PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 63/009/2005

20 November 2005

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Statement of Nadja Dizdarevic

AI-Reprieve Conference - The Global Struggle Against Torture:

Guantánamo Bay, Bagram and Beyond - November 2005

(The views expressed in this personal statement do not necessarily reflect Amnesty International policy)

Dear friends,

First of all I would like to thank the organisers of this very important and much needed conference, and all those who decided to participate and give their testimonies. I would also like to thank all of you who decided to sacrifice that precious time you could have spent with your families in order to offer your support and sympathy to millions of other families throughout the world who suffer violations of their own basic human rights and of those closest to them.

Of those millions there are great numbers whose loved ones are kept in the prison called Guantánamo in Cuba, known also as Camp Delta, where my husband Boudelaa Hadz is held. He was taken there from Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) together with five other men in a group that was later referred to as the "Algerian group".

For the sake of those who are not familiar with this case I will give you a brief introduction into the events as they developed:

The men were arrested on 08/10/2001 and were detained until 21/11/2001. They were accused of planning an attack on British and US embassies. After the initial 30 day investigation no evidence was found so the investigation period was extended to a further 60 days. During this time a comprehensive analysis of the telephones, computers and documents was conducted. But even before the extended investigation period expired, the four men had their Bosnian citizenship removed because of the alleged suspicion that they had intended to commit a criminal act. This is surely illegal and anyone with even basic knowledge of the law knows that such a legal procedure does not exist and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Three months after their investigation started the guilt of these men was not proved and all the analysis and investigations showed that they were absolutely innocent and that some of them did not even know each other, which means that it was impossible for them to form the so-called "Algerian group".

Before the investigation period expired and before the final decision of the Supreme Court was made, John Sylvester (who was then the general of SFOR) sent a message via the media to the Bosnian authorities or to us, the families, or maybe to the citizens of BiH saying that these men would be extradited to the USA regardless of the decision of the Supreme Court. With this message he made it clear to all of us that he does not respect the decisions of the main judicial institution of our country. He fulfilled his promise with the help of our local government. On 16 January 2002 the Supreme Court of BiH terminated the procedure and gave orders for the six men to be released immediately; but the men were still being kept in the central prison in Sarajevo. Remembering the promise given by the general of SFOR and fearing that this case would end as illegally as it had begun, I organised the first demonstrations and called upon the citizens of BiH to come and witness the greatest violation of human rights that had happened in the capital in which all the state institutions, governmental and non-governmental organisations are situated. Those who came witnessed something that will definitely be remembered as a black mark against this country – a country which still dreams of becoming part of the EU. Through use of force these men, who held their release verdicts somewhere in their pockets, were transferred to one of the greatest violators of human rights – to the USA, from where the catastrophic pictures of Guantánamo were already arriving.

I deliberately mention this because in this case there were no extradition or deportation procedures, and BiH, then led by Zlatko Lagumdzija, Kresimir Zubak and all the others who are still in the leadership of this country, surrendered these six men, who had been released without any conviction, knowing exactly where they were being taken, and without even seeking the guarantee of protection against the death penalty.

Our families are split, our children and newborn are in tears, and we, the families, have been left alone to fight for our own rights and the rights of our husbands.

The Human Rights Chamber made the decision in which it was stated that every single clause of the human rights convention was violated in relation to these men. They ordered a new investigation into the case which resulted in the men having their illegally-removed BiH citizenship returned to them, and their right to return to BiH restored. The Federation of BiH was ordered to carry out a number of actions in favour of these men, including paying the men's defence lawyers (the only problem being that they were never legally tried), establishing diplomatic relations with the USA and seeking the men's return, and arranging for a state delegation to visit and examine the conditions in which these men are held. A number of the court's decisions have not been yet fulfilled.

All the international human rights organisations have agreed that this is a previously unheard-of violation of basic human rights.

