Alan Johnston - “A friend of the people”

On the 12th March 2007, BBC journalist Alan Johnston disappeared in the Gaza strip, from where he been reporting for three years. After a week of searching, the BBC were forced to conclude that their man had been kidnapped; two months into his ordeal, a branch of the mafiosa Dogmush clan, styling itself the Army Of Islam, revealed that they were holding him.

Despite a massive, worldwide campaign to free Alan, there was little that could be done. The Gaza strip had effectively had two governments - or to look at it another way, no government - for some time. The elected Hamas party were frozen out of Palestinian politics for refusing to renounce violence or recognise Israel (not that Israel renounces violence or recognises Hamas; given Hamas’ willingness to establish a long-term truce and start negotiating a permanent peace, this is a transparently weak excuse); funds were cut off to them and anyone associated with them, many of their MPs were imprisoned, and arms were sent to their rivals Fatah. Though both factions in both factions called for Alan’s release, with key figures naming him a friend of the Palestinian people, there was little they could do.

The tension couldn’t, and didn’t last forever. Early last month Hamas gained complete control of the Gaza strip, while the larger West Bank was taken by Hamas. With reestablishing order one of its biggest priorities, the Hamas administration moved to get Alan out. The Dogmush were demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Britain, something Hamas couldn’t and Britain wouldn’t acheive, so negotiations were a dead end, and to prevent the use of force Johnston was wired up with explosives. They eventually capitulated after Hamas captured several of their members and possibly cut off their electricity.

For their efforts, Hamas may well have expected some kind of recognition, some normalisation of relations from the powers that tend to brand them as terrorists. It’s not to be:

[British Prime Minister Gordon] Brown acknowledged the “crucial” role played by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in securing Mr Johnston’s release. But a spokesman for Mr Brown said Britain’s policy towards Hamas had not changed, and the movement was still expected to recognise Israel and show a commitment to non-violence.

Alan, understandably, is very very glad to be out. He’s lost weight during his four month internment, which he compares to being “buried alive“.

Sami al Hajj - Prisoner 345 in Guantanamo Bay

Five and a half years have already passed since the 15th December 2001, when Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al Hajj is believed to have been abducted. He’s spent most of his young son’s life inU.S. internment camps, including the notorious Guantanamo Bay, as an “enemy combatant”, with all the abuse that that position entails (from Prisoner345.net):

U.S. MPs pulled the hairs of his beard out one by one. He was forced him to kneel for long periods on cold concrete (he still has marks on his knees from this). He was beaten many times. An MP stuck a finger up his anus, and another said to Sami, “I want to f**k you.” The Qu’ran was thrown in the toilet in front of him….

Sami had throat cancer in 1998 and was put on medication which he is meant to take daily for the rest of his life, but which has been denied him for over five years, since his seizure by the U.S. Whilst at Bagram, Sami was stomped by guards and had his right knee-cap was broken so that he has no lateral support. Sami has not received a necessary operation for this. He was told by doctors at Guantánamo that he must have surgery, but that he could not expect the necessary therapy to recover the use of his knee there.

Sami’s captors have issued no ultimata, no demands, made no charges. His wife only discovered his internment after 18 months, via the Red Cross. No interest is shown in his unspecified and alleged terrorism anymore - but he is frequently asked for testimony on an invented Al Qaeda influence over Al Jazeera. After five years Sami gave up waiting for charges, which could lead to a trial and eventual freedom, and started on the only form of protest available: a hunger strike. In violation of the Tokyo Declaration his captors now stick tubes up his nose, which occasionally end up in his lungs.

‘Gitmo’ has become an embarrassment for the USA - not because it is in any way exceptional, but because we’ve all heard of it - and after funding cuts and a petition from Congress, now even George Bush wants it closed. Should this happen - and it may not happen for some time - many of the prisoners are expected to be redistributed among America’s military prisons under new legislation, giving them a slightly different status to that which they currently enjoy but still probably far less than American constitutional rights.

It’s also possible that Sami’s captors may decide that he is neither a threat nor of any intelligence value, under which circumstances he may be released or at least repatriated. In the meantime, here’s a poem Sami wrote on a polystyrene cup which was smuggled out of Guantanamo:

Humiliated In The Shackles

By Sami al Hajj

When I heard pigeons cooing in the trees,
Hot tears covered my face.
When the lark chirped, my thoughts composed
A message for my son.
Mohammad, I am afflicted.
In my despair, I have no one but Allah for comfort.
The oppressors are playing with me,
As they move freely around the world.
They ask me to spy on my countrymen,
Claiming it would be a good deed.
They offer me money and land,
And freedom to go where I please.
Their temptations seize
My attention like lightning in the sky.
But their gift is an empty snake,
Carrying hypocrisy in its mouth like venom,
They have monuments to liberty
And freedom of opinion, which is well and good.
But I explained to them that
Architecture is not justice.
America, you ride on the backs of orphans,
And terrorize them daily.
Bush, beware.
The world recognizes an arrogant liar.
To Allah I direct my grievance and my tears.
I am homesick and oppressed.
Mohammad, do not forget me.
Support the cause of your father, a God-fearing man.
I was humiliated in the shackles.
How can I now compose verses? How can I now write?
After the shackles and the nights and the suffering and the tears,
How can I write poetry?
My soul is like a roiling sea, stirred by anguish,
Violent with passion.
I am a captive, but the crimes are my captors’.
I am overwhelmed with apprehension.
Lord, unite me with my son Mohammad.
Lord, grant success to the righteous.