The London chef who was forsaken for five years in Guantanamo

[TexasLawyer]

June 16, 2007
The London chef who was forsaken for five years in Guantanamo

Like Robert the Bruce in his cell, Ahmed Errachidi drew inspiration
from a creature’s struggle as he waited for the allegations against
him to crumble

Sean O’Neill

Ahmed Errachidi had never heard the story of Robert the Bruce and the indefatigable spider until this week. But in the cell blocks of Guantanamo Bay, Inmate 590 learnt the same lesson as the Scottish King, in the same hard way.

Just as the Bruce took heart from the spider, the most inspiring moment in Mr Errachidi’s five-and-a-half years of internment came as he watched a solitary ant’s struggle for life. The insect was trapped inside the fortified glass dome housing the security camera that watched Mr Errachidi’s every move in his isolation cell. It was trying to climb out, but kept slipping backwards again and again.

<snip>

{Errachidi} was freed after the sole allegation against him – that he had been a senior figure at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in July 2001 – fell apart. The claim came from an unidentified source and was proved false by lawyers from the London-based charity Reprieve.

According to payslips, witness statements and bank records, Mr Errachidi was a long way from Afghanistan during July 2001 – working in the kitchens of the Westbury Hotel, Mayfair. The US military eventually declared Mr Errachidi “approved to leave Guantanamo” – as close as it comes to proclaiming him innocent.

<snip>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1940199.ece

[entanglement]

1. K & R -

:(

[entanglement]

2. He's facing trial in Morocco now - what a nightmare

:(

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/london+chef+freed+from+guantanamo+faces+trial/508372#fold

[magellan]

4. I'm not following why he's being returned to Morocco

...if he's a legal resident of the UK, as it appears he was before being captured and illegally detained at Gitmo for five years. Unless this is yet another deplorable case of the UK revoking legal residency status of Gitmo detainees who are subsequently released without charge.

[entanglement]

5. He's not a UK citizen - but has permanent residency rights

So the UK REFUSED to intervene on his behalf these 5 years - wanted to have nothing to do with him even after his release - so he went back to Morocco

[magellan]

7. That's what I thought

The British Home Office is doing the same to this guy: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2881745

Absolutely deplorable.

[babylonsister]

3. Five and a half years, for NOTHING??? Gross. How many more have

we done this to? :(

[entanglement]

6. He was also tortured while in custody

:(

[JCMach1]

8. ALL the Gitmo detainees have been at one level or another...

[elocs]

9. I have a compass in the wristband of my watch.

If I was an Arab in Iraq that could be enough for the coalition forces to throw me in prison because they once found a terrorist who had a compass in his watch's wristband, so obviously all who have that must be terrorists. Brilliant profiling.

[Toots]

17. and you know the fellow was an actual terrorist...how?

:shrug: This guy they just released was listed as a terrorist also..

[elocs]

18. How does anybody for sure know if anybody they imprison is a terrorist?

I had only read that the man originally arrested was a terrorist rather than being accused of being a terrorist. The other was simply some poor guy whose only indication of being a terrorist by their terms was having a compass in the wristband of his watch.

[Toots]

19. Used to be that people were charged and put on trial with evidence given and refuted

Now all that needs to be done is the Decider says what is..No such thing as Habeas Corpus for people abducted by USA in this grand new form of Amerika. The Decider says someone is a terrorist and from that moment on they will always be referred to as a terrorist. No evidence needed..Ain't Amerika great???

[elocs]

20. "Used to be" is the key phrase here. In this war, nobody "knows".

The person sitting in prison sure does know though.

[fazoolius_2006]

10. I am sure he will get some kind of settlement

At least he should!!

[Disturbed]

11. "I am sure he will get some kind of settlement."

Who can sue? Not the US Govt.!

[Solly Mack]

12. and that would make up for what exactly?

You think a nation that tortures and illegally and indefinitely detains people for nothing - that won't even use the word "innocent" upon release from GTMO because that would show just how criminal the detentions have been - is going to allow themselves to be sued?

[WinkyDink]

16. And what would you take, for FIVE-PLUS YEARS OFF YOUR LIFE, because of PSYCHO BUSH?

With none, apparently, of his hoity-toity customers from Mayfair raising a ruckus on his behalf.

[Solly Mack]

13. cowardly actions by a cowardly government

Pathetic

[theHandpuppet]

14. Good God -- what a story

I'm a bit speechless right now.... just gotta tell everyone to read the whole article and give this thread a recommendation!

[leftchick]

15. we pay for this shit...

:grr:

<snip>

Freedom came on Tuesday, April 24, with a brutal farewell present. Mr Errachidi was taken from his cell in his orange jumpsuit, his ankles shackled, arms cuffed to a waistband, ear-muffs, goggles and a muzzle clamped on his head.

“The mask was cutting into the corners of my eyes, it was hurting me and I couldn’t see so I tried to lift my shackled hands to pull it down,” he said.

“As I did that, they grabbed me and threw me against the wall, my head smashed into the wall and they started beating me. They tightened the shackles and gave me one last beating.

“I decided not to scream. I said to myself this is the last time, I’m going to take it.”