German Turkish born citizen Murat Kurnaz was arrested in Pakistan in November 2001 when he visited some religious places as a tourist. He was 19 years old. At the time of his arrest he was on his way back home. For no reason other than that he was a foreigner he has been kept in Guantanomo Bay since that time
- without the right to see a lawyer for years
- without even being charged of a specific crime
- with no way to contact his family
- with nobody being allowed to visit him
The Americans claim that a friend of him was a suicide bomber but this alleged suicide bomber is alive and well.
His lawyer could see him for the first time by the end of 2004, almost 3 years after the illegal imprisonment.
Now the (American) lawyer told the public about how he was tortured in Guantanamo Bay. We can see that Abu Ghraib was NOT an exception, such illegal tortures happen each day in Guantanamo Bay. Committed by Americans, done to prisoners of all nations without a single prisoner being tried in a court. Although the American Supreme Court told the Bush administration that their conduct in Guantanamo Bay is illegal in every respect they disregard the court rule and keep on violating International Law each and every day. There is no chance that Murat Kurnaz will see his family again anytime soon. Years of his young life are stolen by a ruthless regime with no respect for the law.
The only country that managed to get all their citizens out there was Great Brtitain. In all cases British judges decided that there was no crime committed and no reason to keep the prisoners in that camp.
Sounds extremely similar to Mamdouh 'I-was-accidentally-in-Afghanistan-and-was-still-claiming-welfare-while-I-was-there' Habib. He was (unfortunately) released sometime. I can't remember or care for him.
What I find absolutely cynical is how the Bush administration constantly points fingers at different nations for violating human rights, while they try in every possibly way to hide all the acts of cruelty that go on everyday at Guantanamo. If Bush truly had some respect for human rights he would have fired Donald Rumsfeld after the Abu Ghraib pictures came to surface.
Goes to show you that our government is in the hand of a bunch of fuckin' hypocrites.
Go to the link below to see a bit of the Guantanamo reality. link
the thing is that cruelty is in human blood...
i have nothing against no nation - muslim or christian or wateva - as long as people respect each other's customs and dont just go in a foreign country and try to change that country according to "the dominant country"'s way. but this has happened since people started geting into groups. and now, even though human society has "evolved" we are still the same we were 2000 years before. so it doesnt surprise me that there are nations who act this way... so... while we talk here and criticize them, they continue with the brutalities. its nothing new, this is how human history goes on and on with the show...no body can stop them...
The worst part of all is that this gives terrorists (and even foreign leaders) motives to attack us. Obviously, it's absolutely condemnable to kill innocents, but you can't deny that things like what goes on at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib triggers terrorists to do all kinds of crazy acts.
I seriously pray to God that no innocent Americans have to pay with their lives for the fuck ups and other atrocities from our government officials, just like it happened on 9/11.
In the same way I pray that all innocents from any nationality are spared from any false accusations against them.
Given that in his formative years Murat Kurnaz served 6 years for sex crimes against children, I think the dirty bastard deserved every thing he got.
Okay, so I made it up - but it's interesting how a little spin effects an argument. Tourist, my arse.