Guantanamo abuses ‘were filmed’

A Briton who was held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay has narrated horrifying tales of abuse that were videotaped.

The US is holding 600-odd suspects at the camp

Terek Dergoul, one of the five British prisoners released from Guantanamo last March, said American guards digitally recorded the beatings and abuses.

He told the Observer newspaper of one assault by a five-man team of Extreme Reaction Force (ERF), saying “they pepper-sprayed me in the face and I started vomiting.”

“They pinned me down and attacked me, poking their fingers in my eyes and forced my head down the toilet pan and flushed,” he said, speaking for the first time about his ordeal in Guantanamo Bay.

“They tied me up like a beast and then they were kneeling on me, kicking and punching.”

“Finally, they dragged me out of the cell in chains, into the recreation yard and shaved my beard, my hair, my eyebrows,” he said.

“There was always a guy behind the ERF squad, filming what was going on,” he added.

Tapes archived

A Guantanamo spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Leon Sumpter said the video films were made so the actions could be reviewed by senior officers.

“They tied me up like a beast and then they were kneeling on me, kicking and punching”

Terek Dergoul,
Former Guantanamo inmate

All tapes are kept in an archive at the base, he added.

Dergoul’s claims immediately led to calls for UK to put pressure on the United States to publish the tapes.

“The government must demand that these videos be delivered up and the truth of these very serious allegations properly determined once and for all,” said opposition Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell.

Dergoul was released in March along with four other Britons after spending 22 months in the camp without being charged.

Two others released with him, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, have written to US President George Bush, detailing the abuses that were inflicted upon them by interrogators at the camp.

Source: News Agencies