IN RE: GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE LITIGATION

Filing 1664

MOTION RENEWED MOTION FOR DIRECT CONTACT WITH CLIENT by GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE LITIGATION, HAMOUD ABDULLAH HAMOUD HASSAN AL WADY (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order, # 2 Exhibit A, # 3 Exhibit B, # 4 Exhibit C, # 5 Exhibit D)(Gunn, Carlton)

_....

EXHIBIT B

cen terforconsti tutionalrig hts
on the front lines for social justice

February 14, 2009

Sandra Hodgkinson Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs
Alan Liotta Pnncipal Director of the Office of Detainee Affairs

Re: Executive Order - Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantánamo Bav Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilties
Dear Ms. Hodgkinson and Mr. Liotta,

We wnte concerning Section 6 of President Obama's January 22, 2009 Executive Order, "Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and
Closure of Detention Facilties," related to "Humane Standards of Confinement." This provision requires that the Secretar of Defense "immediately undertake a review of the conditions of detention at Guantánamo to ensure full compliance with this directive" and mandates that the

review be completed within thirty days. We wnte today as counsel from the Center for
Constitutional Rights (CCR) who have collectively traveled to Guantánamo over forty times for attorney-client meetings with over forty men and we include the first habeas attorney to meet with a client in Guantánamo in September 2004. Since 2004, we have witnessed the negative changes in our clients' conditions of confinement as well as inhumane circumstances that have
remained constant. i

Specifically, we seek to provide current information directly from the men detained in
Guantánamo regarding the inhumane conditions of confinement in Camps 5 and 6 that were

reported to CCR and other habeas attorneys dunng January and February 2009. It is imperative that the Secretary of Defense consider information reported directly from the impnsoned men
rather than rely exclusive on the Joint Task Force's self-reporting of conditions of confinement.

Too often in the past, the Deparment of Defense (DOD) has sought to conceal the nature of
harm to the detained men through a sleight of hand.2
i Prior CCR reports concernng the conditions for men detained at Guantánamo include Report on Torture and

Cruel, Inhuman. and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (Jul. 2006) and The
2 This has occurred, for example, with respect to suicide attempts, see, e.g., David Rose, Guantánamo Bay on Trial,
Vaniiy Fair, Januar 2004, available at hiip://www.vanityfair.comlpolitics/feaiures/2004/01lguantanamo20040

Guantánamo Prisoner Hunger Strikes & Protests: February 2002-August 2005 (Sept. 2005).

(describing the miltar's reclassification of suicides into "manipulative self-injurious behavior"); Mark Denbeaux, et. aI., The Guantanamo Detainees During Detention: Data From the Department of Defense Records (2006),
available al http:lnaw.shu.edu/news/guantanamo_third-leport_7_11_06.pdf (same), actual suicides, see, e.g., CNN, Admiral: Gitmo Suicides A 'Planned Event,' June Ii, 2006, available al http://www.cnn.coml006/WORLD/
americas/06110/guantanamo.suicides/index.html (characterizing three suicides at Guantánamo as "asymmetrcal

666 broadway, 7 fl, new york, ny 10012 t 212 614 6464 1212 614 6499 www.CCRjustice.org

Ideally, the Secretary of Defense's review would include interviews with a representative crosssection of men held at Guantánamo to assess the accuracy of the Joint Task Force's claims and, in particular, the implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Camps 5 and 6. Unfortnately, this does not appear to be a part of the review. In order to alleviate parially this information gap, we provide the following factual summanes from Januar and Februar 2009 attorney-client meetings of the inhumane treatment and conditions of confinement that persist at Guantánamo under the Obama Administration. We also provide recommendations for bnnging Camps 5 and 6 into compliance "immediately" with "all applicable laws governing the conditions" of their confinement,3 as required by Section 6 of the January 22, 2009 Executive
Order.

Recent Efforts to Whitewash Inhumane Conditions in Camp 6
It has become obvious to both our clients and to habeas counsel that in the past few weeks the Joint Task Force has been hastening to gloss over the inhumane conditions in Camp 6 pnor to the Secretar of Defense's Section 6 review by instituting minor changes that fail to address the fundamental inhumanity of this facilty. In Camp 6, for example, a new weekly "movie night" is now offered, where small groups of men have the "pnvilege" to be chained to a table to view a movie.4 A communal outdoor "recreation" cage surrounded by two-story concrete walls has reportedly been created for compliant men to have "recreation" together for a few hours.s Not
only are these new policies or procedures unsatisfactory on paper, their implementation

disregards fundamental hars wrought by the overall isolation, psychological stress, and threat

of physical violence that permeates the lives of men detained in Camp 6.

