Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj
Encyclopedia
Sami Mohy El Din Muhammed Al Hajj , aka Sami Al-Haj (Khartoum
, Sudan, February 15, 1969) is a Sudan
ese journalist for the Al Jazeera
network. In 2001, while on his way to do camera work for the network in Afghanistan
, he was arrested by the Pakistani army and held in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
in Cuba
for over six years. He was released without charge on May 1, 2008. He plans to launch legal action against George W. Bush
.
Al Hajj's case was portrayed in a documentary titled Prisoner 345
by Al Jazeera producer Ahmad Ibrahim.
on December 15, 2001.
He was on his way to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman for Al Jazeera
and had a legitimate visa. He was held as an "enemy combatant
" at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
, with Guantanamo Internment Serial Number 345, and was the only journalist to be held in Guantanamo.
British human rights
lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
represented Al Hajj, and was able to visit him in 2005. According to Stafford Smith, Al Hajj had "endured horrendous abuse - sexual abuse and religious persecution" and that he had been beaten, leaving a "huge scar" on his face. Stafford Smith also said that Al Hajj had witnessed "the Quran being flushed down the toilet by US soldiers in Afghanistan" and "expletives being written on the Muslim holy book".
On November 23, 2005, Stafford Smith said that, during (125 of 130) interviews, U.S. officials had questioned Al Hajj as to whether Al Jazeera was a front for al-Qaeda
.
Stafford Smith stated of his client that:
Al Jazeera responded that Al Hajj reported his passport
stolen in Sudan in 1999, and that anything done with the passport after that date was likely the work of identity thieves
.
During Sami Al Hajj's time in captivity, Reporters Without Borders
repeatedly expressed concern over his detention, mentioning Al Hajj in its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, and launched a petition for his release.
In January, 2007, Al Hajj and several other inmates went on hunger strike in protest of their treatment in Guantanamo, during which Al Hajj lost over 55 pounds. In response to the hunger strike, Al Hajj and the other inmates were force-fed. Al Hajj's hunger strike lasted 438 days until he was set free on 1 May 2008.
On April 18, 2007, the Sudanese Minister of Justice, Mohammad Ali Al-Marazi, condemned the United States' detention of Al Hajj.
Al-Marazi called Al Hajj's detention an "illegal act", which ran counter to human rights.
He claimed it exposed American claims of supporting human rights as "false".
When Alan Johnston
, former Gaza Correspondent for the BBC, was abducted in Gaza City by gunmen from the Army of Islam and held for 113 days, Sami Al Hajj made a plea to Johnston's captors to let the journalist go. Following his release, Johnston made a similar plea for the release of Al Hajj, being held by the United States Government in Guantanamo.
newspaper, The Guardian
, started publishing excerpts from Clive Stafford Smith's book, Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons. According to Stafford Smith:
The authorities were also reported to have "refused to provide him with a support for his knee as this contains metal and is classified as
a security threat."
On January 7, 2007, Al Hajj went on a hunger strike
. Al Jazeera's website published his demands which included:
Zachary Katznelson, senior counsel of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group representing Al Hajj, visited the cameraman at Guantanamo Bay on February 1. U.S. military officials declined to confirm whether Al Hajj was among the 12 detainees on hunger strike at the time.
On August 22, 2007, Clive Stafford Smith told Reporters Without Borders
that he had found Al Hajj's health had seriously deteriorated since his last visit.
He said that Al Hajj looked more frail, and visibly had trouble concentrating.
On September 10, 2007, Clive Stafford said that Al Hajj was focussed on the worry that he would be the next captive to die and losing his ability to speak English.
On September 11, 2007, Al Jazeera reported that Al Hajj was suffering from depression and losing the will to live.
By October 19, 2007, Al Hajj had lost over 55 pounds since beginning his hunger strike in January.
. The file, dated April 4, 2008, describes Al Hajj as a high risk detainee with "direct ties to Al-Qaida, al-Haramayn non-governmental organization (NGO) and Taleban leadership."
According to the file, Al Hajj "admitted shipping supplies and carrying funds to Chechnya" but had "not been forthcoming regarding his activities in support of terrorist organizations as reported by other sources." The file said that he had been "careful not to implicate himself as a member of an extremist organization, or to have had any dealings with extremists beyond performing interviews as a journalist."
Among the reasons for Al Hajj's transfer to the facility, the file listed:
summarized the allegations from Al Hajj's Combatant Status Review Tribunal:
According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. authorities labelled Al Hajj an "enemy combatant" and announced a number of charges against him, including:
Ahmad Ibrahim, a colleague of Al Hajj who documented his case in the documentary Prisoner 345
, denied each these charges.
. Al Hajj was not one of the eighty captives who that round of Administrative Review Boards had recommended for release or transfer.
His colleagues at Al Jazeera said "his detention is American harassment of an Arabic TV network whose coverage has long angered U.S. officials." Lamis Andoni, an Middle East analyst for Al Jazeera, said in reference to the November 2001 and April 2003 bombings of Al Jazeera's offices: "When you are targeted once, it could be a mistake, but when you are bombed twice, it's something else."
