game", in which the US military is at once judge, prosecutor and defence. The young man, whose name cannot be mentioned according to ground rules signed by reporters, was arrested together with his father after fleeing Afghanistan to Pakistan. He told the panel that he left Afghanistan with his family of 15 members before the US launched its war to topple the Taliban. He claimed that they were "sold" by residents of a Pakistani village, and kept in a prison there run by American soldiers. He also said he was "tortured" and threatened with electrocution when he first arrived in Guantanamo, at which time he was being held in Camp X-Ray. To prove his good intentions, he recalled in front of the panel 15 incidents in which he willingly handed to guards pieces of metal he found in his prison ward that could have been used to harm them. His father, a 44-year-old man with a long beard who looked much older than his age, was also brought in to testify in front of the panel, and reaffirmed the statements made by his son -- that they were never members of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, nor had they received any military training. By the beginning of 2005, officials hope to have heard the cases of all 550 detainees in combatant status review tribunals. Following this, a second level of administrative adjudication, known as "annual review boards", will be launched. This second level process could lead to the release of certain detainees who are deemed to be no longer a threat to US security or that of its allies, even though they will still be labelled as "enemy combatants". "Quite frankly, if one detainee tells us [in annual review boards] that the first thing he would do if released would be to cut off heads of Americans, they won't be released for quite some time," Brigadier General Lucenti told reporters. Nearly two years after opening the camp, President Bush has so far designated only four detainees, two Yemenis, a Sudanese national and an Australian, to be tried by "military commissions", and "war crimes' charges have been issued against them. But none of these administrative measures, over which the military maintains far- reaching powers, including the right to prevent lawyers from using the testimony of detainees held by the US on national security grounds, were accepted by the federal courts, and all have been found to fall short of proper conditions for a fair trial. Lawyers for dozens of detainees have filed suits asking for access to their clients and demanding that they be charged and allowed to stand trial. But there is little sign that any such moves will be forthcoming in the near future. The construction work going on at Guantanamo -- including the building of a huge windmill worth $11 million to provide energy and maintain air quality, and the expansion of the camp capacity -- is a clear indication that the Bush administration and the Defense Department have no plans to give up their self-declared right to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely, in blatant disregard of all international laws and human rights conventions. Meanwhile, Brigadier Colonel Lucenti, the JTF deputy commander, is free to insist that he is running the "most humane" detention facility. Indeed, "as a soldier who faces the risk of getting captured," Lucenti says, "I know I would like to be kept and treated in a detention camp like Guantanamo."
