Sami al-Haj, the Al-Jazeera cameraman who was released from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay and returned home to Sudan on Friday after six years of imprisonment, smiles at a hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, May 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
Posted on 05/05/2008 9:40:16 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
KHARTOUM, Sudan - An Al-Jazeera cameraman released from the U.S.-run Guantanamo Bay detention center last week described it Monday as the worst prison mankind has ever seen.
Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese citizen, was whisked from his hospital bed in a convoy escorted by police cars with flashing lights and wailing sirens to an outdoor event in his neighborhood organized by his family. His speech was broadcast live on Sudanese television.
"After 2,340 days spent in the most heinous prison mankind has ever known, we are honored to be here. Thank you, and thank all those defended us and of our right in freedom," he told the cheering crowd.
Al-Haj was the only journalist from a major international news organization held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for an Arabic television channel whose broadcasts angered U.S. officials.
The U.S. military charged he was a courier for a militant Muslim organization, an allegation his lawyers denied.
Al-Haj said he believed he was arrested because of U.S. hostility toward Al-Jazeera and because the media was reporting on U.S. rights violations in Afghanistan.
"I was subjected to 130 (interrogation) sessions, more than 35 about Al-Jazeera, and they wanted me to be a spy against Al-Jazeera," he said. He said that as a faithful Muslim, he rejected the offer.
Al-Haj, who arrived in Khartoum early Friday aboard a U.S. military plane, thanked the Sudanese people and their warm reception, which he said had made him "forget the long bitter years that we spent in humiliation, injustice and subjugation and oppression."
Before Monday's outdoor welcome ceremony, al-Haj received visitors in his hospital room, including dozens of senior Sudanese officials who wished him a speedy recovery.
Though able to walk a short distance at the event in his neighborhood, al-Haj was still weak after a 16-month hunger strike at Guantanamo.
His attorney, Zachary Katznelson, who met with al-Haj at the U.S. base April 11, said he was emaciated because of the hunger strike. He said al-Haj had been having problems with his liver and kidneys and had blood in his urine.
Al-Haj was never prosecuted so the U.S did not make public its full allegations against him. But in a hearing that classified the cameraman as an enemy combatant, U.S. officials alleged that in the 1990s, al-Haj was an executive assistant at a Qatar-based beverage company that provided support to Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.
Two other Sudanese detainees at Guantanamo were released with al-Haj.
Sami al-Haj, the Al-Jazeera cameraman who was released from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay and returned home to Sudan on Friday after six years of imprisonment, smiles at a hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, May 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)
Lubyanka Prison was no picnic nor were the Gulags. Gitmo is a Four Seasons compared to them.
He should have seen the jails in the old Soviet Union. I saw a documentary on them. Not the place one would want to be.
Most “journalists” and their “cameramen” are sissies anyway. This guy should have just sucked it up and took it like a man. Whining is very unflattering.
He’s just doing his thing as a loyal Blue Dog Democrat. Gotta hold to the party approved rhetoric.
Given that he wasn’t experimented on....or gassed...and seems to have all his body parts....I’m gonna go ahead and call him a moron.
16 month hunfer strike?
Who was feeding him thr baloney sandwiches?
Poor Sami, air cionditioined air in the saumnmer, heat in the winter; free medical care, freedom to practive his religion, three squares a day, bath facilities including flushing toilets and hot water.
Oh yeah, he really roughed it alright.
His street creds are shot and he knows it.
Looks like Obama has his VP pick.
He’s welcome to try a Sudanese jail. At Gitmo they have air conditioning.
The American military was so horrible that they spent thousands of US taxpayer dollars to chauffeur him home.
All of these people should have been "disappeared" the way the Argentinians used to do it.
Has he made any calls to North Carolina and Indiana voters, asking them to support Barack Hussein Obama yet?
I take it this tard has never visited Dachau or Auschwitz, or even a prison in his own crappy country.
Precise and to the point. This freaking moron should be thankful he wasn't interned at Club Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Is this Obama’s brother?
he’s from the right part of the continent , but..
No.
Katz-Nelson, I presume? Likely to be a red-diaper hippie baby born on a commune.
TY
Maybe if he carries on about how horrible Gitmo is, his jihadist buddies will call off the war to avoid being incarcerated there.
Not one of these slimes should EVER be released.
Nor should the location of the place where they are kept ever be made public. I have several locations in mind where these maggots could be kept where they would never be found, and from where they could never escape.
Are those all his real teeth? You mean he didn’t get them knocked out, or they didn’t fall out due to deficiency disease like scurvy? And he got free dental treatment. The horror.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.