First, even these token measures have not been implemented in any fashion in Camp 5 and it remains one of the most inhumane facilities at Guantánamo. Second, while the new Camp 6 procedures may give the impression of improvements, these "pnvileges" are accessible only to a few men who do not suffer from psychological stress and who have been deemed "compliant" by their captors. These token efforts to provide more "pnvileges" leaves in place an overall
structure that is impermissibly punitive in nature, in violation of the legal standards for

individuals in Executive detention. In contrast, men are held in Camp 4, a communal facilty, because they are not symptomatic from their physical and psychological abuse and are able to be

warfare"), and hunger strkes, see, e.g., Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), March 1,2004, § ll, 198 (classifying men on hunger strikes as paricipating in "Voluntary Total Fasting").
3 The Januar 22, 200 Executive Order requires any individual held in United States custody to be detained "in

conforrrty with all applicable laws governing the conditions of such confinement, including Common Aricle 3 of the Geneva Conventions." The applicable legal standards have been set fort in the letter to your office subnutted on February 10, 2009 by Rarni Kassem, Supervising Attorney, National Litigation Project, Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School. As Mr. Kassem explains, these legal standards include the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions and Protocols, Common Aricle 3 of the Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Standard Minimal Rules for the Treatment of the Prisoners, and the Body of Principles for the Protection of Any Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. 4 Candace Gorman, Feb. 4, 200 Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fie with author); Pardiss Kebriaei, Nov. i 1,2008
Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fie with author). , Candace Gorman, Feb. 4, 200 Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fie with author).

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"compliant" with camp rules. People exhibiting symptoms from prolonged isolation and

arbitrary confinement remain in restnctive detention in Camps 5 and 6.

Moreover, the men held in Camp 6 have been facing the psychological and physical torture of

severe isolation, among other abuses, for at least over two years without any appropnate treatment for their trauma, The symptoms from their trauma are frequently understood by
miltar guards, who are untrained in working with trauma victims, as "noncompliant" or

"defiant" behavior that results in the loss of "pnvileges," such as any human contact. Many, if not the majonty, of the men live in daily fear of beatings and punishment due to the frequent and unpredictable use of the Immediate Reaction Force (IRF).6 As the miltary punishes individuals, the men become more traumatized and symptomatic. The more symptomatic they become, the more the miltar isolates and abuses them. As this cycle repeats and escalates, the existence of a "movie night" or similar rewards for men who do not manifest symptoms does little to alleviate the inhumanity of Camp 6 for the majonty of the men detained there.

The effort to whitewash Camp 6 is reminiscent of the Joint Task Force's attempt in July and August of 2004 to "improve" the isolation huts in Camp Echo pnor to the first habeas attorneyclient meeting conducted by Gitanjali Gutierrez in September 2004 with Bntish citizens Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi. Mr. Begg and Mr. Abbasi had been held for years in severe
isolation in windowless, unventilated huts. In the eight weeks leading up to their first client meetings, air conditioning, a new small frosted window and other "improvements" were made to

their isolation cells. These cosmetic changes, however, did not eliminate the reality that both men continued to be held in mind-numbing solitar confinement. It was not until the November 2004 distnct court decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,7 which ordered that Mr. Hamdan be held as
a pnsoner of war, that the men in Camp Echo were moved as a group into a more communal

living facilty in Camp Delta, After nearly two years of living next to each other in isolation, Bntish citizens Mr. Begg and Mr, Abbasi first met one another face-to-face in Camp Delta. Both
were released in January 2005 and are living productive and peaceful lives.

CCR urges the Secretary of Defense not to repeat mistakes of the past. The minor changes to the procedures in Camp 6 fail to alleviate the more systematic and widespread psychological stress

and physical injunes suffered by the men detained in this facilty due to conditions of
confinement that fall well below the standards required by the applicable law.
January-February 2009 Conditions in Camps 5 and 6

The following factual information concerning the conditions of confinement at Camps 5 and 6 is

denved from attorney-client meetings and phone calls that occurred in Januar and February
2009. The descnptions of ongoing, severe solitar confinement, incidents of violence and the

threat of violence from guards, and widespread forcible tube-feeding of peaceful hunger stnkers raises substantial concerns that the inhumane practices of the previous Administration persist today at Guantánamo.

