On Thursday, I shared with our Kossack community the story of my husband, Dan who was a Vietnam vet who survived torture.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
On Friday, I shared the first part of the story of Murat Kurnaz, who was born in Germany of Turkish descent. He spent five years as a detainee.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
On Saturday, I shared the second part of the story of Murat Kurnaz
http://www.dailykos.com/...
On Sunday, I shared the story of Omar Khadr:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
On Monday, I shared the stories of Yousef al-Khalid and Abed al-Khalid, the young sons of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Yesterday, I shared the story of a British citizen, Binyam Mohammed.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Today, I will tell the first part of the story of three British citizens, Rhuhel Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, and Shafiq Rasul.
Rhuhel and Asif Iqbal, friends from high school, and Shafiq Rasul, a slightly older friend, are from Tipton, England. They were taken into custody on November 28th, 2001.
These are excerpts from their combined affidavit:
They were loaded into a container with a bunch of other detainees and transported in the container, to Sherbegan Prison.
According to information were given later, there were US forces present at the point they were packed into the containers together with almost 200 other prisoners. Asif became unconscious and awoke to find that in an attempt to allow air into the containers Dostum's forces had fired machine guns into the sides of the containers. Asif was struck in the arm by a bullet as a result. The journey to Sherbegan took nearly 18 hours and the containers were not opened until they reached the prison. All three men remained in the containers amongst the dead and the dying throughout this time. Asif reports that to get water he had to lick the side of the container or wipe a cloth on the top of the container where the condensation had collected and squeeze the drips of water into his mouth. On arrival in Sherbegan of the 200 originally in the container only 20 were alive, some seriously injured.
Conditions at Sherbegan were appalling, Asif says; "in the first week the only food we got was a tiny portion of bread per day and a very small amount of water. This was to last us the whole day."
Arrival in Kandahar
Shafiq says:
"The cargo plane had no heating and given the flimsy clothes we were wearing I believe I was close to hypothermia."
This time Shafiq says:
"I had to run as fast as I could with my legs shackled and I was bent over with a sack over my head. We were taken to another tent. There they cut off all of my clothes and forcefully shaved our beards and heads. I was taken outside. I was completely naked with a sack on my head and I could hear dogs barking nearby and soldiers shouting 'get'um boy'. Although I couldn't see I had a sense that there were a lot of soldiers around. I was taken still naked with a sack on my head for a so called cavity search. I was told to bend over and then I felt something shoved up my anus. I don't know what it was, but it was very painful."
I need to leave it there for today, I just don't have any more tears left for today, but will continue with their story tomorrow. I cannot tell you what their description of the conditions in the container does to me. Have we not learned anything as a world community? We said "Never Again!"
Please stand up and tell your President, tell your Senators, tell your Congessional Representives: "NOT IN MY NAME!" Demand JUSTICE and ACCOUNTABILITY !"
Standing for justice and accountability,
For Dan,
Heather
I am in the beginning of bringing together the people and organizations necessary to organize a March for Accountability. I think we need to show those in Washington how many will not stand for anything less than justice and accountability. If you are interested, please email me at the address in my profile.
I am also in the middle of planning speaking dates for me in Seattle and Olympia and Portland, Oregon, if anyone knows of groups in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or points in between, I could make it a west coast tour. I'm willing to go anywhere in North America to speak on this issue, as long as I can work out affording plane or train tickets, so please feel to email me with potential groups that might like to hear Dan's story and about this issue.