More than 60 children have been held at Guantanamo Bay: report (AFP)

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More than 60 children have been held at Guantanamo Bay: report

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(AFP)Source ​

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28 May 2006 ​

LONDON - More than 60 minors,some as young as 14, have been held as prisoners at the US detention facility for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a London-based human rights group claimed in a report published on Sunday. Those detainees were under 18 when they were captured by US forces, and at least 10 of them still being held at Guantanamo were 14 or 15 when they were seized, held in solitary confinement, subject to repeated interrogation and allegedly tortured, the charity Reprieve was reported as saying.​

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Britain’s Independent on Sunday (IoS), which carried the allegations, suggested the charges could threaten the United States’ relationship with its closest ally in the “war on terror”, Britain. “We would take a very, very dim view if it transpires that there were actually minors there,” it quoted a British government official as saying. Unnamed government sources said theallegations directly contradicted Washington’s assurances to London that no minors were held at Guantanamo. Reprieve’s legal director and a lawyer for a number of detainees, Clive Stafford-Smith, told the newspaper the United States could have broken not only its own laws but all human rights conventions by putting children in adult jails. “There is nothing wrong with trying minors for crimes, if they have committed crimes,” he said. “The problem is when you either hold minors without trial in shocking conditions, or try them before a military commission that, in the words of a prosecutor who refused to take part, is rigged.”​

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Stafford-Smith said that even if it were proved the 10 still held there-- who are now all thought to have turned 18 -- were involved in fighting, they should be treated differently from adults. According to the newspaper, Washington has admitted that only three Guantanamo inmates -- later freed -- were ever treated as children. The US military also admitted that 17 of those on the first definitive list of detainees released earlier this month were under 18 when they were captured, it added. But Stafford-Smith said Reprieve had “credible evidence” from other detainees, lawyers and the International Red Cross that an additional 37 juveniles were under 18 when they were taken to Cuba. A US Pentagon spokesman quoted by the newspaper said no one now being held at Guantanamo was a juvenile and rejected arguments that normal criminal law applied to the facility.​

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READ POST # 8 ​

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

Cat Stevens' latest threads​

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nothing surprises me about america now.

 

Actually, This news Article surprised me, but yeah, I'm sure someday I won't be surprised​

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

Hi Skip ​

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SubhanAllah , I wanted to post that too (I mean to extract it from The independent news) but I chose the other one, I saw it first plus it was short​

Regarding this matter, danger and bad things are everywhere, on TV, internet, magazines, even at the school! etc, teach your children very well, teach them morals, convince them, make them have principles to believe in, plant good seeds in them, be sure that you planted it correctly, be sure that its roots are deep and strong, teach them more about life until you become confident that they can face this life, Myself, I saw and faced many things, bad people, very bad people, since I was a kid till today, they never affected me, My principles are living in my blood, I've never become a bad person, My parents taught me about morals, and They were right Thank you Mum and Dad​

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

Hi FedUpAmerican ​

Believe me, many people have no idea about these things, That's why we should let them know, here is something about it:​

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And here is a link ( I highlighted the important things)​

“We will no longer tolerate your wars” Hats off (Must read Must read)​

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!!!!!!!!!! VERY GOOD POINT!!YOU ARE AMAZING​

IT IS A STUPID WORLD THAT'S IT - ...*sigh* maybe we need a (TV channel) YOU WILL BE THE BEST ONE TO TALK THERE, I LIKE YOUR POSTS​

HUh! sadly they might do this to see their favorite American Idol !!! or whatever, TOTALLY STUPID WORLD​

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Masha'Allah you have such a blessed tongue man, I reallly like your posts, YOU KNOW I feel som much energy in me, yeah life is still fine, when I see people like you, That's all what I can say. ​

Alhamdulilah​

*Peace and love*​

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Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