After the visit of the Minister of Justice, we heard a report that seemed ridiculous in comparison with those from all the international organizations concerning the torture of the Guantánamo detainees. Mr. Amir Pilav stated that the main concern is the climate which is adversely affecting the detainees and causing health problems. He also said that these men were interested in the political situation in BiH, but failed to give any details. I started my search for the real report and, despite many obstacles, finally managed to get hold of it. Upon reading it I realised that the Ministry of Justice knowingly misinformed us, the families, the public and even the institutions in BiH. I discovered detailed descriptions of the way in which these men were brought in front of Mr. Pilav. I quote: "The interview was held in the special interview room within the military camp Delta. The detainee was escorted in by members of the US army and was wearing the orange outfit and chained around the waist, arms and legs. In accordance with the safety regulations in Camp Delta, the representative of BiH was told that the chains around his legs were fastened to the floor and would not be removed for the duration of the interview, while the chains around his waist and arms were removed." Further on in the report my husband tells me that he has complaints about the medical care given to him, the treatment by the guards, the food, and says that he lives like a slave in a room 1.80 by 2.30, that he does not feel well; and the same problems were reported by the others. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor Mr. Amir Pilav ever made this report public. For that reason I organised a third demonstration in front of the Parliament building to demand the men's immediate release and that the report from Guantánamo was made public. Those demonstrations were successful because the President of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Adnan Terzic, wrote a letter to the US Government in which he demanded the urgent release of the Bosnian citizens via diplomatic channels. This could be considered a great step forward, but since then nothing has happened because Mrs. Condoleezza Rice replied in an ordinary letter that, as far as she is concerned, the men are still a threat and at the moment there are no legal conditions for their release. To clarify, Mrs. Rice wrote an ordinary letter that can not be considered a final decision (as somebody deliberately publicised it in the media), since there is a special form which is normally used between two states to discuss the transfer of detainees. Secondly, Mrs. Rice had no right to declare the detainees as dangerous before the classification of detainees as dangerous or not dangerous had begun. By so doing she violated their human rights which say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. She endangered the regularity of the investigation before the military court in Guantánamo because she made it impossible for anybody to declare them not dangerous since the Minister of Justice had already declared them dangerous.

During the last four years my life and the lives of my family have been really hard. I am a single mother of four little children (Hafiz 12, Abdulaziz 10, Iman 8 and Nur 4 who never got to know her father since she was a newborn baby when her father was taken away). My life has been reduced to a struggle for the freedom and life of my husband and the other men in Guantánamo. I sleep only four hours each night because I spend my days in meetings with all the governmental and non- governmental institutions. When I come home exhausted I am confronted by my children who always ask the same questions: "When will our father return home? What does he look like now? Is his hair grey? Has he forgotten the Bosnian language? How old is he now? What does the Ead mean to us now that father is not around?" Thousands of questions and I haven't got a single answer for them. What worries me is that my children often ask, "Who is responsible for our suffering? Who is responsible for the absence of our father for more than four years now?" They are too small to understand some things but they are mature enough to know that their father is innocent and that somebody else is responsible for everything that is happening. My children are deprived of their childhood which was interrupted in a single night. Instead of watching cartoons my children watch the news and political programmes, waiting for the moment when someone mentions Guantánamo. Whenever they hear the door bell or the telephone they run to answer it, asking if it is their father.

It is difficult to be a mother to my children because I don't have enough time for them and I am all they have. I believe that there is not one institution in this world that I have not contacted and asked for help, and there are days when I just go around the town in a tram hoping to see the name of another organisation that I could get in touch with. At night, after I put my children to sleep, I start my work and while the whole world sleeps peacefully I tirelessly write complaints, requests, letters, learn about the law and human rights conventions so that I can continue my struggle for the life and release of my husband and the others. It is a tough struggle because I face many obstacles: threats, surveillance, many times my flat has been searched. Last year I was attacked in my flat by two men who spoke in English. I was badly injured and hospitalised. I still suffer from those injuries and will probably suffer from them for the rest of my life. None of the police investigations produced any results; or, at least, it is not known to me that any results exist. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped me in my struggle because I know that I have reason to continue, since I know that my husband is innocent and that no one will ever prove his guilt, just as they were unable to prove it during these past years. I support the fight against terrorism anywhere in the world, and am against those who organised and carried out the attacks on 11 September, against those war criminals who killed the Bosnian people or those who kill the Muslim population in Palestine, against any terrorist anywhere in the world regardless of their nationality, religion or race, but I do not support the violation of basic human rights in that fight against terrorism, because it is the innocent whose guilt has never been proven and who have no way of defending themselves who are victims in this so-called struggle against terrorism. My husband never saw our little daughter Nur, he never heard her first cry or saw her first smile, her first steps or heard her first words. He never saw her growing up and she is four now and every day she asks to see him. He never saw our son Abdulaziz and our daughters Hafiza and Iman start school, never saw their rewards and diplomas. He missed all their plays and competitions, their joys and their sorrows. He missed their childhood. And I am missing it too. Instead of having a normal life like everyone else, I spend my time fighting for the life of my husband and the other men. For the past four years I have spent every day thinking that it is enough and that something good will surely happen tomorrow.

