'I tried to kill myself because of the torture'

Sanaa: A Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay says he has tried to kill himself due to the despicable treatment he has received from the US military.

"Mohammad Al Adahi alleges that US troops have used methods of interrogation that were used by Soviet Union and North Korean interrogators in years past. His treatment has been so degrading that Al Adahi has tried to take his own life," said a statement sent to Gulf News by three US lawyers representing Yemeni detainees, including Al Adahi.

Shocking narrative

"Al Adahi's account of his journey to Guantanamo and the despicable treatment he has suffered is not just one man's story. Sadly, it is a shocking narrative that could be told by numerous other Guantanamo detainees," said the statement sent by the lawyers, John Chandler, Kristin Wilhelm and Richard Murphy, from the US firm Sutherland Asbill and Brennan.

Al Adahi says he has suffered, physical, psychological and religious torture.

"On one occasion the troops forced Al Adahi's face down into a toilet while he was handcuffed," said the statement. Al Adahi says he has spent protracted periods in shackles and his interrogators threatened to detain his wife and mother if he did not admit to supporting Al Qaida. Other times, they threatened to place his children in an orphanage if he did not talk.

"Perhaps most offensive to Al Adahi is the religious abuse he receives. On more than one occasion, US troops have purposely desecrated the Quran in front of him, they have stepped on the Quran in Al Adahi's presence and even crumpled up the pages in Al Adahi's personal copy of the Quran."

Al Adahi is in poor health due to this torture, and is on daily medication. Military physicians refuse to take his ailments seriously, lawyers said.

"Instead, they have carelessly prescribed psychiatric drugs for many of his physical problems and forced these psychiatric medications into his daily intake. Al Adahi says he has tried to kill himself as a result of the physicians' psychological torture."

Before being shipped to Guantanamo, Al Adahi says the US forces made his life a "veritable nightmare" in Kandahar.

The writer is a journalist based in Sanaa

Timeline

43-year-old was arrested while on vacation

The story of 43-year old Mohammad Al Adahi started in August 2001 when he took a vacation from a Yemeni company where he had worked for 21 years, according to his lawyers.

He was a faithful provider for his wife and two children. He accompanied his sister who left Yemen to meet her husband in Afghanistan. It was his first time out of the country.

Al Adahi and his sister flew from Yemen to Karachi. On the second day, Al Adahi and his sister flew to a town bordering Afghanistan and then travelled by car to Kandahar to meet his sister's husband.

Because he wanted to ease his sister's transition to life in Afghanistan Al Adahi remained in Afghanistan for about one month. He then started making his way back to Yemen.

He says he was detained in Pakistan by Pakistani military forces who levelled several charges against him. He was perplexed as the charges centred on his alleged involvement with Al Qaida or the Taliban, or both. He was also charged with possessing a bomb detonation device, the cheap Casio watch he was wearing at the time he was detained.

The Pakistani military turned Al Adahi over to US forces. Al Adahi's lawyers say despite the inhumane treatment and pitiful living conditions at Guantanamo, he is gaining hope he will one day see his family again.