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Lawyer pleads for release of Guantanamo detainees

Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Gulf News
June 29, 2006

Manama : Two weeks after three GuantanamoBay detainees hanged themselves in their cells, the lawyer of Juma Al Dossary, a Bahraini who tried to commit suicide 13 times at the US-run prison, pleaded for extra efforts to ensure his release before it is too late.

"We implore those who care about him in Bahrain to do everything in their power to bring him and our other clients home," New-York-based lawyer Joshua Bryan-Colangelo yesterday told Gulf News.

"In light of Al Dossary's condition and the recent deaths at Guantanamo, we could not be more concerned for Al Dossary. In fact, the situation could not be more desperate or grave," he said.

According to the lawyer who has been representing the three Bahrainis detained at the prison camp, Al Dossary had been feeling utterly hopeless.

"On March 11, those feelings were overwhelming and he had become very sad and desperate and felt very isolated to continue. Although he was fighting with himself to maintain a sense of emotional balance, he decided to kill himself," Bryan-Colangelo said quoting Al Dossary who described to him his last suicide attempt.

"At 11pm, he jammed the lock of his cell door by inserting the top of a yogurt container in the mechanism. He then took a razor that he had been hiding and cut a vein in his leg below the knee. This caused a lot of bleeding. A soldier walked by Al Dossary's cell and saw the blood. He called for help and many guards arrived. The guards yelled at Al Dossary not to hurt himself but they could not open the door because it had been jammed," he said.

"Al Dossary then took his blanket and put it over his head so that he would not have to see the guards and they could not see him. Looking into the mirror in his cell, he slashed open his throat.

"After this, Al Dossary was in and out of consciousness. He said the floor and walls of his cell were covered in blood. "Eventually, guards were able to open the door and moved Al Dossary to hospital where surgery was performed," the lawyer said.

The lawyer said that he saw during a visit to the prison a large, deep and red scar on Al Dossary's leg and a scar across his Adam's apple.

Meanwhile a petition will be handed to US embassy officials in Manama in a bid to convey the wishes of the people and residents of Bahrain to see the prison camp shut and the prisoners repatriated, he said.

"Prominent lawyers, religious leaders and rights activists will address the audience and will highlight the status of the prison and will call upon the Americans to put an end to the grotesque anomaly," a statement from the National Justice (Adala) Society said in Manama.

AWARENESS
Replica to explain torture at prison

A former BahrainiGuantanamoBay detainee is to use a replica of the US-run prison camp to explain the tortures and punishments meted out to the inmates.

The unprecedented graphic demonstration will be part of a series of activities organised by a political society to garner support for the three Bahrainis still imprisoned at the detention centre.

Three other Bahrainis were released last November from the prison.

Pictures depicting the sufferings of the detainees will also be used at the three-day festival organised on three successive evenings at Manama's front beach to ensure maximum publicity, the organisers said.

"We will ask people to sign a petition that we will later submit to the King urging him to help with the release of the three Bahrainis held at the infamous prison," National Justice (Adala) Society event coordinator Mohammad Janahi yesterday said in a press statement.

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