[Mb-civic] Writing by Suicidal Detainee Reveals Depths of His Despair - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Writing by Suicidal Detainee Reveals Depths of His Despair

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; A05

Just before Jumah al-Dossari tried to kill himself by fashioning a 
makeshift noose and opening a gash in his right arm, the Guantanamo Bay 
detainee handed his lawyer an envelope containing pages of tidily 
handwritten Arabic, some stained with dried blood. Dossari had told his 
lawyer they could discuss the letter at a later time.

"The detainees are suffering from the bitterness of despair, the 
detention humiliation and the vanquish of slavery and suppression," 
Dossari wrote, according to a translation. "I hope you will always 
remember that you met and sat with a 'human being' called 'Jumah' who 
suffered too much and was abused in his belief, self, dignity and also 
in his humanity. He was imprisoned, tortured and deprived from his 
homeland, his family and his young daughter who is in the most need of 
him for four years . . . with no reason or crime committed."

The letter is a rare personal glimpse into the desperation some 
detainees at the U.S. detention facility in Cuba feel, and an emotional 
account of one man's turmoil and ultimate decision to die rather than 
stay in prison another day. Dossari's October suicide attempt -- one of 
nearly a dozen times he has tried to kill himself in his four years on 
the island -- failed because his lawyer, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, 
discovered him bleeding and hanging limp in a cell where he was supposed 
to be on a bathroom break.

Dossari, 32, a Bahraini national, tried to kill himself twice after the 
October attempt, telling his lawyers that the indefinite nature of his 
detention and his lack of interaction with other people were causing him 
a deepening depression.

"There was no other alternative to make our voice heard by the world 
from the depths of the detention centers except this way in order for 
the world to reexamine its standing and for the fair people of America 
to look again at the situation and try to have a moment of truth with 
themselves," Dossari wrote. "When you remember me in my last gasps of 
life before dying, while my soul is leaving my body to rise to its 
creator, remember that the world let us and our case down. Remember that 
our governments let us down."

Dossari wrote that he believes he and other detainees "were captured, 
tortured and detained with no offense or reason."

The U.S. military, however, thinks Dossari is a terrorist with ties to 
al-Qaeda, and he has been deemed an enemy combatant. U.S. officials cite 
Dossari's alleged ties to terrorist cells in the United States and they 
think he was at Tora Bora, an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, 
before his arrest.

Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a Guantanamo Bay spokesman, said Dossari can 
interact with other detainees and exercise, and has access to religious 
items, books, magazines and writing material as well as medical and 
behavioral professionals. Martin also emphasized that abuse is not 
tolerated at the facility.

"Claims of detainee abuse and torture are documented al-Qaeda tactics, 
used to manipulate the media and bring pressure on the United States 
Government for their release," Martin said in an e-mail response to 
questions.

Colangelo-Bryan said Dossari handed him the envelope during their 
October meeting and tried to kill himself moments later in another room. 
After the suicide attempt, the lawyer opened the letter, which included 
another sheet of paper covered in dried blood that the government has 
not cleared for release.

"I think it expresses his utter lack of hope and his sense of complete 
powerlessness, and that he decided that the only way he could reclaim 
himself at all as a human being was by killing himself," Colangelo-Bryan 
said.

Dossari ended his letter by saying that he saw "death looming."

"Farewell . . . farewell with no hope of seeing me again," he wrote. "I 
thank you for everything you have done for me, but I have a final 
request. Show the world the letters I gave you, let the world read them, 
let the world know the agony of the detainees in Cuba."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401517.html
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