US embassy cable - 05MANAMA1553

UNCLAS MANAMA 001553 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR R, NEA/ARPI, S/WCI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KAWC, PTER, ASEC, PREL, KPAO, BA 
SUBJECT: ARTICLES ALLEGE SEXUAL HUMILIATION, HUNGER STRIKE, 
OF BAHRAINI GTMO DETAINEES 
 
REF: MANAMA 1547 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly.  Not 
for Internet distribution. 
 
1.  (U) This is an action request; please see para 7. 
 
2.  (U) Sister newspapers Arabic daily Akhbar Al Khaleej and 
English daily Gulf Daily News October 19 and 20 published two 
articles alleging the sexual humiliation of Juma Al Dossary 
and the advanced hunger strike of Issa Al Murbati, both 
Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo.  American lawyer Joshua 
Colangelo-Bryan, from the firm Dorsey and Whitney, met with 
Al Dossary, Al Murbati, and the four other Bahraini detainees 
at GTMO - Salah Al Balooshi, Adel Kamel, Shaikh Salman bin 
Ibrahim Al Khalifa, and Abdulla Al Noaimi - during an October 
16 visit. 
 
3.  (U) According to the October 20 article, Al Dossary 
claimed that in September 2002 he was chained to the floor in 
an interrogation room and had his clothing removed by four 
military police officers.  A female interrogator allegedly 
stripped naked while standing over the detainee and "smeared 
her menstrual blood over various parts of his body."  In 
another incident in mid-2003, Al Dossary claimed he was taken 
into an interrogation room from which he could see a naked 
man and woman having sex on a table in an adjoining room. 
When finished, the man and woman entered the interrogation 
room and asked Al Dossary to reveal the identities of Arab 
men in photographs, promising him he could have sex with the 
woman if he cooperated.  Al Dossary further alleged that he 
observed U.S. Marines in Afghanistan use pages from the Koran 
to shine their boots and saw a cross placed on top of a 
mosque at the Kandahar air base. 
 
4.  (U) In a statement to Colangelo-Bryan, Al Dossary said 
that his physical condition had deteriorated and he 
experiences pain and numbness in his neck and left arm and 
suffers from headaches, nausea, and sudden rapid increases in 
his heart rate.  He says he has seizures and nightmares and 
believes he needs psychological treatment, but does not trust 
any doctor at GTMO. 
 
5.  (U) The October 19 article quotes Colangelo-Bryan saying 
that he observed Al Murbati with a feeding tube inserted into 
his nose.  The attorney says Al Murbati lost a tremendous 
amount of weight and looks exhausted.  "There is nothing to 
suggest he will end this hunger strike," Colangelo-Bryan 
said.  According to the article, U.S. officials state 24 
detainees are still on a hunger strike, down from 200 last 
month. 
 
6.  (SBU) The Embassy received a diplomatic note October 23 
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referencing the two 
newspaper articles.  The Ministry requests the USG to check 
on the veracity of the allegations made in the stories and to 
pass any available information. 
 
7.  (SBU) Action request:   Embassy has talking points on the 
hunger strikes, but requests talking points to respond 
publicly to questions about the treatment of Al Dossary, as 
well as any points that could be conveyed privately to the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the diplomatic 
note. 
 
MONROE