The first letters from Briton facing the death penalty at Camp X-Ray
By Neil Mackay and Felicity Arbuthnot
THEY are the first letters to see the outside world from the 21st century\'s Devil\'s Island -- the US military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
These 10 letters in neat, cramped handwriting from Moazzam Begg to his family back home in suburban Birmingham tell exactly what life is like inside the world\'s most feared prison -- Camp X-Ray.
Begg, who is 35, has been detained without charge since January 2001, has faced gruelling interrogations, been denied access to lawyers, confined in brutal conditions and now awaits a military tribunal which could well result in a short trip to a custom-built death house for execution.
On Thursday, 4 July (American Independence Day and the day before Begg\'s birthday), President Bush ordered that Begg and five other men, including another Briton -- Feroz Abbasi, 23, from London -- would be the first detainees to face military tribunals.
Washington is now facing international criticism over its use of military tribunals which are held in secret and presided over by high-ranking US soldiers. There is no guaranteed right to appeal.
Detainees are kept in wood and steel mesh cages, partially exposed to the elements. The world was shocked when the first pictures of Camp X-Ray emerged, showing detainees bound hand and foot and wearing blacked-out goggles. Some were stretchered into the camp, which has been labelled degrading and inhuman.
Begg, detainee number JJJEEHH 160, says in his letters that he mostly writes at night, \'which is usually when I cannot sleep because of thinking and worrying all the time, and the heat and the bright lights\'. He has four children by his Palestinian wife, Sally. His youngest son Ibrahim was born while he was in custody.
In one letter to his wife, Begg writes: \'These past few weeks have been more depressing than usual, especially since the birth of our son ... time is dragging on so slowly ... I still don\'t know what will happen with me, where I will go and when -- even after all this time. There is nothing here to do to occupy time, except read the Koran .
\'There are many rules here which do not make the wait any easier. The food has been the same for five and half months and most of the time I am hungry. I miss your cooking so much.\'
Under what appear to be the black lines of a US military censor\'s pen can be read the words: \'I realise I am paying a big price for all the times I have been ungrateful in general and to you in particular.\' The letter then ends: \'The most difficult thing in my life is being away from you and the kids, and being patient. I miss you and love you so much.\'
Begg\'s father, Azmat, insists his son is not a terrorist. Ironically, Begg, who owned a bookshop in Birmingham, spent his formative years at a Jewish school and still has many Jewish friends. According to Azmat, a retired bank manager, his son was moved by the plight of the Afghani people and in 2001 travelled to Kabul with his family to start a school for basic education and provide water pumps.
When the allied attack on Afghanistan began in October 2001, Begg and his family moved to Islamabad in Pakistan for safety. It was there that he was seized in January 2002 by Pakistani police and CIA officers, bundled into a back of a car and taken back to Kabul, where he was held in a windowless cellar at Bagram airbase for nearly a year. His family insist it\'s a case of mistaken identity. Intelligence agents targeted Begg because his name appears on a photo-copy of a money transfer found in an al-Qaeda training camp.
Begg maintains his innocence in his letters home, saying: \'I believe that there has been a gross violation of my human rights, particularly to that right of freedom and innocence until proven guilty. After all this time I still don\'t know what crime I am supposed to have committed, for which not only I, but my wife and children should continually suffer for as a result.
\'I am in a state of desperation and am beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness .\'
All of Begg\'s letters show that he rarely gets correspondence from his family, although he writes to them regularly. He continually blames \'the system\' for preventing him getting details about his legal status, his family and the outside world. One letter begins: \'I wrote to mum in July. I am not entirely surprised if you never received it, or even if you will get this one -- but here goes anyway.\'
In that letter he writes : \'I am afraid that I spend much time sleeping -- often getting bored from just sitting or lying down.\' To counter the boredom, he reads the Koran, saying: \'I am also trying to to memorise the whole of the largest chapter.\'
Although he appears reluctant to worry his family, he does write about some of the more unpleasant aspects of life in Camp X-Ray. \'The camel spider is the only 10-legged spider in the world, and, I believe, it is not an arachnid (technically not a spider). But it grows to bigger than the human hand-size, moves like a race-car and has a bite that causes flesh to decay if untreated. In the summer there were plenty here, running into cells and climbing over people; one person was bitten and had to be treated. Apart from that there is the usual melee of scorpions, beetles, mice and other insects.\'
Another letter states: \'My routine is extremely mono-tonous ... Conversation with others is severely restricted but I do talk often to the guards.\'
In the same letter, however, he shows that he still has a sense of humour in a sly side-swipe at his US captors: \'I had a discussion recently with someone about the USA\'s contribution to civilisation (after talking about Ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China). I pondered for many hours, then came up with the answer: peanut butter (both smooth and crunchy) ... I have that every now and then and it tastes fairly good!\'
Another letter describes how he has been given books to read, including the biography of Malcolm X, Black Hawk Down (the story of America\'s botched military involvement in Somalia), Churchill\'s life and books on the US Civil War, Vietnam and the War of Independence -- \'which\', Begg adds sarcastically, \'they won by sheer luck\'.
Other letters are more poig-nant, with Begg asking his brothers to care for his wife and children -- who are now back in Britain -- and ensure they do well at school. \'Please help them in whatever way you can ... Don\'t let my children want for anything due to any financial problems.
\'This is the hardest test I have had to face in my life,\' he tells his father, \'and I hope I have not caused you too much distress, but I will pass this test by the will of Allah and your prayers.\'
His last letter in January this year ends: \'I don\'t know what is going on about my case, but I think it won\'t be resolved any time shortly. I am mostly kept in the dark and nobody seems to know. Please write back.\'
Begg\'s father Azmat, who proudly recounts the fact that all his family served in the British army, says his grandchildren are distraught at their father\'s disappearance.
Azmat and the rest of the family have been refused visas to travel to America in order to ask questions about their son\'s case. He also accused the Foreign Office of failing to help.
\' I feel now he will comply with whatever he is told,\' said Azmat. \'In his most recent letter he said that he will \'make a decision which will affect the entire family\'. We cannot guess what he means, but I am afraid he could do anything -- he has nothing in him left.\'
06 July 2003
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