The Poodle Allows The Regime to Torture British School Principal Held Without Cause in Afghanistan

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 11, 2003 00:52 by Vikram Dodd

Conditions are so severe he has ''not seen the sun'' in a year of captivity

Mr Begg, 35, who is originally from Birmingham, was grabbed in Pakistan in February 2002, bundled into a car boot and taken to Afghanistan. He is being held at Bagram airbase outside Kabul where the CIA allegedly uses sleep deprivation to break resistance. Some captives are placed in metal containers and the US has banned any independent inspection of the base. Privately, US officials have reportedly admitted to "stress and duress" techniques.

The Poodle Allows The Regime to Torture British School Principal Held Without Cause in Afghanistan

Father fears for son held by US in Afghanistan
I was kept in the dark for a year, says Briton detained at base
Vikram Dodd
The Guardian
Monday February 10, 2003
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,892246,00.html

The father of a British man detained without trial by the Americans in Afghanistan said yesterday he fears that his son may commit suicide, amid allegations he is being held in a windowless cell at a base where "torture" is used.

In a letter to his family, Moazzam Begg told how conditions were so severe he had "not seen the sun" in almost a year of captivity.

He said he was increasingly depressed and hopeless, and in previous letters has said he is kept hungry and subjected to bright artificial lights.

Mr Begg, 35, who is originally from Birmingham, was grabbed in Pakistan in February 2002, bundled into a car boot and taken to Afghanistan.

He is being held at Bagram airbase outside Kabul where the CIA allegedly uses sleep deprivation to break resistance. Some captives are placed in metal containers and the US has banned any independent inspection of the base. Privately, US officials have reportedly admitted to "stress and duress" techniques.

Mr Begg, the son of a bank manager, does not know why he is being held. In a letter last week he wrote: "I am in a state of desperation and am beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness.

"Whilst I do not complain about my personal treatment, conditions are such that I have not seen the sun, sky, moon for nearly a year."

Mr Begg, married with two daughters and two sons, including one he has not seen since his birth, adds: "I believe now there has been a gross violation of my human rights.

"I don't know what crime I am supposed to have committed for which not only I, but my wife and children should continually suffer."

In the last line of his letter addressed to his father, he wrote: "I hate so much to place this burden upon you, and do so as a last resort to alleviate this injustice."

His father, Azmat Begg, 64, said: "It looks like he's in quite a lot of distress. He's a very brave boy, he has a lot of patience but he is losing that.

"The possibility is there that he will do something silly and harm himself."

Last week, the US admitted there have been five suicide attempts in the past three weeks by prisoners at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Britain has been allowed consular access to its eight nationals held there.

Concern at Mr Begg's treatment is widening. A spokeswoman for Amnesty International said: "An independent investigation should be held into the conditions in which Mr Begg is being held.

"It is essential that detainees such as Mr Begg should be treated in accordance with international law and should be able to challenge the legality of their detention in court."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office in London said the government was unhappy that its officials had been denied access: "We've been continuing to press the US for welfare access to Mr Begg and information about his detention ever since the ICRC confirmed his detention in Bagram. We have not got access.

"It's been raised by senior officials with the US administration on a number of occasions ... No, we're not pleased about not getting access."

So far, two detainees held at Bagram have died.

Mr Begg had been running a school in Afghanistan, which his family says was trying to boost literacy rates.

Intelligence agents may have targeted him believing he was the same Moazzam Begg whose name appeared on a photocopy of a money transfer found in an al-Qaida camp. Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon could be reached for comment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,892246,00.html