6 The Immediate Reaction Force is a team of military guards trained to respond to disturbances with force. They arc

uniformed in riot gear and respond to report of noncompliance on the cell blocks. 7 F. Supp. 2d 152 (D. D.C. 200), rev'd 415 F. 3d 33 (D.C. Cir.), rev'd 548 U.S. 557 (2008).

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Solitary Confinement and Lack of Mental Stimulation

The majonty of the men impnsoned in Guantánamo are held in solitar confinement or isolation
in the super-maximum secunty confinement conditions in Camp 5 and Camp 6,8 including men

who have been cleared for release from Guantánamo by DOD for years because the agency has determined they are not dangerous and hold no intellgence value.9 The conditions go far beyond what is permissible under the applicable law and are harshly punitive.

Confined to their small cells for at least twenty to twenty-two hours a day, the pnsoners have virtually no human contact or mental stimulation. Food is delivered through a slot in the door. The men may try to shout to one another through the slot with great difficulty, and at nsk of disciplinar sanction that results in the loss of "pnvileges" and imposition of twenty-four hour lock down in their cell or, as descnbed below, aggressive attacks by the IRF team. The walls of
the cells in Camps 5 and 6 are blank. One client reported to his Federal Public Defender that in

his isolation cell in Echo Block in Camp 5, he has only a hole for a toilet with no toilet seat and a faucet with no wash basin. io The limited "recreation" time when men are permitted bnefly to leave their cells, does little to alter their near-constant isolation.

The short time that "compliant" men are allowed out of their cells and placed in outdoor cells does little to alleviate the effects of prolonged, mind-numbing solitary confinement. At a maximum, they are allowed no more than two to four hours in an outside cell a day. If the guards determine that any infraction has occurred, the individual wil remain in lock down in his cell with no human contact. This could occur because an individual failed to return his food tray 1 i If the men do exercises while in the outdoor cages, the quickly enough or cursed at a guard.
guards wil take them back to their cell immediately, sometimes with force.12 In Camp 6, this

outdoor time occurs in a pen surrounded by two-story high concrete walls with mesh wire across

the top blocking out most sun. In Camp 5, this time is spent in an enclosure similar to a dog
cage.

The men rarely have physical contact with any other living thing, except the gloved hands of the
guards. The pnsoners never touch the soil, or see plant life, or view the ocean. Because the time

in these outdoor cages is often scheduled in the middle of the night, reportedly due to a lack of space .to accommodate daytime recreation for all pnsoners,l3 an individual can go weeks without
seeing the sun. Many pnsoners decline nighttime recreation in a vain attempt to get sleep, and

thus remain isolated in their cells for days at a time.

· The exact number of prisoners Camps 5, 6 and Echo has not been made public by DOD, but it is likely that more than one-half of the Guantánamo population live in solitary confinement. Camp 4, the only camp which currently

allows for communal living, can accommodate eighty men, which is approximately one-third of the current
!'opul,a.e.g., Za/ita v. Obama, Civil Action No 05-1220 (RMC) (D.D.C.), Petr's Status Report, fied Jul. 18,2008. See tion.

io Federal Public Defender, Jan. 22, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fie with the author). 11 Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 4, 200 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Taher (on fie with author). 12 Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 3, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Khantumani (on fie with
13 Parhat v. Gates, No. 06-1397 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 20, 2(07) (DecL. of Sabin Wilett at 120).

author).

4

A written descnption of the isolation conditions of the camps can not properly convey the
greling reality that the men must endure indefinitely. Little has changed since habeas attorney

Sabin Wilett descnbed the day-to-day reality of life in Camp 6 from the perspective of his
client, Abdusemet, in 2007:

Alone, he nses at about five-thirty to wash (in the sink) and pray, then returns to his bed. Breakfast arves through the hatch at about 7. He eats alone, then returns the trash through the hatch to the MPs. Sometimes he kneels and places his mouth to the small gap between door and floor and tnes to shout a greeting. Then he sits on his bed for four to six hours. He tries to read the Koran. At mid-day he prays. He sits on the bed, waiting

for lunch, which arves at about one. He eats and returns the trash
through the hatch. Then he sits on his bed for the afternoon, or paces. He converses with no one. He tnes to read the Koran. He prays. Sometimes he hears voices in his head, When dinner arves, he eats the dinner and returns the trash through the hatch. Then he sits on the bunk, or paces until evening prayer. He prays. He tries to sleep. He may hear the voices. He hears the banging of doors and the rumble of the HV AC (airconditioning). In the middle of the night, an MP raps on the door, asking if he wants "rec time." He says, "Just the shower." Half asleep, he stands
at the door and is shackled. He is led to the shower area. On the way he

peers into the doors on the pod (cell block), but at night the lights are off. He showers, and then is led back to the cell. He stands at the door while he is unshackled through the hatch. He returns to bed.

