[NYTr] I am Born Again Says Freed Gitmo Gulag Captive in Yemen

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[This 23-year-old endured 6 years of hell in US Gulags. -NYTr]

Yemeni Observer - Oct 22, 2007
http://www.yobserver.com/front-page/10013089.html

I’m born again, says freed Gitmo detainee

By Nasser Arrabyee

"I’m still a stranger in this world, I’m a new born,” said the 23-year
old Sadeq Mohammed Saeed when he arrived home after a long and
torturous detainment in Guantanamo Bay detention center. Sadeq was one
of four Yemeni men who were returned to their families on October 12,
2007, after spending about six years in the notorious detention camp.

Hours after arriving at his family home in Ibb city, Sadeq was in
constant motion; moving about the house to welcome and hug the many
visitors and relatives who came to greet him and show him respect. His
visitors included ex-Guantanamo detainees, relatives of other detainees
and young people who had been to Afghanistan for “Jihad”. Sadeq’s
brothers made efforts to introduce him to those who he did not know or
those who he no longer remembered.

As a journalist, Sadeq did not want to speak to me at first, but he
eventually relented after encouragement from his brothers. With his
long beard and smart Yemeni clothing, Sadeq spoke clearly and
concisely, focusing on what he referred to as a “letter to the
Americans and the world”. According to Sadeq since leaving their
families he and his companions had been performing a holy duty, or
Jihad, and he vowed that they would continue to do so for as long as
they lived.

“I traveled to Pakistan and from there to Afghanistan where I joined
one of the Taliban battle lines, May Allah support them to protect
Islam, and then what happened, happened,” he said.  He did not speak
about personal physical abuse in the detention center; instead he
concentrated on the religious abuses, which he claims all detainees
witnessed. 

“The abuses were religious abuses, reviling God, the Prophet Mohammed
and his companions and the believers. Some brothers were exposed to
psychological and physical torture because they are Muslims. There were
a lot of abuses and I don’t remember them but it is enough to say there
were religious abuses and reviling Allah, his prophet and the
believers,” he said. 

When asked what he plans to do now, he answered simply that he “does
not know.”  “I can’t say anything right now. I’m still a stranger in
this land, I’m a new-born, I can’t say I can do this or that,” said
Sadeq who traveled to Afghanistan for Jihad before completing secondary
school. However, one of Sadeq’s brothers, a former jihadist in
Afghanistan and current Islamic activist, spoke on his brother behalf,
clarifying his and his bother’s message to the “Americans and the
world”. The brother, Rashad Mohammed Saeed (a.k.a. Abu al-Feda) said
that all young people who went for “Jihad” in Afghanistan and elsewhere
would continue to fight the “injustice” and they would achieve victory
at the end like the prophet Joseph who was empowered and achieved
victory after a series of sufferings. “Let the Americans know that
these [jihadists] are respected and highly welcomed in their nations
and they are not killers or criminals,” Abu al-Feda addressed a crowd
of people who came to celebrate the return of Sadeq. 

“I would say on behalf of my brother and all other brothers [detainees]
that they have a message and the one who has a message has to fulfill
it anywhere. The Prophet Joseph was put in prison and he was innocent,
but he had a message,” said Abu al-Feda who is currently a mosque
speaker in Ibb city. “Are many lords differing among themselves better,
or Allah, the One supreme and irresistible,” he recited from Quran. 

“They will be preachers, teaching those who do not know, giving clothes
to naked, feeding the hungry, defending the underdogs, returning rights
to the owners, protecting all young and old, men and women, and would
keep so until victory comes,”  he said in reference to the returning
detainees . 

Abu al-Feda, who does not hesitate to announce his support for the
Taliban, Al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, advised the American
people to revolt against the White House administration, which he said,
“spends billions of dollars to destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda while
they are getting stronger and stronger.” 

“As the Taliban and Al Qaeda were the reason behind making an
international alliance to topple the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq,
the same two [Taliban and Al Qaeda] would be the main tool of
disengagement from this alliance,” said Abu al-Feda who was a prominent
politician with the Taliban before he returning to Yemen in 2000 where
he was imprisoned for two years.  He was released on the condition that
he does not participate in any armed activity. 

“The Taliban and Al Qaeda are not killers and bloodsuckers, they have a
strategic project with long term goals,” he said. “But I’m also calling
for dialogue and respect of rights and freedoms for all, and I’m
against violence and coercion.” 

Saqed’s family said they are currently consulting with American lawyers
and human rights activists to file a law suit against the American
government to demand fair compensation for the damages inflicted on
their son who lost one of his eyes because of inadequate treatment.   

Sadeq, who was detained in a hospital in Afghanistan after being
injured in a battle after September 11th, said he did not know why the
Americans arrested him and why they released him now.  

“The only reason I know for being detained is that I’m Muslim, and I do
not know any other thing.  Now I do not know why they released me. This
is at the hand of Allah.” He speculated.   

Sadeq said he has not forgotten to pray for the other inmates who are
still languishing in Guantanamo. 

“I pray to Allah to make all my brothers in Guantanamo patient, they
are always in our hearts, we will never forget them, they were arrested
in the cause of Allah, and were looking for martyrdom and I pray to
Allah to help them,” he said. 

According to official American and Yemeni documents about a third (94)
of the 330 remaining detainees in Guantanamo are from Yemen. American
authorities have released a further 13 Yemeni detainees.  

Three other detainees who were released on October 12th after three
months in a Yemeni prison are: Fawaz Noman Hamoud Mahdi, Hani Abdu
Mulah Shulan, and Ali Muhsen Saleh. 

The only detainee remaining in a Yemeni prison is Ali Ahmed Nasser
al-Kazmi who was released by American authorities in September 2007. 

The Yemeni Minister of Human Rights, Dr. Huda Alban promised in an
interview with Yemen Observer that he too would be released soon.  

“I contacted the security officials about al-Kazmi and they told me
they would refer him to the prosecution soon for procedures. I will
follow up the case until he is released,” said Dr. Alban whose office
received an appeal from the family of al-Kazmi for the release of their
son on Sunday.