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Afghanistan: The Ordeal Of A Guantanamo Prisoner
24.06.2003 [06:38]

American special forces said yesterday that they had arrested 15 people in Orugzan province in central Afghanistan. For their part, the neo-Taliban threatened the United States with suicide missions and announced they had formed a 'martyrs' corp.
Since the attack that killed 4 German soldiers of the ISAF on June 7, craziness in Kabul has reached new heights. NGOs and the UN are demanding that the International Peacekeeping Force go beyond the capital. Security in the country is getting worse everywhere in Afghanistan and foreigners are in the line of fire. "Even if the Americans have officially ended the war in Afghanistan, they continue to arrest people and send them to Guantanamo, which creates resentment in the population," a Red Cross official told us.
"A cage! Can you imagine, my son spent ten months in a cage two meters by two meters by one and a half meters ! Can you imagine that in the 21st century?" Everyone in the office laughs. Humor is all Sayed Roshan has left. He's the general air traffic director for the Afghan airline Ariana. Like him, his colleagues wear coats and ties. They share a small room full of files where a tea-kettle is always boiling, to make green tea.
They know the story of Abaseen, Roshan's son, by heart. They sympathize. Abaseen - a member of Al Qaeda or even a Taliban activist? Nobody here ever believed that. But they were all caught up in his arrest in Gardez (to the east) on April 10, 2002, then his liberation a few weeks later.
"There's no reason for me to hide what happened, my son is innocent," Roshan says. Testifying to his innocence is a certificate given to him by the Afghan police when he, along with 17 others, came back. They were all exculpated by "American judges in Cuba," says Roshan triumphantly. But there's still the fallout from their long ordeal. As for Abaseen, he's lost half of his ability to see clearly, and since his return is recovering from exhaustion at the family home.
Roshan tells the story slowly. "My son is a student, he wanted to become an engineer. Sometimes, to make a little money, he drove a taxi. Long rides, most often between Kabul and Khost." On April 10, 2002, he was driving a few people when he was stopped at a police barrier in Gardez. "The governor of Paktia province and the Americans decided that they were members of Al Qaeda," continued Roshan. A complete absurdity.
"I myself spent several months in prison under the Taliban because they didn't think I was pious enough, and my son has never been involved in any political activity." First, Abaseen was badly beaten by Afghan police in the Gardez detention center. A few days later, he was transferred to the American base at Bagram, where, for 45 days, he underwent interrogations that included physical abuse. Then he was sent to Kandahar, before being sent to Guantanamo.
During this entire time, his father had no news. "I knew he had been arrested," says Roshan, "so I went to the United States embassy in Kabul. I also say UN representatives. I even wrote to Washington." He continues: "The first letter from Abaseen arrived from Guantanamo. He has always said that compared to what he had endured in Afghanistan, it was a lot better over there. In Guantanamo, at least, he wasn't beaten." But he left his cage only every fifteen days, with his feet fettered.
At end of May, Amnesty International expressed alarm in its annual report about the human rights abuses committed by some nations in the name of the struggle against terrorism. The organization denounced Camp X-Ray, on the American base on Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where more than 600 prisoners are detained. They are still waiting to be charged and have no access to lawyers.
Amnesty has also criticized the prison at Bagram. On his return to Kabul, Abaseen did not immediately return home. He spent two more days in the hands of the police. "I didn't understand why they weren't releasing him. I knew that other parents had already seen their children," Roshan explains. He adds: "I figured it out quickly enough: they had paid 600 afghanis (about $12) for that."
Today, his "certificate of innocence" in his pocket, Abaseen is trying to rebuild a life. One of his best friends is still in Guantanamo. His name is Wazir Mohammed, and he's 28 years old. He was also arrested in Gardez on April 10. "Because" of Abaseen. A student, he was too was making ends meet by driving a taxi.
"On April 10, 2002, when he arrived at Gardez, he saw Abaseen's vehicle in front of the police station. So he asked where his friend was," says Taj Mohammed, Wazir's brother. "You know Abaseen?" a police officer asked Wazir, so you must be his accomplice. He went through the same thing: beating in Gardez, then at Bagram and Kandahar, departure for Guantanamo... where he is still waiting to be released. "There is no justice in Afghanistan. It's all warlords and corruption. For their part, the Americans don't do serious investigations," says Taj Mohammed, bitterly. In Gardez, a 10-month-old baby, Wazir's son, is waiting for his father to return from Guantanamo. He has never seen him.
Источник: Marie-France Calle/Le Figaro, France