Letters from Guantanamo Bay (sexual assault, and more)
In a letter obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, a Guantanamo Bay detainee has accused United States military guards of sexually assaulting him, five months since a mass hunger strike began.
For more than 11 years, Younous Chekkouri has been behind bars. He is one of more than 100 of Guantanamo Bay's 166 detainees who are on hunger strike. And he says his protest is being met with brutality.
In the letter obtained by Al Jazeera, Chekkouri describes being sexually assaulted by guards as they search him each time he leaves and returns to his cell in order to talk to his lawyer or his wife. And he says he is not the only one enduring this kind of treatment.
In response to the allegations, the Pentagon described Guantanamo guards as "some of the most professional, most heavily scrutinized guards on the planet" adding that "absurd accusations simply do not withstand intellectual rigor".
Inside Story Americas interviewed Cori Crider, the strategic director for Reprieve, a London-based legal action charity, who is also Chekkouri's attorney. She shared information on his life before he was taken to Guantanamo. According to Crider, Cherkkouri comes from a Sufi family in Morocco, but has not lived in Morocco in many years. He was a travelling student living abroad with his family across the Middle East and South Asia, and was living with his wife and brother in Afghanistan before the US invasion.
Chekkouri was arrested trying to flee the invasion. He has been cleared and awaiting release for a long time now, his lawyer said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2013/07/2013748627214697.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount
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