Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Jason Leopold the American investigative reporter, author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller ‘News Junkie – a memoir’ and the current deputy managing editor of Truthout has published an article titled ‘Guantanamo Hunger Strike “Potentially Life-Threatening” Attorneys Allege in Letter to Prison Officials’. Leopold states “…One prisoner who has experienced dramatic weight loss is 37-year-old Fayiz al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti who has been detained at Guantanamo for nearly 11 years. His military attorney, Air Force Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, told Truthout Tuesday that al-Kandari has lost roughly 26 pounds and another Kuwaiti prisoner, Fawzi al-Ohda, 24 pounds since they began hunger striking three weeks ago. Wingard, who is currently at Guantanamo visiting with his client, said neither prisoner has been “tubed yet.” Wingard said al-Kandari was “unfocused and had difficulty focusing on our various discussions.” On a Facebook page set up for al-Kandari and al-Ohda, 35, a post dated February 28 claimed Guantanamo guards were taunting the hunger strikers. “In response to the hunger strike, soldiers opened containers of food so the smell could fill the prison,” the Facebook post alleges. “The prisoners were then asked if they wanted one or two servings of food. The response with a big smile: ‘Do you really think the smell of your food is stronger than our religion?'” …”There is a real sense of frustration and desperation beginning to sink in here,” Wingard said. “I believe the bigger problem is that the 30- to 40-year-old men have decided not to passively die in animal cages without an opportunity to represent themselves, now well into their twelfth year. For them, any hope of justice has long since faded and death is looking like the only road out of Guantanamo.” In January, the State Department shut down the office that was set up to close Guantanamo and repatriate the prisoners who have been cleared for release.”

Inspired by Jason Leopold, Truthout ow.ly/j4lbx Image source Facebook ow.ly/j4lFl

Fayiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari the 37 year old Kuwaiti citizen who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for nearly 11 years on purely ‘hearsay evidence’ has been profiled in the New York Times. The Project Kuwaiti Freedom states “Al Kandari was a 27 year-old student who went to Afghanistan during his summer vacation in 2001 to render humanitarian aid. It was his belief that helping others might honor his grandmother, who had just died, and bring better health to his mother, who was suffering from cancer. After being captured by U.S. forces, he wrote in a message to his family that an American investigator had questioned him and found nothing against him, and he believed he would soon be freed. He wrote in a Red Cross letter, “If the construction of a mosque…or the digging of a well is the sin that makes me a detainee, then I willingly accept my detention.” Al Kandari according to his Lawyers, is as an example of a detainee for whom all the evidence against him is ‘hearsay evidence’. “Indeed, the evidence considered persuasive by the Tribunal is made up almost entirely of hearsay evidence recorded by unidentified individuals with no first hand knowledge of the events they describe.” A tribunal report noted. Al Kandari’s lead attorney from the Office of Military Commissions, Lieutenant Colonel Barry D. Wingard states “Outside of the CSRT process, this type of evidence is more commonly referred to as ‘rumor’” and that “Vague charges made it difficult to defend his client …There simply is no evidence other than he is a Muslim in Afghanistan at the wrong time, other than double and triple hearsay statements, something I have never seen as justification for incarceration…” Al Kandari is still subjected to harsh treatment and has been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, physical abuse, being placed in stress positions, sexual humiliation, and the use of extreme temperature, loud music and dogs.”

Inspired by Project Kuwaiti Freedom ow.ly/hYChK Image source New York Times ow.ly/hYCfz

Fawzi [Fouzi] Khaled Abdullah Fahad Al Odah the 35 year old Kuwaiti citizen and teacher held in the US Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for the past 11 years without charge has been featured in the New York Times. Fawzi traveled to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area in order to undertake charitable outreach work. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fawzi fled Afghanistan, intending to return home to Kuwait, however having crossed the border into Pakistan he was captured by Pakistani bounty hunters who handed him along with eleven other Kuwaitis over to American authorities. The Kuwait Freedom Project established to seek the release of Fawzi and other Kuwaiti detainee’s reports that Fawzi spent his summers traveling in poor nations to educate less fortunate students, and along with his family have built libraries and wells in Africa. They’ve sponsored orphans in countries including Albania. Fawzi has not had any weapons training or experience, writing to his parents in 2002 stating, “Now I am detained by the American forces and investigations are still going on…I will be established as innocent soon, and then I will return back to you…” Fawzi’s father, Khalid Al-Odah, is the head of the Kuwaiti Family Committee, an organization formed by relatives of the detainees to advocate for their just treatment under the U.S. judicial system. The elder Al-Odah is a former member of the Kuwaiti Air Force, who trained with American servicemen in the United States and flew missions with them as an ally in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. … The U.S. Government contends that Fawzi’s true purpose in Afghanistan was to join the Taliban and al Qaeda referring to “additional incriminating evidence” discovered since his capture, however the nature of that evidence is redacted in the unclassified version…”

Inspired by Project Kuwaiti Freedom ow.ly/hMvRJ Image source Wikipedia ow.ly/hMvQa

Adel Abdul Hadi the 52 year old Kuwaiti lawyer and founder of the Al Oula Law firm, a registered arbitrator and an active member of the Kuwait Lawyers Society, Kuwait Journalists Society and Kuwait Human Rights Committee. Adel is regarded as a distinguished and articulate advocate handling several high profile cases and giving a voice to the under privileged through pro bono work. Adel has published an article in the Kuwait Times titled ‘Gitmo Kuwait’s lawyer slams Kuwait envoy to US’ in which he states “…the Ambassador has claimed that the Embassy is vigorously working on the Guantanamo case. This claim is rather unfortunate and completely false, though I am not unmindful that what our diplomats at the Embassy may claim to be ‘working vigorously’ on this case may have involved hosting fancy dinners and issuing fleeting statements, which have not produced any tangible result in this case. …if this Ambassador [Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah] is the representative of the State of Kuwait in the most powerful nation of the United States of America, may God assist the people of Kuwait who are resident in other countries. In the event that the Ambassador is handling with negligence and laxity and lack of information in a case [Fayiz Al-Kandari] that is important to the international community in general and specifically to the Kuwait people, a case which His Highness the Amir considers his first and last case and of high priority, then I convey my condolences to the Kuwait people for the demise of Kuwait diplomacy. I would have hoped that the Ambassador will, rather than focus on fruitless arguments, make serious efforts in this case being an imperative of his office. Where he so clearly cannot perform the duties and tasks entrusted to him by virtue of his office, especially following up the wellbeing of Kuwait citizens in the United States, he should freely say so and relinquish his position as Ambassador.”

Inspired by Adel AbdulHadi, Kuwait Times ow.ly/hjQCD Image source Twitter ow.ly/hjR23