Until this very day nothing changed apart from the increasing torture these men are subjected to. Their basic human right – the right to life - is violated, while the violation of their religious rights is increasing, which is why I organised the fourth demonstration in front of the American Embassy in Sarajevo to say NO to one of the greatest violations of human rights in the world which is on a par with those in the notorious prison Abu Ghraib, with torture in Palestine, Chechnia, Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and many other places too numerous to name.

Apart from the fact that the detainees are being held illegally without charge, trial or conviction, they are being exposed to unimaginable torture on a daily basis. Their chained bodies are being hanged from the ceiling, they are being repeatedly hit in the genitals which surely causes unbearable pain, they are being undressed, thrown onto stones where many guards jump on them, their heads are being pushed down the toilet which is then flushed until they start suffocating (and this process is repeated again and again), they are electrocuted and tortured in many other ways. Apart from this violation of the basic human right (the right to life), in Guantánamo their religious rights are also being violated on a daily basis. Their supply of water is being cut so that they cannot wash for prayer, their bodies are being smeared with dirty menstrual blood so that they are unable to pray, their clothes are being confiscated to prevent them from covering themselves for prayer, amoral women are being brought in front of them to perform amoral acts which is extremely humiliating for a practising Muslim. It is known that last year all the detainees in Guantánamo went on hunger strike (as was reported in the media), but no one knew that the reason behind the hunger strike was the fact that the guards stood on the holy book, the Koran in front of them, tore pages out of it and stuffed them down the toilet.

The USA once again proved that, far from being the greatest promoter of democracy and respecter of human rights, it was actually the champion of brutal violations of human rights. Initially, when the rumours first started to appear, it tried to deny this and maintained that no human rights violations were taking place, and it was only in the last few months that American central command in the Pentagon for the first time described five cases of inappropriate handling of the Koran by guards in the American prison. The American military investigators concluded that the guards threw, kicked, stepped on and urinated on the holy Muslim book, the Koran. That is what they publicly admitted and you can only imagine what really goes on in Guantánamo, or we are maybe even incapable of imagining what these sick minds can think of.

All this proves that the USA is beginning to lose its reputation in the eyes of many countries and even of its own people because of these violations of human and religious rights, not only in Guantánamo but also in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries. To summarise, wherever the USA goes, human rights violations become everyday occurrences. For that reason we have to express our dissatisfaction and send a message to the USA from here that no one, regardless of their power and size, has the right to play with other people's lives, to humiliate their religion or enjoy impunity for violations of basic human and religious rights. Regardless of how small and weak we might be, we have to show to that greatest power in the world – that greatest violator of human rights - that we will not sit back quietly and observe what goes on without making a noise, because our silence would be tantamount to participating in the crimes. We have to send a message to the USA demanding that they close Camp Delta because no one has the right to detain 540 people for four years without charge, without the right to defend themselves and with constant and catastrophic violations of their basic human rights.

To improve its reputation in the eyes of the Muslim world that has suffered so much injustice since 11 September and since Islam has been directly connected with terrorism, the USA must urgently release all the detainees from Guantánamo and other illegal prisons, to begin criminal proceedings against all violators of human rights and promoters of torture, to punish them with suitable and adequate sentences (unlike the one that was passed on the violators from Abu Ghraib who were, in a sense, rewarded for their horrific crimes). No one has the right to detain 540 people for four years without any explanation, and all the investigations have proved that around 80% of these people, just like our six men, are innocent and that they were taken without any explanation and are being held without any evidence against them. Who has the right to divide families, to part fathers from their children and to leave families vulnerable without anyone to take care of them? Who has the right to connect the purest religion to terrorism, when its main principle forbids any form of violence and says, "he who kills one innocent is treated as if he had killed the whole world"? Who has the right to hunt down Muslims all over the world and destroy their homes and families without having a single reason for doing so? Who has the right to walk on or urinate on the holy Koran? Is it in order to extract information related to terrorism or is it a direct attack on religious principles? Who has the right to rape young underage Muslim men and women with impunity? Is it really the greatest world power which we all admired, which promotes democracy and respect for human rights and which is home to the most respected universities for studying the most prestigious sciences?! Is it that country that wants to rule the world? The country which created the greatest human rights conventions?! Does that country deserve respect and should it still be our model in everything? Is that what that country deserves? Think for yourself!

We should send a message to the leaders of every country saying that it is their duty to find a way to protect their citizens who were illegally transferred to Guantánamo and that they should demand the urgent release of all of them. I also invite all the religious leaders to put pressure on the governments of the countries in which they live because it is their religious duty to protect the lives of others, to fight evil and to promote good.

Finally, I would like to remind you all that, regardless of the circumstances, we should never forget that the protection of human rights is our civil, religious and human duty.