British Guantanamo Bay prisoner `losing his sanity'

THE OBSERVER ^ | Monday, Jan 08, 2007

[ErnBatavia]

Clive Stafford Smith, one of the lawyers. "I have had several clients on American death rows who have developed it and it's clear to me that he is sliding down that path," Smith said.

Not a lawyer I think I'd want to have...given his vast experience of having his clients ending up on death row...

[magslinger]

.45. Those are some mighty big demons. Besides, when it comes right down to it, 9mm is for women and wimps.

[BnBlFlag]

"British", huh?

[MinuteGal]

He was "slipping into insanity" the moment he was born.

He just picked up a little more steam since lawyers took up his case at Gitmo.

Leni

[Luis Gonzalez]

"The conditions in which he is being held are worse than any death row I've ever seen"

Sneak over that fence, and go visit the patients at "Hospital Nacional" in Havana.

A jail cell in Guantanamo will look like Ceasar's Palace in comparison.

[Tamar1973]

I would "go crazy" too if I was "force fed" 4000 calories a day. LOL!

[maica]

Sadly, not all did.

$$$$$

That goes without saying, but to assert that policies at Gitmo are derived to render inmates mad is a stupid statement from the Observer writer and/or the detainee's lawyers.

[org.whodat]

is rapidly losing his sanity, according to three lawyers who have visited him during the past month.

Is there any profession that lawyers don't think they are experts at?? LOL

[KC Burke]

Back story:

Meanwhile, in London, eight-year-old Mohammed El-Banna was hoping that the visit of the US Secretary of State would result in the release of his father from Guantánamo Bay. "Please can you tell Dr. Rice I want my dad back…I miss him so much, and when he comes back I will give him a big hug." His father Jamil El-Banna, London-based Palestinian businessman, is being detained along with his friend Bisher al-Rawi, after the CIA and Gambian intelligence - on a tip-off from British intelligence - seized them during a business trip there.

While Bisher al-Rawi actually worked for MI5 as its intermediary with Abu Qatada, the Jordanian-born preacher alleged to be Al Qaeda's spiritual leader in Europe, Jamil El-Banna was arrested simply because he had once helped al-Rawi ferry Abu Qatada's wife and children around London. According to the UK Independent, CIA and MI5 believed that their fear of detention and torture would turn both men into key witnesses against Abu Qatada. The fact that al-Rawi was approached by and co-operated with MI5 for months before his arrest was somehow deemed of insufficient importance in this entire situation!

The UK government had previously insisted that it was unable to help any non-passport holder, but Jack Straw is now petitioning the US for the release El-Banna's friend, Bisher al-Rawi. Since it was al-Rawi's involvement with MI5 that had led to their arrest, the El-Banna family hopes Jamil El-Banna will also be freed.