The alleged suicide of three men held incommunicado and illegally at Guantanamo Bay for several years has brought the case of all the forgotten detainees there into the spotlight.
The US government did neither itself nor its image in the world any good by setting up a prison beyond the reach of international observers and in clear contravention of what was, until then, the most sacred and most revered American rights and traditions.
I am angry. I am outraged. The Ummah and far too many freedom-loving people in the world have kept silent while the unfortunate detainees were being subjected to the severest mental and physical torture in what is simply nothing but an American-run hellhole.
Abandoned by us all, these poor and many innocent detainees have endured a horror beyond imagining.
Disregarding international criticism by human rights groups and repeated calls by international legal bodies, the US continues to hold these poor individuals.
The indefinite detention with none of the rights afforded to formal prisoners of war or criminal suspects has greatly blackened America's reputation.
While unreservedly condemning the US government, we must also give credit to the many Americans who have not only protested and spoken out against their government's actions but who have also offered help to the detainees as much as possible and who have brought cases before US courts.
Alleged suicides
The description of the alleged suicides of the three Guantanamo prisoners as "a good PR move" by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy is abominable.
"They are smart. They are creative. They are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own," said US Navy Rear Admiral Harry Harris.
Graffy and Rear Admiral Harris stand shamed before the world for their puerile utterances.
There is no case. No proof. No evidence that any of these people were involved in any crime. Many were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Take the case of five Muslim Uighurs en route to Turkey through Afghanistan; they were caught in the crossfire as the US Air Force rained down death and destruction and they fled to neighbouring Pakistan.
They were first given hospitality by local tribesmen and then taken to a mosque and handed over to US forces who had paid the tribesmen $5,000 for each of them.
As is well-known from those who know the history of the region as the Americans most obviously do not the tribesmen along what is now the Pakistan/Afghan border will sell anything and anyone for a price.
Another detainee is a young Pakistani who had gone to Kandahar to teach in a school. He is now in Guantanamo. The deputy editor of an English-language paper is also being detained in what is no more than an American concentration camp.
The foreign forces and the anti-Taliban commanders in Afghanistan were and are ignorant. Anyone sporting a beard was deemed a Taliban supporter.
As for the Saudis, many were doing relief work. A good number were encouraged to go there.
I remember the Afghan war during the Soviet occupation; young Saudis were given encouragement from all levels to go and fight and help their Muslim brothers.
The salaries of those who went were paid even when they were away. When the war ended, many who returned to Arab countries were viewed with suspicion. Some were jailed. There were no programmes to reintegrate them into society or to help them adapt.
Some families shunned their sons and brothers when they returned. Many of the men developed mental problems.
Who then was to blame? We as a society should have accepted the responsibility and should have tried to do something about the problem.
When poor innocent people were taken by force to Guantanamo and subjected to the worst mental torture, we did the Arab thing and put our heads into the sand.
The Americans took their sweet time at reclassifying the sufferers as "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war since, as prisoners of war, the Geneva Conventions would have applied to their treatment.
The detainees were at this time being driven mad.
In fact, the US authorities played a devious game. They allowed Chinese interrogators to interview Chinese detainees who made threats against them and their families.
On the way to Guantanamo, the so-called "defender of human rights" stopped at various countries where torture is allowed and left many people there for weeks in order to get information from them. All human rights principles and conventions were disregarded and shattered by the US.
Be ashamed
Now 26-year-old Manie Bin Shaman Al Utaibi is dead. Yasser Bin Talal Al Zahrani who was only 17 when he was captured is now dead at 22.
Put yourself, dear readers, in their shoes. Kidnapped, abused, tortured and not knowing for what. We should all be ashamed and I first of all. Where were we? Why was there no outcry from any of us? Why didn't we ask those who claim to be friends of the Arabs in the US to intervene?
This is an indictment of the US and its inhuman policies. It is thus the duty of every Saudi to write to members of the US Congress, to legal bodies in the US, to the "friends" of Saudi Arabia and the Arabs and immediately ask them to speak strongly in favour of shutting down the concentration camp as well as for the freeing of the innocent detainees.
And a full and independent investigation that does not mean an American-controlled one should take place as soon as possible and anyone suspected of foul play, at whatever level, should be held accountable.
Let us not be embarrassed or shy. Our voices should be heard so that pressure will be felt all the way up to those responsible for the barbaric tyranny so that they know we are aware of their crimes and hold them responsible.
Let us make support groups for the families of those held in Guantanamo and for those who died there. Let us work to reduce the families' sufferings and the misery of their uncertainty.
Let me ask the authorities to treat the returning detainees with care and empathy for they are our sons and brothers. God bless all those who died in Guantanamo and give patience and forbearance to their families.
Khaleed Al Maeena is the Editor-in-Chief of the Jeddah-based Arab News
