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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/worthington03282008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/worthington03282008.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>March 28,
2008<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>Plight of the
Uyghurs<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">A
Chinese Muslim's Desperate Plea from
Guantánamo</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>By
ANDY WORTHINGTON<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">T</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>he stories of the Uyghurs in Guantánamo --
Muslims from the oppressed Xinjiang province of China, formerly known as
East Turkistan -- have long demonstrated chronic injustice on the part of
the US authorities to those who know of them, although they have only
sporadically registered on the media's radar.<br><br>
Numbering 22 men in total, three were picked up randomly in Afghanistan,
another was caught crossing the Pakistani border disguised in a burka,
while the other 18 were seized together by opportunistic Pakistani
villagers, after fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the US-led invasion
in October 2001, and sold to US forces for a bounty, as was common at the
time. A leaflet dropped by US planes offered enterprising villagers and
soldiers "millions of dollars for helping the anti-Taliban force
catch al-Qaeda and Taliban murderers." <br><br>
These 18 men, who had fled their homeland because of persecution, in
search of a new life, or in the hope of gaining some sort of training to
enable them to fight back against their oppressors, had been living
together in a small, run-down hamlet in Afghanistan's Tora Bora
mountains, mending the settlement's ruined buildings, and occasionally
training on their only weapon, a aging AK-47. <br><br>
After the US-led invasion, they were targeted in a US bombing raid, in
which several men died. The survivors then made their way across the
mountains to the Pakistani border, where they were first welcomed by the
villagers, and then betrayed by them. In US custody, they attracted
attention because of their supposed insights into the workings of the
Chinese government, but it was apparent from early on that they had not
been involved with either the Taliban or al-Qaeda, and that there was no
reason to hold them.<br><br>
Unfortunately for the Uyghurs, however, the declaration of their
innocence only prefaced further problems, as they joined one of
Guantánamo's least enviable groups: cleared prisoners who, because of
international treaties, cannot be
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</a>returned to their home countries for fear that they will be subjected
to torture, or worse. The US government had obligingly declared those
opposed to Chinese rule in Xinjiang province as "terrorists,"
in order to secure support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and had even
allowed -- or invited -- Chinese interrogators to question the men in
Guantánamo, but when it came to returning them to China they refused to
do so.<br><br>
Attempts to persuade other countries to accept the Uyghurs -- and other
cleared prisoners who faced similar problems with repatriation -- were
both long and largely futile. Despite the fact that some of these men had
been regarded as wrongly detained while they were in US-run prisons in
Afghanistan, and that many had been cleared after military tribunals in
Guantánamo in 2004, it was not until May 2006 that one country --
Albania, one of Europe's poorest nations -- could be prevailed upon to
accept five of the men, who were joined, in December 2006, by another
three cleared prisoners from Algeria, Egypt and the former Soviet Union.
<br><br>
Living in a UN refugee camp in Tirana has not been without its problems
-- there is no Uyghur community in Albania, no prospect of work, and no
opportunity for the men to have contact with their families -- but it is
at least better than being in Guantánamo, where their compatriots, who
have, for the most part, also been cleared for release (the exact details
are, like much else at Guantánamo, difficult to gauge with absolute
confidence), remain in a limbo that seems, literally, to be without
end.<br><br>
Compounding their suffering, the Uyghurs, like the majority of the dozens
of other cleared prisoners, are held not in comfort in Camp 4
(Guantánamo's only block with communal dorms) but in Camp 6, a maximum
security prison in which they are held in complete isolation, in metal
cells without windows, for 22 to 23 hours a day.<br><br>
One of these men is Abdulghappar, who is now 35 years old. In 2004, he
explained to his military tribunal that he had traveled to Afghanistan to
"get some training to fight back against the Chinese
government," and added that he had nothing against the United
States. He said that his own people "and my own family are being
tortured under the Chinese government," and when asked, "Was it
your intention when you were training to fight against the US or its
allies?" came up with an answer that summed up the feelings of all
his imprisoned compatriots: "I have one point: a billion Chinese
enemies, that is enough for me. Why would I get more enemies?"
<br><br>
Abdulghappar recently wrote a letter to his lawyers, which was
declassified by the military censors who review all correspondence
between lawyers and their clients. It was then passed to the Associated
Press, who quoted parts of the letter in an article last week, which was
then picked up by other media outlets.<br><br>
In the hope of providing Abdulghappar with more of his own voice,
however, I asked his lawyers for a copy of the letter, which I reproduce
in its entirety below. As it is a translation, I have taken the liberty
of editing the language to convey his message more fully. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Abdulghappar's
letter from Guantánamo<br><br>
</b></font>
<dl>
<dd>How are you, Mr. J. Wells Dixon and Ms. Seema Saifee? I hope that
this letter reaches you before you come over, and I hope that it will be
a little beneficial for our Turkistani brothers' situation here.
