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Home » Press Releases » Other Countries - News » Guantanamo / USA: Release of Sami Al Hajj after 6 ½ years of detention
The U.S. officials said that Sami al Hajj "was not released, but simply transferred the Sudanese government." They therefore maintain the charge of crimes related to terrorism despite the fact that they have never formally charged or tried Mr. Al Hajj. The Minister of Justice of Sudan has meanwhile stated that "Sami al Hajj was a free man and that he would not be arrested or prosecuted."
Sami Mohieddine AL HAJJ was born on February 15, 1969 in Khartoum (Sudan). He is married and father of a child. He lives in Doha (Qatar) where he acts as an assistant cameraman for the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera. He had been sent as part of his professional activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There, he covered events related to the war launched by the USA against Afghanistan in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
On 15 December 2001, he introduced himself, accompanied by another journalist from the same channel, Mr. Abdelhak Saddah, to the Chamman border post between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Right after his passport control, he was arrested by Pakistani intelligence services and held incommunicado in their premises for 23 days.
On January 7, 2002, he was taken to Quetta where he was handed over to U.S. authorities who transferred him to the military base at Baghram near Kabul. He was held incommunicado for 16 days during which he was severely tortured by the U.S. military.
On 23 January 2002, he was transferred to another U.S. military base in Kandahar where he was kept in detention under the same conditions and without charge until 13 June of that year.
At that time, he was again transferred, this time by plane, with dozens of other prisoners under conditions of transport particularly inhumane and degrading to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay located in Cuba.
He was imprisoned in the camp in inhumane conditions as described by many released prisoners. According to his testimony collected by his lawyer, Mr. Clive Stafford-Smith, Sami Al Hajj has suffered no fewer than 130 interrogations as well as severe torture, deprival of sleep for a long period and denial of medical care.
He has never been legally charged, nor obtained, like all inmates of the camp, the right to challenge the validity of his detention before a competent, independent and impartial court.
More than a year ago, Sami al-Hajj began a hunger strike to protest against the impossibility for him to legally challenge the validity of his detention. He was forcibly fed through a gastric tube and his condition had worsened because of throat cancer that was not treated adequately.
Alkarama had seized on November 29, 2007 the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on torture asking them to intervene urgently with the U.S. authorities about the case of Mr. Al Hajj.
Sami Mohieddine AL HAJJ was born on February 15, 1969 in Khartoum (Sudan). He is married and father of a child. He lives in Doha (Qatar) where he acts as an assistant cameraman for the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera. He had been sent as part of his professional activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There, he covered events related to the war launched by the USA against Afghanistan in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
On 15 December 2001, he introduced himself, accompanied by another journalist from the same channel, Mr. Abdelhak Saddah, to the Chamman border post between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Right after his passport control, he was arrested by Pakistani intelligence services and held incommunicado in their premises for 23 days.
On January 7, 2002, he was taken to Quetta where he was handed over to U.S. authorities who transferred him to the military base at Baghram near Kabul. He was held incommunicado for 16 days during which he was severely tortured by the U.S. military.
On 23 January 2002, he was transferred to another U.S. military base in Kandahar where he was kept in detention under the same conditions and without charge until 13 June of that year.
At that time, he was again transferred, this time by plane, with dozens of other prisoners under conditions of transport particularly inhumane and degrading to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay located in Cuba.
He was imprisoned in the camp in inhumane conditions as described by many released prisoners. According to his testimony collected by his lawyer, Mr. Clive Stafford-Smith, Sami Al Hajj has suffered no fewer than 130 interrogations as well as severe torture, deprival of sleep for a long period and denial of medical care.
He has never been legally charged, nor obtained, like all inmates of the camp, the right to challenge the validity of his detention before a competent, independent and impartial court.
More than a year ago, Sami al-Hajj began a hunger strike to protest against the impossibility for him to legally challenge the validity of his detention. He was forcibly fed through a gastric tube and his condition had worsened because of throat cancer that was not treated adequately.
Alkarama had seized on November 29, 2007 the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on torture asking them to intervene urgently with the U.S. authorities about the case of Mr. Al Hajj.