REPRIEVE RELEASES THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF
SAMI AL HAJ PROTEST SKETCHES
CONDEMNING US MILITARY ABUSE OF THE AL JAZEERA JOURNALIST
18.03.2008
Four Sketches Drawn by Al Haj in Guantánamo Blocked by Government Censors; US Demands that Sudanese Government Bar Al-Haj from Journalism if freed.
Reprieve, the charity that provides frontline investigation and legal representation for prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, is releasing the first in a series of protest pieces called Sketches of My Nightmare, inspired by the suffering of Sami al Haj. Al Haj is an al-Jazeera journalist picked up covering the Afghan war and sent to Guantánamo Bay. He has been on hunger strike in Guantánamo since January 7, 2007.
Sami al Haj drew a series of powerful, graphic sketches that illustrate the suffering in Guantánamo Bay, particularly the abusive treatment of those on hunger strike. The drawings were submitted to the US military censors, but were barred from public release. However, Reprieve counsel Cori Crider also submitted Mr. al Haj’s detailed descriptions of his sketches, which were permitted through the censorship process.
Based on these descriptions, political cartoonist Lewis Peake has drawn the first in a series of Sketches titled: “SCREAM FOR FREEDOM.” Mr. al Haj described the way he sees himself being force fed in the “Torture Chair.” This is the name given by prisoners to the restraint chair into which they are strapped twice a day, when they have a 110 cm tube forcibly inserted into one nostril so that liquid food can be administered. The tube is pulled out after each feeding, and the prisoner is left in the chair for up to two hours so he can be force fed again if he vomits.
“The first sketch is just a skeleton in the torture chair,” Mr. al Haj explained. “My picture reflects my nightmares of what I must look like, with my head double-strapped down, a tube in my nose, a black mask over my mouth, with no eyes and only giant cheekbones, my teeth jutting out – my bones showing in every detail, every rib, every joint. The tube goes up to a bag at the top of the drawing. On the right there is another skeleton sitting shackled to another chair. They are sitting like we do in interrogations, with hands shackled, feet shackled to the floor, just waiting. In between I draw the flag of Guantanamo – JTF-GTMO – but instead of the normal insignia, there is a skull and crossbones, the real symbol of what is happening here.”
The rest of the series is being produced by Mr. Peake, and will be released over the next several days. They reveal other aspects of the prisoners’ suffering in US custody.
Today (March 18, 2008) is the 432nd day of Sami al Haj’s hunger strike, where his only demand is liberty or an open and fair trial.
“Reprieve has commissioned these drawings to highlight the denial of basic justice to Sami al Haj. He is no terrorist, but he does not ask you to take his word for it. By his peaceful hunger strike he asks only for a fair trial,” said Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve. “Yet the US military seeks to muzzle him at every turn. He cannot tell his story to a jury. He is not allowed to draw a picture demonstrating how he and others suffer. And now, as the price for discussing his release, the US is trying to force the Sudanese government to bar Sami from working as a journalist once he is out of Guantánamo. This reflects precisely the opposite of the high ideals for which the US stands.”
The sketches are based on drawings made by Mr Al Haj earlier this year, depicting his ongoing hunger strike in Guantánamo. Cori Crider explained: “When I saw Sami on February 1, he showed me four very gruesome and incredibly detailed sketches. He explained he felt compelled to express the nightmare that he and the rest of the hunger strikers in Guantánamo have been suffering. Sami’s sketches spoke volumes about what he goes through every time they strap him into that chair for forcefeeding. But I knew that they might be censored, so I had him describe what he was trying to say in his own words as well.”
As predicted, Al Haj’s drawings were censored, although a memo describing them was unclassified. “This is typical of the misplaced censorship used by the authorities at Guantánamo, where the motivation is not national security but trying to avoid embarrassment for the illegal acts of the military,” said Clive Stafford Smith. “The Bush Administration can suppress Sami’s sketch, but they can’t stop another artist from replicating it. Ultimately, Sami’s spirit is irrepressible. Like Martin Luther King in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, the world will hear him, because he seeks only justice.”
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For further information or interviews please contact the Reprieve Press office on 020 7427 1099 |
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