HARGEISA, Somalia – After spending eight hellish years in Guantanamo Bay, Mohamed Saleban Bare still can’t believe he is back home from the notorious detention camp.
"Guantanamo Bay is like hell on Earth," Bare told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, December 22, in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway state of Somaliland.
"I don't feel normal yet but I thank Allah for keeping me alive and free from the physical and mental sufferings of some of my friends."
The 44-year-old was among a dozen Guantanamo detainees sent by the US at the weekend back home into Somaliland, Afghanistan, Yemen.
Bare and another Somali, 45-year-old Osmail Mohamed Arale, were handed over to their relatives in Hargeisa by the International Representative Committee of the Red Cross.
"I was in prison for about eight years and two months without being guilty,” he said.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo, opened in 2002, for years, branding them unlawful enemy combatants to deny them legal rights.
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"Can Obama Bring Back My Mother, Life?"
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Living With Guantanamo Scars
There have been reports of degrading and sadistic treatment of detainees at the infamous detention centre, which has been globally condemned as a stain on America's human rights record.
President Barack Obama ordered has pledged to close Guantanamo by January, with some of the detainees to be moved to a maximum-security prison in the state of Illinois.
Hellish
Still haunted by his hellish experience, Bare can’t forget his lost years behind Guantanamo high walls.
"Some of my colleagues in the prison lost their sight, some lost their limbs and others ended up mentally disturbed,” he said.
“I'm OK compared to them."
The Somali man was arrested in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in December 2001, weeks after the US launched its so-called “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks.
After four months of interrogation, he was moved to US military prisons in Kandahar and Bagram in Afghanistan.
"At Bagram and Kandahar, the situation was harsh,” he recalled.
“But when we were transferred to Guantanamo the torture tactics changed.
“They use a kind of psychological torture that kills you mentally," he said.
Bare cites sleep deprivation for at least four nights in a row and feeding detainees once a day with only a biscuit as among the aggressive techniques used by US jailors.
"And in the cold they let you sleep without a blanket,” he said.
“Some of the inmates face harsher torture, including with electricity and beating."
Bare said the US authorities had never told him why he was arrested.
"They used to ask many questions, most of them relating to my background like what I was doing in Somalia and about the people I know.
“It was all about suspicions and not a clear case," he said.
Bare hopes that one day he will be able to lead a normal life after his hellish experience.
“Praise be to Allah, I'm free now and back home, wishing to overcome the ordeal."
"Guantanamo Bay is like hell on Earth," Bare told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, December 22, in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway state of Somaliland.
"I don't feel normal yet but I thank Allah for keeping me alive and free from the physical and mental sufferings of some of my friends."
The 44-year-old was among a dozen Guantanamo detainees sent by the US at the weekend back home into Somaliland, Afghanistan, Yemen.
Bare and another Somali, 45-year-old Osmail Mohamed Arale, were handed over to their relatives in Hargeisa by the International Representative Committee of the Red Cross.
"I was in prison for about eight years and two months without being guilty,” he said.
The US has been holding hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo, opened in 2002, for years, branding them unlawful enemy combatants to deny them legal rights.
*
"Can Obama Bring Back My Mother, Life?"
*
Living With Guantanamo Scars
There have been reports of degrading and sadistic treatment of detainees at the infamous detention centre, which has been globally condemned as a stain on America's human rights record.
President Barack Obama ordered has pledged to close Guantanamo by January, with some of the detainees to be moved to a maximum-security prison in the state of Illinois.
Hellish
Still haunted by his hellish experience, Bare can’t forget his lost years behind Guantanamo high walls.
"Some of my colleagues in the prison lost their sight, some lost their limbs and others ended up mentally disturbed,” he said.
“I'm OK compared to them."
The Somali man was arrested in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in December 2001, weeks after the US launched its so-called “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks.
After four months of interrogation, he was moved to US military prisons in Kandahar and Bagram in Afghanistan.
"At Bagram and Kandahar, the situation was harsh,” he recalled.
“But when we were transferred to Guantanamo the torture tactics changed.
“They use a kind of psychological torture that kills you mentally," he said.
Bare cites sleep deprivation for at least four nights in a row and feeding detainees once a day with only a biscuit as among the aggressive techniques used by US jailors.
"And in the cold they let you sleep without a blanket,” he said.
“Some of the inmates face harsher torture, including with electricity and beating."
Bare said the US authorities had never told him why he was arrested.
"They used to ask many questions, most of them relating to my background like what I was doing in Somalia and about the people I know.
“It was all about suspicions and not a clear case," he said.
Bare hopes that one day he will be able to lead a normal life after his hellish experience.
“Praise be to Allah, I'm free now and back home, wishing to overcome the ordeal."
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