Sami Al-Haj

Sami al-Haj on his arrival in Doha at the end of May 2008

Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj ( Arabic سامي محي الدين محمد الحاج Sami Mohi ad-Din Muhammed al-Hajj , DMG Sāmī Muḥī ad-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ḥāǧǧ , also known as Sami Al-Haj ; * February 15, 1969 in Khartoum ) is a Sudanese citizen and cameraman for the Al Jazeera television station, who was held in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base prison camp in Cuba foralmost six years without charge or trial. He is a co-founder of the Guantánamo Justice Center , an organization of former inmates of the prison camp, whose aim is to bring criminal proceedings against George W. Bush and other US government officials together.

Life

To person

Sami al-Haj was born in Sudan in 1969 and grew up there as the second oldest of six children. According to his younger brother Asim, Sami was interested in journalism at an early age, and enjoyed reading, writing and photography. With financial support from his uncle, he was able to study English at a university in India before starting a job in the United Arab Emirates in the 1990s .

In the late 1990s, he worked as an administrative clerk at a beverage company and at an import-export company. At this time he also met his wife Asma, an Azerbaijani woman . The two married in 1998, had a son in 2000 and moved to Doha , Qatar .

In April 2000 Sami al-Haj started an apprenticeship at Al Jazeera as a freelancer . As Al Jazeera reported, he was initially deployed to assist with research on Chechnya , but never traveled there. While doing this, he met several times in Qatar with the exiled former President of Chechnya, who was accused of being linked to al-Qaeda .

After the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent US-led attack on the Taliban , Sami al-Haj volunteered to go to Afghanistan, as few people showed up for the dangerous mission. He was then hired by Al Jazeera as a cameraman. Although a colleague friend and his family advised against it, he insisted on it because he saw it as a great opportunity for his professional future.

“With the new treaty under his belt, in October 2001 al-Haj joined a group led by reporter Youssef al-Shouly in the Taliban-controlled southeastern Afghanistan. People worked together for almost two months, often 15 hours a day. Al-Haj documented the civilian casualties of the American bombs with a handheld camera and a video telephone [...]. His pictures were almost the only ones that came from southeastern Afghanistan at the time. ”During this time, they crossed the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Chaman crossing point several times without any problems .

Arrested in Pakistan and detained in Afghanistan

In December 2001, while in Pakistan, the television station sent him back to Afghanistan to cover the inauguration of the new government. On his way there, he was arrested by the Pakistani police at the Chaman border crossing point on December 15, 2001, because his name and the number of his old passport, which he had reported lost two years earlier, were on a list of suspects with connections to the Pakistani secret service stood by al-Qaeda. His passport, visa for Afghanistan and his press card were taken from him. On January 7, 2002, the Pakistani authorities handed him over to the US military in Afghanistan. This was followed by 16 days of imprisonment in Bagram Military Prison , which Sami al-Haj reported was the worst days of his life. He reported severe physical torture, dogs put on him, too little and frozen food, and that he was caged in an ice-cold hangar. Then he was taken to Kandahar . About the treatment he received there, he explained that he had been subjected to sexual humiliation and threats of rape by US soldiers, that he had been forced to kneel for hours on the concrete floor, that he had been beaten regularly by the guards, that all of his whiskers had been removed were individually plucked and that he was not allowed to wash for over 100 days, even though his body was covered with lice.

Guantánamo

On June 13, 2002, he was transferred to Guantánamo. He reported that he was handcuffed during the flight, with a sack over his head, prevented from sleeping by blows to the head, and was also prevented from sleeping for two days after arrival before being interrogated for the first time .

The US authorities have never charged him, although during the years of his imprisonment they confronted him with new accusations, all of which he denied. Among other things, he was accused of running a terrorism-supporting website, selling Stinger missiles to Islamic militants in Chechnya, and interviewing Osama bin Laden. However, in the more than 130 interrogations, he was hardly asked about his alleged connections to Al-Qaeda or other radical groups. The interrogations allegedly centered on Al Jazeera's activities. His attorney Clive Stafford-Smith explained about the interrogations, among other things, that for a long time the sole purpose of the interrogation was to make Sami al-Haj an information person against Al Jazeera and to let him testify that Al Jazeera was connected with al-Qaeda. In particular, he was supposed to testify against some of his work colleagues whom the interrogators claimed to be members of al-Qaeda, which he firmly refused because it was simply not true. On September 11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a new charge was brought against him of having received training as a terrorist and that that training was in use by Al Jazeera having been trained by cameras.

