Korans At Center Of Clash At Prison Camp
Detainees at Guantánamo told their lawyers that a melee was sparked by a dispute over inspection of the Koran. Commanders say captives tried to ambush guards.
By Carol Rosenberg
Miami Herald
June 8, 2006
Captives at Guantánamo asserted through their lawyers Wednesday that a brawl broke out in a barracks last month after guards breached an agreement and tried to rifle through Korans at the Navy base in Cuba.
Prison camp commanders flatly disputed the allegations.
Defense attorneys for five Yemeni captives relayed the first detainee account after the military declassified their notes of conversations with the men on May 25-26.
''The Korans being holy to them, it was something they didn't want the guards pawing through,'' said Atlanta attorney John A. Chandler, who added that one captive he represents was a party to the melee -- and maintains he was a victim of military force.
``The riot squad came in to force the inspection; the men in the camp took that as a hostile act toward them and fought back. It is a guard-provoked situation.''
Commanders cast last month's fight between 10 guards and 10 captives as the worst outbreak of violence among alleged al Qaeda and Taliban members and sympathizers at the 4-year-old prison complex.
It broke out May 18, commanders said, after guards discovered two captives unconscious from overdoses of other detainees' hoarded anti-anxiety pills. The guards were systematically searching the camps for contraband.
Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand insisted Wednesday that the guards ''did not deviate from procedures'' that prohibit them from touching the Koran. He called the defense attorneys' version of events ``blatantly false.''
Under camp rules, he said, a guard can order a detainee to open his Koran for a no-touch inspection. Or he can instruct a Muslim translator to inspect the holy book with his hands.
''We handle the Koran with the utmost respect, even during the urgent searches,'' Durand said. ``Our guard force does not handle the Koran. Period.''
The Pentagon published the procedures a year ago to quell anti-American riots across the globe in response to a since-retracted Newsweek report that a Guantánamo guard had flushed a Koran down a toilet.
Six detainees were injured in the May 18 melee in Camp 4, a prisoner-of-war style camp capable of housing up to 175 so-called compliant captives in barracks that allow 10 men to sleep in the same room.
As a result of the outburst, 66 captives were moved out of Camp 4; Chandler said his client was among them.
Four other Yemeni clients held in other portions of the sprawling complex of prison camps related identical accounts, he said.
''One was a witness to all of this,'' Chandler said. ``The other four either saw pieces of what happened or heard it from others.''
Commanders maintain that an already edgy guard force alerted to the earlier suicide attempts spotted a detainee in one 10-man bay arranging a sheet as though he was going to hang himself -- and called in the riot force.
As they charged through the door, the military said, two soldiers went down on a concoction of feces, urine and soap that the captives had spread on the floor. The 10 men allegedly ambushed the soldiers with fan parts and a camera torn from a wall mount and other improvised weapons.
Soldiers let loose with pepper spray, rubber bullets and a sponge grenade to stop the fight, the first ever use of the external Quick Reaction Force at Guantánamo.
By Carol Rosenberg
Miami Herald
June 8, 2006
Captives at Guantánamo asserted through their lawyers Wednesday that a brawl broke out in a barracks last month after guards breached an agreement and tried to rifle through Korans at the Navy base in Cuba.
Prison camp commanders flatly disputed the allegations.
Defense attorneys for five Yemeni captives relayed the first detainee account after the military declassified their notes of conversations with the men on May 25-26.
''The Korans being holy to them, it was something they didn't want the guards pawing through,'' said Atlanta attorney John A. Chandler, who added that one captive he represents was a party to the melee -- and maintains he was a victim of military force.
``The riot squad came in to force the inspection; the men in the camp took that as a hostile act toward them and fought back. It is a guard-provoked situation.''
Commanders cast last month's fight between 10 guards and 10 captives as the worst outbreak of violence among alleged al Qaeda and Taliban members and sympathizers at the 4-year-old prison complex.
It broke out May 18, commanders said, after guards discovered two captives unconscious from overdoses of other detainees' hoarded anti-anxiety pills. The guards were systematically searching the camps for contraband.
Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand insisted Wednesday that the guards ''did not deviate from procedures'' that prohibit them from touching the Koran. He called the defense attorneys' version of events ``blatantly false.''
Under camp rules, he said, a guard can order a detainee to open his Koran for a no-touch inspection. Or he can instruct a Muslim translator to inspect the holy book with his hands.
''We handle the Koran with the utmost respect, even during the urgent searches,'' Durand said. ``Our guard force does not handle the Koran. Period.''
The Pentagon published the procedures a year ago to quell anti-American riots across the globe in response to a since-retracted Newsweek report that a Guantánamo guard had flushed a Koran down a toilet.
Six detainees were injured in the May 18 melee in Camp 4, a prisoner-of-war style camp capable of housing up to 175 so-called compliant captives in barracks that allow 10 men to sleep in the same room.
As a result of the outburst, 66 captives were moved out of Camp 4; Chandler said his client was among them.
Four other Yemeni clients held in other portions of the sprawling complex of prison camps related identical accounts, he said.
''One was a witness to all of this,'' Chandler said. ``The other four either saw pieces of what happened or heard it from others.''
Commanders maintain that an already edgy guard force alerted to the earlier suicide attempts spotted a detainee in one 10-man bay arranging a sheet as though he was going to hang himself -- and called in the riot force.
As they charged through the door, the military said, two soldiers went down on a concoction of feces, urine and soap that the captives had spread on the floor. The 10 men allegedly ambushed the soldiers with fan parts and a camera torn from a wall mount and other improvised weapons.
Soldiers let loose with pepper spray, rubber bullets and a sponge grenade to stop the fight, the first ever use of the external Quick Reaction Force at Guantánamo.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 11:38 AM
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