The next day, he repeats this, except that rec time occurs dunng the
afternoon, and he participates in it. 14

The severe, prolonged solitar confinement in Camps 5 and 6 is plainly punitive and in violation of the Januar 22, 2009 Executive Order.

Sensory Deprivation and Environmental Manipulation
In addition to their confinement in cells with no access to natural light and blank walls, the men are also subject to environmental manipulations and sensory over- and under-stimulation. The temperature in the cells remains consistently too cold, jeopardizing the men's health and causing
ongoing mental stress. They have no control over the temperature in the cells themselves. Cold

temperatures can exacerbate rheumatism, paricularly for men whose thin sleeping mats have
been removed. When men block the air-conditioning vents, they are disciplined.

i. Parhat v. Gates, No. 06.1397 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 20, 2007) (Decl. of Sabin Wilett at ,125,26). On October 7, 2008, a

federal judge ruled in favor of Abduscmet and 16 other Uighurs detained at Guantánamo in their habeas case, finding that they were not enemy combatants and should be immediately freed into the United States. The ruling was appealed and the Uighurs remain in Guantánamo. In response to the Court's order that they be freed, DOD
merely moved them into a communal1iving space in Camp Iguana. Prior to their habeas hearng, the Uighurs were

already cleared for transfer and were held in Camp 6, as are many other prisoners currently detained in Camp 6.

5

Another man charactenzed the conditions in his cell as "indirect torture" because of the cold
temperatures and three strong lights on at all times between 5am and lOpm and a smaller light on
dunng the normal sleeping hours at night. IS

Sleep Deprivation
Camp conditions prevent the men from sleeping. Florescent lights are on in their cells twenty-

four hours. Items such as bed-sheets are considered a pnvilege, and linens are often removed as
a disciplinar measure. The guards kick the cell doors, and the sounds of guard activity echo

through the metal walls of Camps 5 and 6 at a high volume. Pnsoners are woken up as late as 2 a.m. for nighttime recreation.
As one of the now-released men descnbed in 2007, the constant lack of sleep pushes the men to
the bnnk of sanity:

Bisher al-Rawi is, slowly but surely, slipping into madness. Bnght lights are kept on 24 hours a day, Bisher is given i 5 sheets of toilet paper per day, but because he used his sheets to cover his eyes to help him to sleep, his toilet paper - considered another comfort item... - has been removed for 'misuse.'i6
Dunng the entire operation of Camps 5 and 6, individuals have reported an inability to sleep that continues to this day.

Physical and Psychological Damage Leads to Self-Harm and Attacks by "Immediate
Reaction Force"
It is well-established that solitary confinement, especially in combination with severely restncted stimuli and activity, can cause senous, and potentially permanent, psychological and physical
damage. Psychological damage can include hallucinations, extreme anxiety, hostility, confusion,
and concentration problems. Physical symptoms of solitar confinement can include impaired
eyesight, weight loss, and muscular atrophy. 17

The situation of CCR client Mohammed Khantumani emphasizes how the psychological damage from severe isolation and restnctive conditions is acerbated by cycles of self-har and physical

attacks by the guards or IRF team. Mr. Khantumani is at a psychological breaking point. On December 20, 2008, Mr. Khantumani cut multiple slashes across his inner arm and a vein in his hand. Multiple reports from other men confirm that Mr. Khantumani has been banging his head
"Federal Public Defender, Jan. 22, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fie with author).

16 Brent Mickum, Guantanámo's Lost Souls, THE GUARDIAN, Jan. 8, 2007. Mr. al-Rawi was released on March

31,2007, after four years in pnson. 17 Stuar Grassian, Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement, AMERICAN J. OF PSYCHIATRY, 140:14501454, 1984; Terr A. Kupers, The SHU Syndrome and Community Mental Health, COMMUNITY

PSYCHIATRIST, Summer 1998; Craig Haney, Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and 'Supermax'

Confinement, CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, vol. 49, no. I, January 2003; Amnesty Inll, UK Special Security Index: EUR 45/06/97), cited in Cruel and inhuman: Units - Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, 1997 (AI Conditions of isolation for detainees at Guantánamo Bay, AMNESTY INT'L 4, Apnl 5, 2007.