Journalists around the world had repeatedly requested his release.

Sami al-Haj accused the guards in Guantánamo of smashing his kneecap, of beating him on the soles of his feet, of using military dogs to scare him when he arrived in Guantánamo, of racially humiliating him, of tying him up and treating him with pepper spray and have denied him adequate medical treatment. Although he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and will therefore have to depend on certain medications for the rest of his life, he was never given these medications during his imprisonment. During his imprisonment, he developed rheumatism, had dental problems and had poor eyesight. Amnesty International reported in January 2006 that he was not given glasses or dental work and that he had been denied a bracket for his knee, which had been crushed by a US soldier, “for safety reasons”. In line with other prisoners, Sami al-Haj accused the American authorities of having forced pathogenic vaccinations on the prisoner.

Sami al-Haj testified to the 2003 Koran abuse and participated in hunger strikes against the detention conditions and the treatment by the staff. The reaction of the US soldiers to the protests was violent. Sami al-Haj said he was beaten and thrown down the stairs, causing serious head injuries. The suturing of a wound that became necessary was carried out without painkillers. He was later isolated before being transferred to Camp V, believed to be the worst of all detention camps in Guantánamo, for eight months, where he was locked under fourth security, that is, subjected to the most cruel treatment.

On January 7, 2007, Sami al-Haj and several other detainees went on a hunger strike again. Attorney Stafford-Smith reported that all personal items such as soap, toothpaste, prayer beads, sheets, glasses, knee braces and books were gradually taken from him during the hunger strike. Since the 21st day of the hunger strike, in violation of the Tokyo Declaration, he has been force-fed through a tube inserted through his nose twice a day. Al-Haj told his lawyer that injuries were often caused by inexperienced personnel by using tubes that were too large in diameter or by inserting them into the lungs instead of the stomach. Army spokesman Haupt reassured that none of the hunger strikers were in mortal danger because of the efforts of the medical team.

The Mauritanian Mohamed Lemine Ould Sidi Mohamed, who was released from Guantánamo custody on September 25, 2007, stated that he last spoke to Sami al-Haj on the day of his release. He reported that his health was deteriorating and that he was not receiving adequate medical treatment. He was constantly losing weight, had a kidney infection and urinating blood.

The BBC reporter Alan Johnston , released after months of being held hostage in the Gaza Strip , called for Sami al-Haj's right to a fair trial. During Johnston's detention, Sami al-Haj had said in a public appeal to the hostage-takers that his own captivity by the United States should not serve as a master copy for Muslims.

In a letter written in late December 2007 in which Sami al-Haj protested the conditions in the US detention center and drew attention to the suffering of the prisoners, he wrote, “All of this takes place in a world that knows what is happening, but remains silent and does not do much more than watch this unfortunate theater ".

In mid-March 2008, it was announced that the US Army had banned the publication of four cartoons drawn by al-Haj entitled Sketches of My Nightmare ; one of the drawings shows al-Haj as a skeleton force-fed by US guards. However, his lawyer was not prevented from bringing notes from Guantánamo describing the pictures. Based on these notes, cartoonist Lewis Peake made replicas of the drawings.

In April 2008, attorney Clive Stafford Smith told Al Jazeera news channel that in a desperate attempt to dissuade Sami from his hunger strike, US authorities were using a new method of psychological torture by persuading him that he had cancer. and that he would not receive adequate medical treatment until he stopped the hunger strike. Stafford Smith said he could not judge for himself whether they were simply trying to scare him to stop the hunger strike or whether they were guilty of the crime of refusing him medical care.

After there had been indications of an early release of Sami al-Haj in August 2007 and again in January 2008, he was finally released on May 1, 2008 after more than six years in prison and a 16 month hunger strike. Lawyer Zachary Katznelson, who last saw him three weeks before his release, said about his health that he was very thin, looked very ill, had kidney and liver problems, and had blood in his urine.

After his arrival in Sudan on May 2, 2008, it became known that al-Haj had not been released but had been handed over to the Sudanese government. However, the Sudanese Justice Minister stated that al-Haj was a free man and would not be imprisoned or brought on any charges. Al-Haj said the American authorities wanted his release to be subject to three conditions, but he refused to sign them: not to cooperate with the media, to keep quiet about what he saw in Guantánamo and not to leave Sudan.
Commenting on his detention conditions in Guantánamo, he said, among other things, "rats are treated with more humanity" than prisoners and "detention conditions in Guantánamo are very, very poor and are getting worse every day".

