US embassy cable - 05MANAMA229

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000229 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, S/WCI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2015 
TAGS: KAWC, PREL, PTER, MARR, BA 
SUBJECT: GULF DAILY NEWS ARTICLE CLAIMS TORTURE OF BAHRAINI 
GTMO DETAINEE 
 
 
Classified by DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) While there have been previous press reports on the 
six Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo, their "imminent" 
release, and complaints about conditions there, a February 10 
article in the English-language Gulf Daily News is perhaps 
one of the more detailed and widely disseminated "expose" 
pieces on this issue appearing in the Bahraini press 
recently.  While we cannot comment on the validity of the 
claims made, we are flagging the prominence this article has 
received and what is being said by one of the detainees.  The 
GOB has not approached the Embassy about the article. 
 
2.  (U) English-language daily the Gulf Daily News February 
10 reported that Bahraini detainee at GTMO Juma Mohammed Al 
Dossary was tortured by U.S. soldiers in Kandahar, 
Afghanistan shortly after being captured in December 2001. 
(Note:  The Al Dossary family is close to the ruling Al 
Khalifa family.  There are Al Dossarys who live in both 
Bahrain and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.  End Note.) 
 The story, titled "Torture Horror of Bahraini Detainee" and 
written by Robert Smith, ran under a photograph of a group of 
orange jumpsuit-clad detainees being guarded while kneeling 
along the perimeter of a chain link fence and a photo of Al 
Dossary dressed in a blue sweater talking on the phone during 
"his days as a student in the U.S."  The article is available 
on the Internet at: 
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc Articles.asp? (URL 
continues below) 
Article=103999&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=27327. 
 
3.  (U) The claim of torture was made by Joshua 
Colangelo-Bryan, an American attorney representing the six 
Bahraini detainees in GTMO who visited the facility in 
October 2004.  According to Colangelo-Bryan, Al Dossary spent 
two weeks at a Kandahar camp where U.S. soldiers forced him 
to walk barefoot on broken glass and pushed his head into the 
glass before interrogating him.  Colangelo-Bryan alleged that 
Al Dossary was shocked with an electric device on his face 
and back during interrogation and had boiling liquid, 
possibly tea, poured over his head.  On one occasion, he was 
beaten to the point of fainting, and he claims that when he 
regained consciousness, he was lying on the ground with his 
head under a soldier's boot.  After being subject to beatings 
and a "violent cavity search," Colangelo-Bryan claims that Al 
Dossary "began to offer to do anything requested of him - 
such as admit to being a terrorist or sign a statement - in 
the hope of preventing further beatings." 
 
MONROE