We Have Emerged from Hell - Gitmo

hermes_the_thrice_gr · July 31, 2004, 5:08am

Frenchmen Say Guantanamo Detention Was Like Hell

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Jul 30, 2:52 PM (ET)

By Laure Bretton
PARIS (Reuters) - Two Frenchmen described as hell Friday their more than two years of detention in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, their lawyer said after meeting them for the first time.

Mourad Benchellali and Nizar Sassi had concerns “about the interrogation techniques and medical experiments” at Guantanamo, Jacques Debray said outside the headquarters of the DST domestic intelligence service where the two men were being questioned.

A letter from Sassi said “bizarre” medicines had been given to inmates at night and that one caused some prisoners to break out in spots, Debray told reporters. He gave no other details.

“Each of (the two men) used the same expression, ‘We have emerged from hell’,” Debray said.

“This is huge for them because it’s the first time in two-and-a-half years that they have been able to talk to someone other than a soldier or a police officer, apart from their fellow detainees.”

Debray said he would request a full medical examination for his clients when they were brought before anti-terrorism judges Saturday.

Under French law, defense attorneys have access to clients only after 72 hours of detention. Lawyers can see case notes once suspects are brought before an examining magistrate.

Two other former Guantanamo detainees, Imad Kanouni and Brahim Yadel, are being questioned alongside Benchellali and Sassi at DST headquarters.

All four were detained by French authorities on their return to France from the U.S. base in Cuba Tuesday aboard a military plane.

The four were captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and held by American forces on suspicion of having fought for the ousted Taliban government.

President Jacques Chirac said this week the four had been returned to France after lengthy talks with U.S. authorities and pledged they would face French justice.

Three other Frenchmen remain in Guantanamo.

I say this is a good thing. I mean who’s going to be deterred from attacking the US if your life in jail is better than your free life in Ulahulahland? Awesome that we have our own Devil’s Island

Alien_Corpuscle_Bath · July 31, 2004, 5:36am

That’s not a good thing. Those guys were held without trial. What kind of bullshit is that? The U.S. does that all the damned time. If the detention center is hard on people proved guilty that is one thing, but to be rediculously harsh on people that are potentially innocent is just a violation of freedoms.

hermes_the_thrice_gr · July 31, 2004, 3:31pm

yet they are not US citizens and as such are not guaranteed the same amount of rights. Also the US doesn’t give a helluva lot of credit to the Universalisty of HUman rights…

Alien_Corpuscle_Bath · July 31, 2004, 4:18pm

They should be guaranteed those rights, or they should be let go. Once they are part of the U.S. justice system (which happens to be one of the worst on the planet) they should be guaranteed the same rights as U.S. citizens. Remember in the copnstitution “all men are created equal”. That’s the constitution we are talking about, and it doesn’t say all men who are U.S. citizens are created equal.

hermes_the_thrice_gr · July 31, 2004, 5:04pm

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

hermes the thrice great:

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

That’s not a good thing. Those guys were held without trial. What kind of bullshit is that? The U.S. does that all the damned time. If the detention center is hard on people proved guilty that is one thing, but to be rediculously harsh on people that are potentially innocent is just a violation of freedoms.

yet they are not US citizens and as such are not guaranteed the same amount of rights. Also the US doesn’t give a helluva lot of credit to the Universalisty of HUman rights…

They should be guaranteed those rights, or they should be let go. Once they are part of the U.S. justice system (which happens to be one of the worst on the planet) they should be guaranteed the same rights as U.S. citizens. Remember in the copnstitution “all men are created equal”. That’s the constitution we are talking about, and it doesn’t say all men who are U.S. citizens are created equal.

actually alien, “all men are created equal” is in the Declaration, which originates from very different political principles than the Constitution

Alien_Corpuscle_Bath · July 31, 2004, 8:00pm

hermes the thrice great:

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

hermes the thrice great:

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

That’s not a good thing. Those guys were held without trial. What kind of bullshit is that? The U.S. does that all the damned time. If the detention center is hard on people proved guilty that is one thing, but to be rediculously harsh on people that are potentially innocent is just a violation of freedoms.

yet they are not US citizens and as such are not guaranteed the same amount of rights. Also the US doesn’t give a helluva lot of credit to the Universalisty of HUman rights…

They should be guaranteed those rights, or they should be let go. Once they are part of the U.S. justice system (which happens to be one of the worst on the planet) they should be guaranteed the same rights as U.S. citizens. Remember in the copnstitution “all men are created equal”. That’s the constitution we are talking about, and it doesn’t say all men who are U.S. citizens are created equal.

actually alien, “all men are created equal” is in the Declaration, which originates from very different political principles than the Constitution

True… It was still the principles that this nation was founded upon though. Actually though, this nation was built on double standards… All men are created equal. Black men are slaves… etc.

hermes_the_thrice_gr · July 31, 2004, 8:25pm

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

hermes the thrice great:

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

hermes the thrice great:

Alien Corpuscle Bath:

That’s not a good thing. Those guys were held without trial. What kind of bullshit is that? The U.S. does that all the damned time. If the detention center is hard on people proved guilty that is one thing, but to be rediculously harsh on people that are potentially innocent is just a violation of freedoms.

yet they are not US citizens and as such are not guaranteed the same amount of rights. Also the US doesn’t give a helluva lot of credit to the Universalisty of HUman rights…

They should be guaranteed those rights, or they should be let go. Once they are part of the U.S. justice system (which happens to be one of the worst on the planet) they should be guaranteed the same rights as U.S. citizens. Remember in the copnstitution “all men are created equal”. That’s the constitution we are talking about, and it doesn’t say all men who are U.S. citizens are created equal.

actually alien, “all men are created equal” is in the Declaration, which originates from very different political principles than the Constitution

True… It was still the principles that this nation was founded upon though. Actually though, this nation was built on double standards… All men are created equal. Black men are slaves… etc.

and that is the problem of the entire enlightenment project, universal values from nowhere slap up against entrenched local traditions based on religion and economics