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against the walls of his cell for hours at a time and smeanng his cell walls with his own
excrement. Impnsoned at the age of seventeen, Mr. Khantumani has spent almost a third of his

life in Guantánamo. After being isolated in Camp 6 for over two years, and forbidden from contacting his father (another Guantánamo pnsoner), Mr. Khantumani, is exhibiting signs of serious mental trauma that are a clear result of his indefinite and extended solitar confinement. At a recent attorney-client meeting, Mr. Khantumani suffered high anxiety, was unable to
concentrate on his legal case desrite his intense desire to challenge his detention, and was
i
threatening to harm himself again.

Mr. Khantumani has been subjected to harsh discipline since he cut himself, which is likely to exacerbate his mental condition. All objects were removed from his cell, including linens, and he has been forbidden to paricipate in recreation or go outdoors. He was told he would only be allowed to eat if he took medicines in his food. A guard threatened Mr, Khantumani, tellng him that if he cut himself afain, he would never see his father. Mr. Khantumani's requests to call his
attorney were denied. i

Two weeks ago, Mr, Khantumani's attorneys began receiving alaring reports from other
attorneys that their client was, again, in dire circumstances. Although he was visited twice by
attorneys in Januar 2009, CCR attorneys aranged for an emergency phone call to determine if his circumstances had changed. We leared that shortly after his second meetings with attorneys in Januar, he began losing his sanity and smeared excrement on the walls of his cell again. He

had been unable to sleep at all because of guards banging on his cell door and shouting. A guard told him, "Nobody cares; we're going to kill you." When Mr. Khantumani did not clean up the excrement, a large IRF team of about ten soldiers rushed into his cell and beat his head, feet and hands. The guards sprayed so much tear gas or other noxious substance after the beating that it made some of the guards vomit. At the time of his phone call days after this incident, Mr. Khantumani's skin was stil red and burning from the gas. The guards also completely stnpped his cell, including depnving him of even his thin sleeping mat. After this violence, he pounded his head against the wall until it was bleeding. When he spoke with his attorney on the phone he had been in a bare cell with the walls covered in excrement, in a smock, for three days nonstop

Dunng the phone call, Mr. Khantumani told his lawyer, "I'm in despair nght now and don't know what to do. I'm going crazy." He has been told by a guard that he is an animaL. He begged his lawyers to do something to stop what he descnbed as torture. At that point, he had been held in his cell for approximately twenty days without any other items and was detained
weanng only a smock-i°

Mr. Khantumani's behavior was clearly a result of despair and psychological trauma due to his
indefinite solitary confinement,21 but he was beaten and furthered damaged rather than given
18 Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 8, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Khantumani (on fie with
author). 19 Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 3 and 8, 200, Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Khantumani (on fie

with author).

20 Pardiss Kebriaei, Feb. 5, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Khantumani (on file with
author). 21 Psychotic behavior, including smearing one's feces and incoherent mumbling and screaming is common among people who are kept in solitary confinement. See Stuar Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement,

Journal of Law & Policy, Vol. 22:325 (2006),351. Attorney Clive Stafford Smith reported that "(my client)

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access to the fresh air, sunlight, social interaction, and contact with his father necessary for his
stable mental health.

Other Unjustified Phvsical Attacks on Detained Men
In both Camp 5 and Camp 6, the traumatized men live in constant fear of physical violence.

Frequent attacks by the IRF team heightened this anxiety and reinforce that violence can be
inflcted by the guards at any moment for any perceived infraction, or sometimes without provocation or explanation.

On the afternoon of January 7, 2009, Yasin Ismael was spending time in one of the Camp 6 outdoor cages. The cage was entirely in the shade. Mr. Ismael asked to be moved to the adjoining empty cage because it had sunlight entenng from the top. The guards-who were
outside the cages-refused. One guard told Mr. Ismael that he was "not allowed to see the sun."

Angered, Mr. Ismael through a shoe against the mesh side of the cage; the shoe bounced

harmlessly back onto the cage floor. The guards, however, accused Mr. Ismael of attacking them. As punishment, they left him in the cage. He eventually fell asleep on the floor of the
cage, but hours later he was awakened by the sound of an IRF team entenng the cage in the dark.