<br><br>
<dd>We, the Turkistani brothers, left our homeland in order to escape
from the brutal suppression and unfair treatment from the Chinese
government towards our people. The Uyghur youth back home were either
incarcerated because of false accusations or prosecuted and executed
because of bogus allegations. It was extremely difficult for any Uyghur
to see a future for themselves within our homeland, and both young and
middle-aged Uyghurs started to leave East Turkistan and try to find
survival abroad, if anyone could find a way to get out. We, the Uyghurs
in Guantánamo, are also like those Uyghurs. We left our homeland for the
same cause and sought solace in our neighboring countries.<br><br>
<dd>As you know, for some specific reasons we ended up in Afghanistan.
When we arrived in Afghanistan, the US army invaded. We had to depart for
Pakistan, since we could not stay in Afghanistan. As we did not know
anyone who could help us there, we had no other choice but to leave. The
Pakistani people then arrested us and turned us over to the Pakistani
government. Subsequently, the Pakistani government sold us to the US army
for bounties. The US army then brought us to Guantánamo.<br><br>
<dd>Since the very beginning of the interrogations, we have been saying
this. Our circumstances are very clear to the US government, the US army
and related agencies. Thus, the East Turkistani people and we, the
Uyghurs in Guantánamo, have never had any revulsion against the US at any
time, and this would never be possible, because our homeland is being
occupied and we need the help of others.<br><br>
<dd>We were very pleased at the beginning when the Pakistanis turned us
over to American custody. We sincerely hoped that America would be
sympathetic to us and help us. Unfortunately, the facts were different.
Although in 2004 and 2005 we were told that we were innocent, we have
been incarcerated in jail for the past six years until the present day.
We fail to know why we are still in jail here.<br><br>
<dd>We still hope that the US government will free us soon and send us to
a safe place. Being away from family, away from our homeland, and also
away from the outside world and losing any contact with anyone is not
suitable for a human being, as, also, is being forbidden from
experiencing natural sunlight and natural air, and being surrounded by a
metal box on all sides. <br><br>
<dd>I was very healthy in the past. However, since I was brought to Camp
6, I got rheumatism. My joints started to hurt all the time and are
getting worse. My kidneys started to hurt ten days ago. <br><br>
<dd>My countryman Abdulrazaq used to have rheumatism for a while, and
since he came to Camp 6 it got worse. Sometime in early August, the US
army told Abdulrazaq that he was cleared to be released, and also issued
the release form to him in writing. As a result, Abdulrazaq requested to
move to a camp that had better conditions, for health reasons. When his
request was ignored he embarked on a hunger strike, which has lasted for
over a month now. <br><br>
<dd>Currently, he is on punishment and his situation is even worse. He is
shackled to the restraint chair and force-fed twice a day by the guards,
who wear glass shields on their faces. This has taken place for the past
20 days. For someone who has not eaten for a long time, such treatment is
not humane. Abdulrazaq would never want to go on hunger strike. However,
the circumstances here forced him to do so, as he had no other choice. If
the oppression was not unbearable, who would want to throw himself on a
burning fire? In the US constitution, is it a crime for someone to ask to
protect his health and to ask for his rights? If it does count as a
crime, then what is the difference between the US constitution and the
Communist constitution? What is the difference between this and Hitler's
policies during the Second World War?<br><br>
<dd>I have heard that an Egyptian man broke his back and became
handicapped while he was being handled by a team in Camp 1 or 2, and then
he was sent home as a crippled person for the rest of his life [Sami
El-Leithi, released in October 2005]. Another Libyan broke his arm also.
I worry that Abdulrazaq will face a similar or worse situation while
being force fed twice a day for a long time, and I am also concerned for
his psychological condition as it is extremely difficult for him to keep
his mental state normal under such circumstances.<br><br>
<dd>Recently, I started to wonder, "why are we staying in this jail
for so long?" I wonder if we will be released after we damage our
internal and external organs and our arms and legs. Or is it necessary
for a few Turkistanis to die, as happened in the past here in this jail,
in order to gain others' attention and their concern towards our matter?
Such thoughts are in my mind all the time. The reason I am writing this
letter to you is that I sincerely hope that you and others related to law
and enforcement can solve this issue quickly and help us in a practical
manner. <br><br>
<dd>Abdulghappar Turkistani (281)<br>
<dd>December 12, 2007.<br>
<dd>Guantánamo Bay jail, Camp 6.<br><br>
</dl>Andy Worthington</b>
(<a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/">www.andyworthington.co.uk</a>
) is a British historian, and the author of
'<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0745326641/counterpunchmaga">
The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's
Illegal Prison'</a>. He can be reached at:
<a href="mailto:andy@andyworthington.co.uk">andy@andyworthington.co.uk</a>
<br><br>
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