Human Rights and Justice in Guantanamo

I first read the story of Murat Kurnaz last October in a German magazine. I was outraged about it then, and am still now!

Murat Kurnaz is a Turkish Citizen who was born and raised in Germany. His father was a "Guest Worker" in Germany, which is the reason he was not granted German citizenship, but rather indefinite legal residency. At the age of 19, in late 2001, he was in the process of getting German citizenship and was engaged to be married in a few months. Before starting this new life, he wanted to travel to Pakistan to learn more about his faith - Islam.

While traveling he was captured and turned over to US authorities as a terrorist suspect. He was shortly held in Afghanistan and later transfered to Guantanamo. The story gets more complicated from there, so I will at this point refer to this article for further information. There are many others out there if you google his name, this is just one of many that I read.

What outrages me about this story is that he was classified as an enemy combatant after only a short review and no substancial evidence. Clearly it was wrong and he was later ordered released. Later turned out to be a total of 4 years and 8 months. He was held by the US without any rights, for the most part without legal representation, without the involvement of the German or Turkish Governments, and - worst of all - without any human rights. The kind of torture that he describes from Guantanamo (and from German soldiers while in Afghanistan) is sick. And his story isn't the only one that confirms this. Many others who have been released explain the same conditions. Many of the people that are being held there were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and turned over to the US by warlords for bounties, and have absolutely no ties to terrorism. Yes, they were bought by the US for an average of $5,000.

Some people are questioning if the tales from Guantanamo are true. WHY is nobody REALLY questioning what's going on there? Why are foreign governments staying out of it? After the release of Murat Kurnaz, Germany initially said he can't return to Germany because his resident alien permit had expired since he didn't renew it on time. They reconsidered after all the attention that was given to the case. Amnesty International and the United Nations have asked for the closing of the Guantanamo prison, but why isn't the rest of the world standing behind this? The few former detainees that have tried to take this to court in the US had their cases thrown out because it would jeopardize US security. Yes, the people that are involved in terrorism should be detained and pay for their crimes. But what about the others? There have been many suicide attempts (some successful) of detainees who have been held in Guantanamo for years, and who have yet to be charged for ANY crime. Many of them are known to be innocent, but continue to be held. When you start reading through some of the stories, it's unbelievable why they are being held. In most cases there is no reason at all, or one that can be easily cleared up by a little investigation (for example in one case it was a mistranslation between the arabic word for tire vs. airplane).

I encourage you to read some of the articles out there. Here's another one. But there are hundreds, not just about Murat Kurnaz, but about others too. They are all very interesting and give you lots of things to think about. Not just about the Bush Administration, but also about life in general and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.