Ex-Detainee: Guantanamo Abuse Still Continues

Torture. It seems that U.S. politicians and officials, as well as other countries around the world, like to be obscure when it comes to the word torture. But if someone is walking a long sharp stones bare foot; that's torture.

Most people want to keep torture facilities, like Guantanamo and other secret prison camps around the world, in the back of their minds to not think about the gruesome, inhumane and cold-blooded torture that is inflicted upon a suspected terrorist. In an article published in Germany’s [i]Der Spiegel [/i]and republished on [i]ABC News[/i], Lakhdar Boumediene, who is an ex-detainee of Guantanamo Bay, discussed his days as a prisoner in their horrifying camp. In the Der Spiegel article it states, “[Boumediene] says that he was kept awake day and night and forced to walk across sharp stones with his bare feet tied together. He also claims that he was told that if he refused to confess, his handlers would put makeup on and rape him. Other detainees have recounted similar events, which were part of the special interrogation methods authorized by then-President George W. Bush.” Mr. Boumediene, who was a Bosnian Red Cross worker in October 2001, where he was arrested under suspected terrorism with the Algerian Terrorist Group, filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration. In June of 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Boumediene’s favor by supposedly repealing Mr. Bush’s suspension of habeas corpus and later that year, Mr. Boumediene was acquitted all of terrorist charges. “They put him in a terribly cold cell with 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). For the first days he had no running water, and he had to sleep on a pad less than one-centimeter thick visibly stained and smelling of food, vomit and feces. Boumediene was kept isolated there for 10 days, until Feb. 10, and was not permitted to shower, pray or change his clothes. He was force fed using violent methods that were intended to and did injure him, and there was no medical treatment” for a foot injury.” Until this day, the Department of Defense denies all accusations made against them. Michael Ratner, who is head of New York's Center for Constitutional Rights, told Der Spiegel, "We never imagined that detainee abuse would continue after January 20."