The team shackled him and he put up no resistance. They then beat him. They blocked his nose and mouth until he felt that he would suffocate, and hit him repeatedly in the nbs and head. They then brought him back to the cell, As he was being brought back, a guard unnated on his head. Mr. Ismael was badly injured and his ear stared to bleed, leaving a large stain on his pilow?2

While at Guantánamo on Januar 13, 2009 for client meetings, Attorney Sarah Havens received

a note from a client held in Camp 6 apologizing for his inabilty to attend their scheduled
meeting:

To the lawyers: First of all, please accept my apologies for not
coming because of the disgraceful conditions we are suffenng

from in the camp. To sum up, you may have heard about the
disgraceful conditions we suffer like beating, violence, IRF teams
and aggressions from soldiers. All of us are almost (on) hunger

stnke except for a few people who can't but the majonty are on
stnke. We suffer from force feeding by tubes which in increasing

everyday. IRF teams enter our cells more than fifteen times a day. We suffer from cruelty, beatings and bodily torture by them. As
for Mohammed23 . . . IRF teams ternfied him and deliberately cut his hands by scissors. When they were asked about this, they said

that they were attempting to cut the plastic shackles. Also,

smeared feces on his cell walls. When I asked him why . . . , he told me he had no ide.... Wiliam Glaberson,
Detainees' Mental Health is Latest Legal Battle, NEW YORK TIMES, April

22 David Remes, Jan. 18, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Yasin Ismail (on fie with author). The attack
on Mr. Ismael was confirmed by at least one other detained man. Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 8, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Khantumani (on fie with author). 23 The name of this individual has been changed to protect his identity.

26, 2008.

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Ahmed24 . . . was ternfied and beaten up by the IRF teams, and
then they took him to an unknown location.

Anyway, we cannot move here; we are afraid to go out with the
soldiers to any place, because they are beating us up and insulting us while we are handcuffed, and then they claim that we stared the

violence. Certainly, the administration is giving the soldiers all the
authonty to practice violence against us. Now we are all staying

here (in our cells J and wil never go anywhere-no interrogations and no lawyers. We never go to any other locations, we are just on a hunger stnke in our cells. We demand our nghts and require to be released just as Salim Hamdan, the dnver of AI-Qa'eda leader,
who was released. . . .

.

.

.

As I told you, we are in very bad condition, suffenng from

aggression, beating and IRF teams, as well as the inabilty to sleep except for a few hours. Soldiers here are on a high alert state and if one of us dares to leave his cell and comes back without any har, he is considered as a man who survived an inevitable danger.

I have a lot to say, but they want me to finish writing now. I wish there wil be no problems at the time of your next visit so that I can
see you. Hope by now you understand my situation and that it's out of my hands.
Another man detained in Camp 5, Mohammed Taber, who has reached the breaking point with

the constant threat of violence and the stress of the conditions in that camp, simply stated, "Now people think, if they are going to torture me, just let me die.',2s
Hunl!er StrikesIorce Feedinl!

The men detained at Guantánamo have paricipated in on-going and widespread hunger stnkes as
a manner of protesting their ongoing detention and abusive treatment. Rather than bring their

conditions and detention into compliance with basic standards for humane treatment and the rule of law, the government's response has been to restrain the men in chairs, force tubes down their noses and throats, and pump food into their stomachs.

The first hunger stnke began at Guantánamo as early as February 2002. The stnkes have involved as many as 200 or more pnsoners from across the camps and have continued for
months each time, although individual men have earned out their stnkes for much longer
penods. The strikes have reportedly often been sparked by an individual act of abuse - in 2002,

the forced removal of a pnsoner's turban dunng prayer by a military police officer or, in 2005,
24 The name of this individual has been changed to protect his identity.

" Gitanjali Gutierrez, Jan. 4, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Mohammed Taher (on fie with author).

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the beatings of several pnsoners by miltar guards - and grew into large-scale protests by the
detained men for fair tnals, respect for their religion and improvements in their conditions.26

In December 2005, the practice of using "restraint chairs" to force feed men was introduced.
Pnsoners subjected to the process descnbe a tortous expenence, where men are strapped into

the chairs - marketed by their manufacturer as a "padded cell on wheels" - and restrained at the legs, ars, shoulders, and head. A tube descnbed by thi: men as the thickness of a finger is forcibly inserted up their noses and down into their stomachs and as much as 1.5 liters of formula is pumped through the tube. In the case of hunger stnkers, this amount can be more than their stomachs can comfortably hold and the effect can be an uncomfortable, sometimes painful bout
of nausea, vomiting, bloating, diarrhea, and shortness of breath. Men are kept strapped to the

chairs for an hour after "feeding" to prevent them from purging the formula. No sedatives or anesthesia are given dunng the procedure. The tubes are generally inserted and withdrawn twice
a day, and the same tubes, covered in blood and stomach bile, are reportedly used from one

patient to another without adequate sanitization??

