| Samy was a cameraman at Al Jazeera news TV Channel on his way to Afghanistan
to cover American invasion when he was captured by US forces. He is now held in
Guantanamo detention camp without any trial. Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj is a citizen of Sudan. He was born in
Khartoum, Sudan on February 15, 1969.
At the time of his capture in Pakistan, in December 2001, he was on his way
to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman for Al Jazeera and had a legitimate visa.
But he is held as an "enemy combatant".
A special report by BBC Radio 4 gave an exclusive glimpse of the world inside
Guantanamo Bay detention centre, told through the letters of a Sami al-Hajj.
British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith represents Al Hajj, and was
able to visit him in 2005. According to Smith Al Hajj reported:
- He has been beaten. Smith said he had a huge scar on his face.
- Al Hajj witnessed guards flushing a Koran down a toilet.
- Al Hajj witnessed guards defacing a Koran with swear words.
- He has been sexually assaulted.
- He has been interrogated roughly 130 times.
- On 23 November 2005, Stafford-Smith reported that, during (125 of 130)
interviews, U.S. officials had questioned Sami as to whether Al Jazeera was
a front for al-Qaeda
Smith offered the opinion:
"He is completely innocent. He is about as much of a
terrorist as my granddad. The only reason he has been treated like he has is
because he is an Aljazeera journalist. The Americans have tried to
make him an informant with the goal of getting him to say that Aljazeera is
linked to al-Qaida."
Al-Jazeera has responded that al-Hajj reported his passport stolen in Sudan
in 1999, and that anything done with the passport after that date was likely the
work of identity thieves.
Reporters Without Borders have repeatedly expressed concern over Al-Haj's
detention mentioned Al-Haj in their annual worldwide press freedom Index, and
launched a petition for his release. Al Hajj has recently been on hunger strike
along with a few other inmates in protest of their treatment in Guantanamo
Help Samy By putting Pressure on the Government of the United Sates of
America to Release him and All other innocent prisoners held Hostage in
Guantanamo.
Free Samy Al Haj
Contact the president of the USA, send letters of protest:
Mailing Address
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
Phone Numbers
Comments: +1-202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461
Comments: +1-202-456-6213 Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
E-Mail
Please send your comments to
comments@whitehouse.gov.
Vice President Richard Cheney:
vice_president@whitehouse.gov
See the following sources:
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