United Nations Report Validates Whistleblower's Claims of Human Rights Abuses at Guantanamo Bay
Human Rights Council expresses concern that 'three Guantanamo detainees might have died during interrogations' and what else may have taken place at a secret camp at Guantanamo Bay.
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(PRNewsChannel) / February 02, 2010 / Westwood, N.J. / A joint study on secret detention facilities to combat terrorism worldwide released by the United Nations appears to validate revelations made public last month in an expose published in Harper's magazine: that three detainees were removed from their cells on the night of their deaths and did not take their own lives by hanging in their cells as reported by the military.
As part of a sweeping report from the Human Rights Council, the Council partially validates claims from whistleblower Sgt. Joseph Hickman who told the magazine about the existence of a secret detention facility at Guantanamo Bay called "Camp No."
"The unacknowledged 'Camp No' is described as having had no guard towers and being surrounded with concertina wire," the report says. The report references the Harper's article where Hickman describes one part of the compound as having "the same appearance as the interrogation centers at other prison camps."
While the Human Rights Council concludes the secret facility exists, it says it is "unclear whether this facility was run by the CIA or the Joint Special Operations Command."
The report also refers to Hickman, an Army Staff Sergeant, who has questioned the truthfulness of the American military explanation of the deaths as suicides.
According to the report: "The Experts are very concerned about the possibility that three Guantanamo detainees (Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani) might have died during interrogations at this facility, instead of in their own cells, on 9 June 2006."
Since the Harper's article was published, the U.S. military has flatly denied claims made by Hickman and other guards at Guantanamo Bay. Sgt. Hickman and the others reinforce findings of a report by Seton Hall University School of Law Center for Policy & Research 'Death in Camp Delta' which alleges that the deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo Bay were not suicides as the commander of the facility had announced.
"Sgt. Hickman is chipping away at exposing the truth slowly," says Joshua Denbeaux, Sgt. Hickman's attorney. "The U.S. government is trying to cover up whatever really happened to cause the deaths of those prisoners, but my client is committed to making sure the truth comes out. They did not die in their cells, and the government's continued assertions that they did is dishonest and shameful."
Josh Denbeaux is available for interviews. Please use the media contacts below.
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