This treatment continues to this day under the Obama Administration. Attorney Matthew O'Hara met with his client Maasoum Abdah Mouhammad on Februar 3, 2009. According to
Mr. Mouhammad, at least sixteen men, including himself, were parcipating in a hunger stnke in

Camp 6 and refused to leave their cells for tube feedings. As a result, they are attacked by the IRF team. He reported men being dragged, beaten, and stepped on and their ars and fingers twisted painfully. Dunng the tube feedings, the men are strapped into restraints for hours at a time. After twenty days of hunger stnking, an individual is forcibly overfed using the feeding tube for many days. Then the process repeats itself. Mr. Mouhammad descnbed that men were vomiting while being overfed. Some men keep their feeding tubes inserted in their noses when not in the restraint chair; the tubes continue to be very painfully inserted. Interrogators continue to pressure and coerce the men on hunger stnkes to eat, making promises that if they begin eating, they wil be moved to the communal living camp. Mr. Mouhammad descnbes these
expenences as "tortre, tortre, torture.',28

Lt. Col. Yvonne Bradley represents Binyam Mohamed, who is currently paricipating in a longterm hunger stnke. She stated on February 9, 2009, "If this keeps getting dragged out, he wil
leave Guantánamo Bay insane or in a coffin.',29

In contrast to the conditions at Guantánamo, the Bureau of Pnson regulations for individuals

convicted of crimes provide guidelines for force-feeding hunger stnkers, and require that all force-feeding of inmates must be humaneJO The World Medical Association, of which the
Amencan Medical Association is a par, has also stated that force-feeding is a violation of

26 AI-Zahrani, et al., v. Rumsfeld, et al., No. 09-cv-00028 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 29, 2(09) (Amended Complaint at 166) 27 ¡d. at169.

28 Matthew O'Hara, Feb. 3,2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Maasoum Abdah Mouhammad (on fie
with author).
29 Richard Norton-Taylor, Lawyer of

Alleged Torture Victim Makes Plea to MPs, The Guardian, Feb. 10,2009.

JO Bureau of Prisons, Hunger Strikers, 5562.005, July 29, 2005, available at http://www.bop.gov/policy/progstatl

5562_005.pdf.

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medical ethics, and that force-feeding that is accompanied by threats, coercion, force and the use of physical restraints is considered inhuman and degrading treatment. 31
Relil!ious Abuse

The men detained in Guantanamo continue to suffer from religious humilation and the inabilty to engage in religious practices. New searching procedures in Camps 5 and 6, ones not applied in the Camp 4 communal facilty, require the men to submit to a full body scan or stnp search
every time they leave their cell for attorney meetings or to be placed in the outdoor cell. The

scanning device reveals an image of the man's nude body to all those around, a highly offensive act for observant Muslims, The only alternative that is offered is to submit to a full body strip search, including visual examination of his genitals. As a result, the vast majonty of men in Camps 5 and 6 have refused to leave their cells for any reason.

A Federal Public Defender's client explained to his lawyer dunng a January 22, 2009 meeting that the most important condition to him and his fellow men detained in Camp 5 on Echo Block
to remedy was being denied the nght to congregational prayer. The camp authonties have told

)

the men that the military views praying at the same time in their cells as congregational prayer.
This individual points out, however, that prayer while isolated in a room alone is not suffcient
under the Muslim religion,32

Astoundingly, a Muslim Chaplin has also not been available to provide religious counseling to any individual at Guantanamo since 2003 despite repeated requests by the detained men to have

one available. No explanation has been given for this deficiency. In light of the Geneva
Conventions protections for religious practice, including the nght to receive ministr, it is

diffcult to imagine the United States holding individuals of other religious faiths for over seven years without providing them access to religious counseling.
Forced Separation of Familv Members and Denial of Adeauate Familv Communications

Article 82 of the 4th Geneva Convention (relative to the Protection of Civilan Persons in Time of War) states:

Throughout the duration of their internment, members of the same family, and in paricular parents and children, shall be lodged together in the same place of internment. . . . Internees may request that their children who are
left at liberty without parental care shall be interned with them.