Source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_16255.pdf
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Mohammed C., a Chadian national born in Saudi Arabia, has been in indefinite US military custody without charge or trial for three and a half years, most of it in the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It is believed that he was 14 years old when he was detained, in October 2001 in Pakistan, and had just turned 15 when he was handed over to the US authorities the following month. He was then taken to Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantánamo in January 2002. For more than a year he has been held in Camp V (five) at Guantánamo, where conditions are particularly harsh. He is held in solitary confinement in a concrete cell for up to 24 hours a day. Amnesty International believes that his conditions of detention amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in violation of international law, and that he and the other Guantánamo detainees are unlawfully detained. Mohammed is believed to have been arrested in Karachi on or around 21 October 2001. He was transferred to a prison, where he was allegedly hung by his wrists, naked apart from shorts. He has said that he was held in this position for 10 to 16 hours a day. If he moved, he was hit. This went on for three weeks. He was allegedly blindfolded for that whole period except for three to five minutes each day, so he could eat. He was taken to Peshawar for 10 days, and then transferred to US custody in late November 2001. In US custody, he says that he was put in blue overalls, hooded, shackled, beaten, threatened with death and put in a helicopter. Mohammed said that at this point, for the first time in his life, he heard the word “******” which is what the US soldiers repeatedly called him.
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He was flown to the US airbase in Kandahar, where he alleges he was physically assaulted on arrival, and kept naked for the first week. He has alleged that he was beaten, doused in freezing water, and that on one occasion, a guard grabbed Mohammed’s penis and threatened to cut it off with scissors he was brandishing. In early January 2002, Mohammed was transferred to Guantánamo Bay. He was sedated, shackled, hooded and gagged for the flight. He alleges that he was beaten upon arrival. During the ensuing interrogation process, he has said that he was subjected to hanging by the wrists for up to eight hours at a time, beatings, sleep deprivation, strobe lighting, extreme cold via air conditioners, and racial abuse. He has alleged that dogs were used to intimidate detainees, and that he was subjected to a brutal removal from his cell, during which he was pepper sprayed and physically assaulted. During an interrogation in 2003, when Mohammed was 16 years old, the interrogator allegedly burned his arm with a cigarette. The teenager still has scars that he says was from this incident. In May 2004, Mohammed was transferred to the newly-opened Camp V, a prison block for about 80 detainees that is apparently modelled on “super-maximum” security prisons on the US mainland. Conditions in the latter have been denounced by the UN Committee against Torture as “excessively harsh”. Mohammed is held for up to 24 hours a day in solitary confinement in a concrete cell approximately four metres by two metres. He is supposed to get out three times a week for an hour, for a shower and exercise. However, once a week is reported to be more the norm. There is 24-hour lighting, and Mohammed complains that his eyes hurt. There are large fans that make a constant noise which make it impossible for communication between cells.
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On his first day in Camp V, Mohammed said that: “The Interrogator explained why I was in Camp V: ‘We made this camp for people who would be here forever. You should never think about going home. You’ll be here all your life. Maybe one day my son will come to see you as you get old. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you alive so you can suffer more. If you don’t believe me, look at these walls.’ And he banged on the concrete wall to show how solid it was.”
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
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Detentions began in Guantánamo Bay on 11 January 2002. More than 750 people have been detained there, of whom about 520, of some 35 nationalities, remain in the base. None of the Guantánamo detainees has had the lawfulness of their detention subjected to judicial review, a year after the US Supreme court ruled that the US courts have jurisdiction to hear appeals from them. Amnesty International believes that all those currently held in Guantánamo are arbitrarily and unlawfully detained. See USA: Guantánamo and beyond: The continuing pursuit of unchecked executive power, AMR 51/063/2005, May 2005, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR510632005. At least four and possibly up to nine of the current Guantánamo detainees were under 18 years old at the time they were taken into detention. Five detainees who were reportedly under 18 when they were detained have been released. They were as young as 13 when detained.
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RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your
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own language, in your own words:
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- expressing the most serious concern that Mohammed C. has been held in Guantánamo since he was 15 etc
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*Peace and love*
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Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

ÍÓÈäÇ Çááå æäÚã Çáæßíá ¡ äÚã Çáãæáì æäÚã ÇáäÕíÑ​

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Quraan:
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* …Say: "Sufficient for me is Allah; in Him those who trust (i.e. believers) must put their trust." *… "Allah (Alone) is Sufficient for us, and He is the Best Disposer of affairs (for us)." *Consider not that Allah is unaware of that which the Zalimoon (wrong-doers..) do, but He gives them respite up to a Day when the eyes will stare in horror.*…And those who do wrong will come to know by what overturning they will be overturned.​

*…Say: "Wait you! we (too) are waiting.
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*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

getting taken prisoner by the amercians is akin to getting taken prisoner by the gestapo.

 

*sigh* History repeating itself
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Links:
US Like Nazis: British Iraq Refusnik
Foreign policies of US, Al Qaeda are alike, says Chomsky
History Repeating Itself - President George W. Bush in Iraq
Bush and Hitler: Is History Repeating Itself?!

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*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​