The director of the Joint Intelligence Group, Paul Rester
, said: "I consider the information that we obtained from him to be useful", though he declined to offer any substantiation for this claim.
During his first Administrative Review Board hearing, Al Hajj said he was going to decline to reply to the charges, on legal advice. However, Al Hajj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said that:
On August 15, 2007, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State stated of Al Hajj's case:
On the same day, Ali Sadiq, an official of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry
, stated:
Sami Al Hajj was released on May 1, 2008 from Guantanamo Bay and flown to Sudan. He arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum
on a US military plane in the early hours of Friday, May 2. Al Jazeera showed footage of him being carried into the hospital on a stretcher, looking frail but smiling and surrounded by well-wishers.
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
, Sudan, February 15, 1969) is a Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese journalist for the Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
network. In 2001, while on his way to do camera work for the network in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, he was arrested by the Pakistani army and held in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
for over six years. He was released without charge on May 1, 2008. He plans to launch legal action against George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
Al Hajj's case was portrayed in a documentary titled Prisoner 345
Prisoner 345
Prisoner 345 is a 2006 documentary film about detained Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Hajj, who was detained at the United States detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2002. The film retells the arrest of Al Hajj at the Afghan-Pakistani border...
by Al Jazeera producer Ahmad Ibrahim.
Background
Al Hajj was arrested in PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
on December 15, 2001.
He was on his way to work in Afghanistan as a cameraman for Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
and had a legitimate visa. He was held as an "enemy combatant
Enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
" at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
, with Guantanamo Internment Serial Number 345, and was the only journalist to be held in Guantanamo.
British human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Stafford Smith
Clive Adrian Stafford Smith OBE is a British [see talk] lawyer who specialises in the areas of civil rights and the death penalty in the United States of America....
represented Al Hajj, and was able to visit him in 2005. According to Stafford Smith, Al Hajj had "endured horrendous abuse - sexual abuse and religious persecution" and that he had been beaten, leaving a "huge scar" on his face. Stafford Smith also said that Al Hajj had witnessed "the Quran being flushed down the toilet by US soldiers in Afghanistan" and "expletives being written on the Muslim holy book".
On November 23, 2005, Stafford Smith said that, during (125 of 130) interviews, U.S. officials had questioned Al Hajj as to whether Al Jazeera was a front for al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
.
Stafford Smith stated of his client that:
Al Jazeera responded that Al Hajj reported his passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
stolen in Sudan in 1999, and that anything done with the passport after that date was likely the work of identity thieves
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
.
During Sami Al Hajj's time in captivity, Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
repeatedly expressed concern over his detention, mentioning Al Hajj in its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, and launched a petition for his release.
In January, 2007, Al Hajj and several other inmates went on hunger strike in protest of their treatment in Guantanamo, during which Al Hajj lost over 55 pounds. In response to the hunger strike, Al Hajj and the other inmates were force-fed. Al Hajj's hunger strike lasted 438 days until he was set free on 1 May 2008.
On April 18, 2007, the Sudanese Minister of Justice, Mohammad Ali Al-Marazi, condemned the United States' detention of Al Hajj.
Al-Marazi called Al Hajj's detention an "illegal act", which ran counter to human rights.
He claimed it exposed American claims of supporting human rights as "false".
When Alan Johnston
Alan Johnston
Alan Graham Johnston is a British journalist working for the BBC. He has been the BBC's correspondent in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip, and is currently the correspondent in Rome...
, former Gaza Correspondent for the BBC, was abducted in Gaza City by gunmen from the Army of Islam and held for 113 days, Sami Al Hajj made a plea to Johnston's captors to let the journalist go. Following his release, Johnston made a similar plea for the release of Al Hajj, being held by the United States Government in Guantanamo.
Interrogation and treatment
On April 20, 2007, the UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, started publishing excerpts from Clive Stafford Smith's book, Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons. According to Stafford Smith:
Health and hunger strike
In 1998, Al Hajj was treated for throat cancer and prescribed a course of anti-cancer drugs that he was to take every day for the rest of his life. In letters from the dentention camp, he claimed that he was being denied these medications by the authorities.The authorities were also reported to have "refused to provide him with a support for his knee as this contains metal and is classified as
a security threat."
On January 7, 2007, Al Hajj went on a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
. Al Jazeera's website published his demands which included:
- The right for detainees to practice their religion freely and without duress.
- Applying the Geneva Convention to the treatment of Guantanamo detainees.
- Releasing a number of prisoners from isolation confinement, and in particular one Shakir Amer that has been in continued isolation since September 2005.
- Conducting a full and fair investigation into the deaths of three prisoners who died in June 2006.
- His release or trial by a federal US court.
Zachary Katznelson, senior counsel of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group representing Al Hajj, visited the cameraman at Guantanamo Bay on February 1. U.S. military officials declined to confirm whether Al Hajj was among the 12 detainees on hunger strike at the time.
