Both sides of the wire
Article published: Thursday, February 26th 2009
The Cage Prisoner speaker tour brought former Guantanamo guard Chris Arendt and former prisoner Moazzam Begg to Manchester, Steph Davies reports …
In one of his first actions since his inauguration, US president Barack Obama announced that the infamous military prison Guantanamo Bay would be closed. The timely “Cage Prisoner Tour” provided valuable insight into seven years of unlawful detention, abuse and torture at the detention facility.
Three extraordinary speakers came to Manchester. They were Omar Deghayes, one of the last British detainees to be released from Guantanamo; Moazzam Begg, an ex-Guantanamo detainee and spokesperson for human rights group “Cageprisoners”; and Christopher Arendt, a former guard.
The venue at Manchester Metropolitan University was filled to capacity, with people packing the stairwells. Over 300 people came to hear Deghayes, Begg and Arendt speak with passion and courage about their experiences at the camp.
Begg was imprisoned at Guantamo for just over two years between 2002 and 2005. He outlined conditions in the camp and described the many different nationalities, ages and prisoners’ life stories. Harrowing accounts followed of atrocities he had witnessed – including murder and torture.
Guantanamo may be the world’s most potent symbol of illegal detention, but former prisoner Omar Deghayes went on to describe it as “the tip of the iceberg,”. He called for increased awareness of all the ‘ghost prisoners’ who are currently incarcerated in secretive off shore detention facilities.
Deghayes gave moving accounts of cruel treatment towards detainees like the teenager Omar Khadr. Just fifteen when he was shot and captured after a fight with US Special Forces in Afghanistan, he was first detained there at Bagram Air Base and later transferred to Guantanamo.
During the final session of the evening, the audience heard from 24-year-old Arendt, a former guard at the base. He was 17 when he joined the American equivalent of the Territorial Army to help pay his college fees. He found himself sent straight from his trailer park to Guantanamo after just two weeks training. He was faced with a choice: serve 10 months as a guard or face imprisonment. Arendt described how he developed relationships with the detainees, and the abuse he himself endured. Referring to himself as a “concentration camp guard” with touching honesty, he outlined how he rejected his role and left after 10 months. He admitted being a lone voice of dissent at Guantanamo, and bravely named generals such as Geoffrey Miller who later went on to replicate the camp at Abu Ghraib.
The Cage Prisoner tour was very timely for a number of reasons. Firstly, it began on 11 January, exactly seven years after the first transfer to Guantanamo. Secondly, it took place against the backdrop of the the Israeli military’s horrific assault on Gaza. To hear former inmates converse with their guards is unusual, in a case as extreme as Guantanamo, it is almost unthinkable. This powerful meetingcarried a message of reconciliation which bore a huge relevance to Middle East conflict. Campaigners against Israeli oppression should remember that there is homeland opposition to Israeli state actions -like the refuseniks, and the growing Israeli peace movement. Arendt’s talk was a painful reminder that the lines are never as simple as we may think.
More: Manchester, News
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