The US authorities denied any allegations of torture and expressed doubts about Sami's credibility.

Back in Doha

On May 31, 2008, Al-Haj returned to Doha, Qatar. In October 2008 he received the Press Freedom Award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). He is currently working on a series of programs for Al Jazeera on human rights. In July 2009 he and other former Guantánamo prisoners founded the Guantanamo Justice Center , an organization that works to protect and uphold the rights of the victims of the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay. In 2011, documents were published via Wikileaks, according to which Al-Haj was also detained for the purpose of obtaining information about how Al-Jazeera worked.

Web links

• Profiles: Sami al-Hajj , Al Jazeera, September 9, 2009
• “Prisoner 345: Campaign for Sami Al-Hajj” (English)
• Testimony from Sami al-Haj, journalist at Al-Jazeera , interview by Silvia Cattori
• Robert Fisk: Six years in Guantanamo , The Independent, September 25, 2008
• Sami al-Haj: the banned torture pictures of a journalist in Guantánamo

Movie

• Prisoner 345 - award winning documentary about Al-Hajj

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gwladys Fouché: Al-Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay to sue George Bush. In: Guardian. July 17, 2009, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Joel Campagna: The Enemy? , CPJ, October 3, 2006
3. ↑ McClatchy: 5 years later, cameraman still held at Guantanamo ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 27, 2007 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sudanese national: Sami al Hajj. In: Amnesty International. January 11, 2006, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
5. ↑ The Independent: Reporting on life behind the wire: The Sudanese journalist held in Guantanamo Bay ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 9, 2007 
6. ↑ Asim Khan & Mahfoud El Gartit: Guantanamo ordeal of Aljazeera cameraman. Aljazeera, October 28, 2005, accessed January 1, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Democracy Now! : Gitmo Attorney Clive Stafford Smith on Seeking Justice at the “Flagship of Secret Prisons” ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 11, 2007 
8. ^ ^{A b} Johnston appeals for al-Hajj trial. In: Al Jazeera. October 5, 2007, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
9. ↑ Al Jazeera detainee 'force-fed'. Al Jazeera, March 8, 2007, accessed January 1, 2009 . 
10. ↑ Helsinki? Malta? http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/index.php?id=47439
11. ↑ Sudanese cameraman Sami Al-Haj in critical condition in Guantanamo. In: Reporters without borders. August 22, 2007, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
12. ↑ Glocalist: Guantamo and press freedom 23 August, 2007
13. ↑ Guantanamo: Al-Hajj health worsens. Al Jazeera, October 3, 2007, accessed January 1, 2009 . 
14. ↑ Der Standard: Journalist protests against detention conditions in Guantanamo , January 18, 2008
15. ↑ Al Jazeera: “Al-Hajj's Guantanamo cartoon banned” , March 18, 2008
16. ^ Andy Worthington: The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See. In: AlterNet . April 11, 2008, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
17. ↑ Rhodri Davies in Al Jazeera: “US secret prices 'bigger issue'” , April 26, 2008
18. ↑ Al Jazeera: “Sami al-Hajj freed from Guantanamo” , May 1, 2008
19. ↑ Al Jazeera: “Sami al-Hajj hits out at US captors” , May 2, 2008
20. ↑ Tima Chadid: Sami al-Hajj: 'Thank you, Guantanamo'. In: Menassat.com. October 7, 2008, accessed on November 2, 2008 (English): “Al-Hajj says they put three conditions to him: not to work with the media, not to talk about what he saw in Guantanamo, and not to travel outside Sudan . But he refused to sign, as did his government. " 
21. ↑ ^{a b} Al Jazeera: “Freed journalist returns to Doha” , May 31, 2008
22. ↑ Al Jazeera: “Doha red carpet awaits Sami al-Hajj,” May 30, 2008
23. ↑ Canadian Journalists for Free Expression honors three with annual press freedom awards. In: CJFE. October 22, 2008, accessed March 15, 2011 . 
24. ↑ Guantanamo detainee Sami al-Hajj to receive international press freedom award ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , journalism.co.uk, September 15, 2008 
25. ^ Guantanamo Justice center - About Us. In: Guantanamo Justice center. July 30, 2009, accessed March 16, 2011 . 
26. ↑ http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/al-jazeera-journalist-s-six-years-in-guant-namo-due-in-part-to-role-at-network/s2/a543834 /