Juman al-Dossari transferred

  • Published on 20/07/2007
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Amnesty International Australia is very pleased with the news that Jumah Al-Dossari, the subject of one of our current case sheets and several Urgent Actions, has been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to another prison in Saudi Arabia.

This is a great relief to Jumah and his family - so thank you to everyone who took action on his behalf.

Jumah al-Dossari was amongst a group of 16 detainees transferred to Saudi Arabia on 16 July. Amnesty International will continue to monitor his situation.

According to a report in the Gulf Daily News, his family have already seen him and they say he is well and was very pleased to see them.

Background

Jumah was captured in Pakistan in late 2001. He has dual Saudi/Bahraini nationality and has a young daughter. He is 34 years old.

Jumah claims he was tortured through beatings, death threats, prolonged isolation, exposure to extreme cold and sexual assaults. Jumah made several attempts to take his life and spent the last portion of his detention in Guantanamo Bay in isolation in the mental health unit. Jumah wrote a heart rending account of his torture and desperation which Amnesty International was able to publish in July 2005.

He wrote in a letter to his lawyer, and published on Amnesty International Australia's case sheet, that he "would rather die than stay here forever, and I have tried to commit suicide many times. The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people, and I have been destroyed. I am hopeless because our voices are not heard from the depths of the detention centre."

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