Limits put on new Muslim chaplain
07-11-2003
By Charlie Savage
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Boston News – The US military has made plans to bring a new Muslim chaplain to the base where it is holding some 660 accused terror suspects, but he will not be allowed to come into contact with the “enemy combatants” being detained here without trial.
In September, the former Muslim chaplain, Captain James “Yousef” Yee, was arrested. He has been charged with disobeying an order – reportedly for smuggling classified information off the base.
Major General Mitchell LeClaire, second in command of the interrogation operation, said yesterday that the military has arranged for a replacement to be in Guantanamo Bay by early December.
However, while the new chaplain will continue Yee’s role of advising command staff on Islamic practices, he will minister only to Muslim soldiers and will not meet with detainees, as Yee did.
LeClaire added that it “was not [Yee’s] job” to counsel detainees. “It was never his job officially,” he said. “I can’t say it was with the approval of his commander.”
The news that the detainees will not have access to a replacement Muslim counselor comes amid growing international concern over their psychological condition.
Yesterday, the prison’s chief medical officer made a rare exception to the government’s practice of never discussing individual detainees to rebut a report about a deterioration in the health of David Hicks, an Australian enemy combatant.
Hicks’s case has aroused intense interest in his country that has threatened to damage relations with one of America’s closest allies. This week, an Australian newspaper reported that Hicks’s father received a letter from his son dated in September saying he was in isolation and losing weight. Hicks’s father said other details indicated his son was disoriented and depressed.
The report was in synch with an extraordinary public complaint by the International Committee of the Red Cross in late August. Breaking with its practice of only expressing concerns in private in order to preserve access to war prisoners, the Red Cross warned of “a worrying deterioration in the psychological health of a large number” of detainees after 18 months in captivity without means of legal recourse.
But Captain John Edmonson, who runs the detainees’ hospital, described Hicks’s health in more positive terms.
“His weight is down a few pounds from when he got here, but nothing significant,” he said. “In general, his health is very good . . . He is not depressed by any means.”
However, Edmonson also revealed that for the past month his hospital has been forcibly feeding another detainee, who launched a hunger strike. Edmonson said the detainee’s mental health is being evaluated, adding that about 110 detainees are on a mental-health watch list. About 25 on the list have been prescribed psychotropic medication while the rest have been given counseling. There have been 32 suicide attempts by 21 detainees – none successful.
Meanwhile, there are new signs that some detainees are not responding to the prison’s behavioral incentive system. It rewards detainees who cooperate with interrogators by letting them live in a “medium security” camp with group bunk houses and daily exercise.
As of July, only one detainee had lost privileges – for fighting. Now, at least six have been sent back to maximum security for reasons ranging from lying about their identity to the discovery of “contraband weapons.”
For example, the camp superintendent, Sergeant Major Anthony Mendez, said one detainee “accumulated plastic bags to make a rope or a weapon.”
In addition, while most of the detainees are observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by fasting during the daytime hours, some have shown signs of what may be a weakening faith.
Sergeant Donna Swenson is in charge of putting together mini-lunches of pita bread, bananas, and string cheese for those who choose not to observe. She said nine are not participating, and as many as 28 have broken fast.
Major Dan O’Dean, a Christian chaplain who has replaced Yee in handling requests for religious items for the detainees, said that two weeks ago one detainee identified himself as a Catholic and requested a meeting with the Catholic chaplain.
And Lieutenant Colonel Steve Feehan, head chaplain, said recent detainee requests for religious books have gone beyond Islam. “There have been requests for Bibles as well as for Korans,” he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/11/07/limits_put_on_new_muslim_chaplain/
Comment:
It was having contact with his muslim brothers which made Brother Yee realise what was actually happening i.e the violation of the prisoners human rights and his Islamic duty towards fellow muslims and loyalty and allegiance to Allah, which superceded his loyalty to America or any other nation. Therefore the new muslim imam will be kept away from seeing the true meaning of human rights as practiced by the Americans just in case he does his Ilsamic duty and helps his brothers in faith.