On August 22, 2007, Clive Stafford Smith told Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
that he had found Al Hajj's health had seriously deteriorated since his last visit.
He said that Al Hajj looked more frail, and visibly had trouble concentrating.
On September 10, 2007, Clive Stafford said that Al Hajj was focussed on the worry that he would be the next captive to die and losing his ability to speak English.
On September 11, 2007, Al Jazeera reported that Al Hajj was suffering from depression and losing the will to live.
By October 19, 2007, Al Hajj had lost over 55 pounds since beginning his hunger strike in January.
Guantanamo detainee file
On April 26, 2011, a classified file from Guantanamo on Al Hajj's detention was released by WikileaksWikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
. The file, dated April 4, 2008, describes Al Hajj as a high risk detainee with "direct ties to Al-Qaida, al-Haramayn non-governmental organization (NGO) and Taleban leadership."
According to the file, Al Hajj "admitted shipping supplies and carrying funds to Chechnya" but had "not been forthcoming regarding his activities in support of terrorist organizations as reported by other sources." The file said that he had been "careful not to implicate himself as a member of an extremist organization, or to have had any dealings with extremists beyond performing interviews as a journalist."
Among the reasons for Al Hajj's transfer to the facility, the file listed:
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Stafford SmithClive Stafford Smith
Clive Adrian Stafford Smith OBE is a British [see talk] lawyer who specialises in the areas of civil rights and the death penalty in the United States of America....
summarized the allegations from Al Hajj's Combatant Status Review Tribunal:
According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. authorities labelled Al Hajj an "enemy combatant" and announced a number of charges against him, including:
- That he travelled to the middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus for clandestine purposes.
- That he had an internet site that supports terrorists.
- That he was involved in selling Stinger missiles to Chechen rebels.
- That he was caught entering Afghanistan illegally.
- That he interviewed Osama bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
(a charge that was later dropped).
Ahmad Ibrahim, a colleague of Al Hajj who documented his case in the documentary Prisoner 345
Prisoner 345
Prisoner 345 is a 2006 documentary film about detained Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Hajj, who was detained at the United States detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay detention camp in 2002. The film retells the arrest of Al Hajj at the Afghan-Pakistani border...
, denied each these charges.
Subsequent Administrative Review Boards
On February 23, 2007, it was reported that Al Hajj's continued detention had been reviewed by a subsequent Administrative Review BoardAdministrative Review Board
The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the suspects held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba....
. Al Hajj was not one of the eighty captives who that round of Administrative Review Boards had recommended for release or transfer.
His colleagues at Al Jazeera said "his detention is American harassment of an Arabic TV network whose coverage has long angered U.S. officials." Lamis Andoni, an Middle East analyst for Al Jazeera, said in reference to the November 2001 and April 2003 bombings of Al Jazeera's offices: "When you are targeted once, it could be a mistake, but when you are bombed twice, it's something else."
The director of the Joint Intelligence Group, Paul Rester
Paul Rester
Paul Rester is the director of the Joint Intelligence Groupat the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba -- the Chief Interrogator.Rester described the interrogation techniques the military used at Guantanamo to the Associated Press....
, said: "I consider the information that we obtained from him to be useful", though he declined to offer any substantiation for this claim.
During his first Administrative Review Board hearing, Al Hajj said he was going to decline to reply to the charges, on legal advice. However, Al Hajj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said that:
- Al Hajj was not a clandestine financial courier, but: "...he and his wife once carried $220,000 from Qatar to Azerbaijan for his boss at the beverage company - and ... he even declared the cash to customs."
- Al Hajj did meet Mamdouh Mahmud SalimMamdouh Mahmud SalimMamdouh Mahmud Salim is an alleged co-founder of the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda. He was arrested on 16 September 1998 near the German town Munich...
once "while working for the beverage company ... when he was sent to pick him up at the airport in Qatar in 1998. During the drive, the two discussed schools and housing."
Release negotiation and release
On the same day, Ali Sadiq, an official of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sudan)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Sudanese government ministry which oversees the foreign relations of Sudan....
, stated:
Sami Al Hajj was released on May 1, 2008 from Guantanamo Bay and flown to Sudan. He arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
on a US military plane in the early hours of Friday, May 2. Al Jazeera showed footage of him being carried into the hospital on a stretcher, looking frail but smiling and surrounded by well-wishers.
External links
- From Guantánamo to Desk at Al Jazeera, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, December 22, 2009 - Amnesty International case sheet
- Aljazeera Guantanamo inmate 'abused', Al JazeeraAl JazeeraAl Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
, June 22, 2005 - Aljazeera interview with lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, Al JazeeraAl JazeeraAl Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
, October 26, 2005 - Robert Fisk interview about Sami mp3 download
- Sami al-Haj: the banned torture pictures of a journalist in Guantánamo Andy Worthington
- An interview with Sami al-Haj, former Guantánamo prisoner and al-Jazeera journalist Andy Worthington
- Sami al-Haj: “Torture is terrorism” Andy Worthington