Wherever possible, interned members of the same family shall be housed
in the same premises and given separate accommodation from other

internees, together with facilities for leading a proper family life.

31 World Medical Association Declaration on Hunger Strkers, ar. 21, Oct. 2006, available at http://www.wma.net/e/

l,2 lFederalI.htm. Defender, Jan. 22, 2009 Unclassified Attorney Notes (on fied with author). 0 icylh3 Public

Ii

Mohammed Khantumani was only 17 years old when he and his father were impnsoned in Guantánamo. Father and son have been held separately, forbidden from any communication, for the majonty of the seven years of their impnsonment. Mr, Khantumani has begged military

authonties to let him see his father, but his requests have been denied. A militar psychologist who met with Mr. Khantumani told him that he needs to be with his father to alleviate his
harful psychological stress. Instead, his interrogators have ignored this recommendation and

continue to inflct severe pressure against Mr. Khantumani to provide statements against his
father.

For clients who are not detained with family members, the International Committee of the Red

Cross facilitates family letters but the one or two page letters take months to reach the impnsoned men's familes due pnmanly to the miltar's lengthy clearance and redaction
procedures. Moreover, for the first six years of their detention, the men were forbidden from makng phone calls to their families, except in the instance of the death of a relative. Now
pnsoners are allowed only one phone call a year, 33 which is monitored by miltar authonties.

These limited and long-overdue phone calls are entirely inadequate to allow the detained men to maintain their relationships with their families, paricularly after six or seven years of almost no communications.

Recommendations
In addition to the dire need for prompt resolution of their unlawful detention at Guantánamo, the men held in Camps 5 and 6 desperately need to be moved to facilities with lawful and humane conditions of confinement. Camps 5 and 6 are in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions, Constitution, and applicable international human nghts law. CCR makes the following
recommendations for ensunng that the conditions at Guantánamo satisfy the applicable legal standards and comply with the mandate of the January 22, 2009 Executive Order:

· Camps 5 and 6 should be immediately closed and the men detained in these facilities

must be moved into lawful communal housing appropnate for their status as individuals in nonpunitive custody of the United States; · Should the United States wish to detain any individual in more restnctive conditions of confinement as a consequence of disciplinar infractions occurnng in Guantánamo, the individuals must be given adequate process to challenge the accusations of infractions; · Any punitive restnctions of the conditions of confinement must be limited in nature and
appropnate for the adjudicated infractions;

33 The Federal Bureau of Prisons regulates that inmates who have not had telephone use restricted as a result of

specific institutional disciplinar sanction should be permitted to as least one telephone call each month. See Telephone Regulations for Inmates, 28 C.F.R. § 540.100. At the federal supermax facility, the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), in florence, Colorado, even prisoners with high security
concerns are allowed one to two personal phone calls a month, and those subject to special disciplinary measures are allowed a phone call every 90 days. See United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facilty, Florence, Colorado, "Telephone Regulations for Inmates," Institutional Supplement, FLM 5264.07D, April 20, 2007, pp. 3-4;

United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, Florence, Colorado, "Visiting Procedures,"
Institutional Supplement, FLM 5267.08A, March 5, 2008, p. I.

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. DOD should immediately redress the violations of the detained individuals' nght to
practice their religion freely by allowing communal prayer and by assigning a Muslim Chaplin to Guantánamo;

· Personal care items and basic necessities should be reclassified from "pnvileges" to necessities and interrogators must no longer control the detained individuals access to
these items, including but not limited to toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, soap,

sleeping mat and blankets;
. No individual at Guantánamo should be subject to temperature manipulations and each

individual should have the opportnity to sleep without lights;

· Each individual detainee at Guantánamo should have regular and unrestricted access to fresh air and sunlight dunng daytime hours; and · No individual should be force-fed against his wil or under coercive circumstances; and
· Individuals who freely and knowingly consent to force-feeding must be provided

medically sound procedures.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can provide your office with further information or if your offce would like to interview any of our clients concerning their conditions of confinement
at Guantánamo. We thank you for your consideration of this information and prompt remedy of
these issues.

Sincerely,

Isl Gitanjali S. Gutierrez

Gitanjali S. Gutierrez Shayana Kadidal J. Wells Dixon Pardiss Kebnaei
Emi Mclean

Attorneys Center for Constitutional Rights
666 Broadway

New York, New York 10012

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