Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05MANAMA229
2005-02-16 14:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Manama
Cable title:  

GULF DAILY NEWS ARTICLE CLAIMS TORTURE OF BAHRAINI

Tags:  KAWC PREL PTER MARR BA 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

161451Z Feb 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000229 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, S/WCI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2015
TAGS: KAWC PREL PTER MARR BA
SUBJECT: GULF DAILY NEWS ARTICLE CLAIMS TORTURE OF BAHRAINI
GTMO DETAINEE


Classified by DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000229

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, S/WCI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2015
TAGS: KAWC PREL PTER MARR BA
SUBJECT: GULF DAILY NEWS ARTICLE CLAIMS TORTURE OF BAHRAINI
GTMO DETAINEE


Classified by DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) While there have been previous press reports on the
six Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo, their "imminent"
release, and complaints about conditions there, a February 10
article in the English-language Gulf Daily News is perhaps
one of the more detailed and widely disseminated "expose"
pieces on this issue appearing in the Bahraini press
recently. While we cannot comment on the validity of the
claims made, we are flagging the prominence this article has
received and what is being said by one of the detainees. The
GOB has not approached the Embassy about the article.


2. (U) English-language daily the Gulf Daily News February
10 reported that Bahraini detainee at GTMO Juma Mohammed Al
Dossary was tortured by U.S. soldiers in Kandahar,
Afghanistan shortly after being captured in December 2001.
(Note: The Al Dossary family is close to the ruling Al
Khalifa family. There are Al Dossarys who live in both
Bahrain and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. End Note.)
The story, titled "Torture Horror of Bahraini Detainee" and
written by Robert Smith, ran under a photograph of a group of
orange jumpsuit-clad detainees being guarded while kneeling
along the perimeter of a chain link fence and a photo of Al
Dossary dressed in a blue sweater talking on the phone during
"his days as a student in the U.S." The article is available
on the Internet at:
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc Articles.asp? (URL
continues below)
Article=103999&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=27327.


3. (U) The claim of torture was made by Joshua
Colangelo-Bryan, an American attorney representing the six
Bahraini detainees in GTMO who visited the facility in
October 2004. According to Colangelo-Bryan, Al Dossary spent
two weeks at a Kandahar camp where U.S. soldiers forced him
to walk barefoot on broken glass and pushed his head into the
glass before interrogating him. Colangelo-Bryan alleged that
Al Dossary was shocked with an electric device on his face
and back during interrogation and had boiling liquid,
possibly tea, poured over his head. On one occasion, he was
beaten to the point of fainting, and he claims that when he
regained consciousness, he was lying on the ground with his
head under a soldier's boot. After being subject to beatings
and a "violent cavity search," Colangelo-Bryan claims that Al
Dossary "began to offer to do anything requested of him -
such as admit to being a terrorist or sign a statement - in
the hope of preventing further beatings."

MONROE