Guantánamo ex-detainee tells Congress of abuse

The Bush administration has repeatedly insisted that those held at Guantánamo are enemy combatants that pose a threat to the US. Earlier this month, for example, a former detainee from Kuwait was found to have participated in a suicide bombing in Iraq.

Why he was kept for four more years

Two months into his detention, in February 2002, Kurnaz was moved from Afghanistan to Guantánamo.

In September of that year, three German intelligent agents were invited to the island to interrogate him under CIA supervision.

According to transcripts of testimony they later gave before Germany's parliament, the US and German intelligence agencies agreed that there was no evidence of links to terrorism and cleared him for release. But German officials, wary of looking soft on terrorism after a Hamburg cell was found to have played a key role in the 9/11 attacks a year earlier, blocked his return.

Apparently as a result, Kurnaz stayed at Guantánamo for another four years. The Pentagon summary from his August 2004 tribunal proceedings show that the key charge against him was that he was "a close associate with, and planned to travel to Pakistan with" a man named Selcuk Bilgin, who, the Pentagon claimed, "later engaged in a suicide bombing."

These allegations turned out to be untrue: Mr. Bilgin is living in Germany with his wife and children, and has never been charged with any crime, according to German police.

It has since come to light that at least three classified documents in Kurnaz's Pentagon file pointed to his innocence, but because detainees do not have access to classified evidence, he had no way of knowing this.

Pentagon support for his detention

US District Judge Joyce Hens Green, who delivered a 2005 ruling on Kurnaz's claim, and those of 62 other prisoners challenging the legality of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, found that Kurnaz's case was an illustration of the "fundamental unfairness" of the system, particularly its reliance on "classified information not disclosed to the detainees." (Much of the ruling was itself was classified until recently.)

Kurnaz was finally released in August 2006 after Angela Merkel took over as German chancellor and personally pressed his case with President Bush.

The Pentagon maintains that it was justified in holding Kurnaz. "We have a significant amount of information, both classified and declassified to support his detention," Commander Gordon said. Noting that many of the documents related to Kurnaz's case are heavily redacted, he added, "It would be misguided to draw a whole picture based on bits and pieces of information."

But members of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, which hosted Tuesday's hearing, are calling for an investigation.

Key exhibit in Supreme Court review

While Kurnaz's case has only recently gained wide attention in the US, he has long been a household name in Europe, particularly in Germany, where – as in many other nations – there are deep misgivings about Guantánamo.

A 25-country poll by the BBC World Service and GlobeScan found that 69 percent disapprove of the prison and of US treatment of detainees.

A growing number of US lawmakers have been calling for the camp to be shut down. Opponents warn that doing so could return terrorists to the battlefield.

The outcome of the debate may hinge, in large part, on the findings of the Supreme Court, which is currently weighing a challenge to the legality of the Guantánamo Tribunals – a case in which Kurnaz is emerging as a key exhibit.

The former detainee hopes his testimony on Capitol Hill will help tip the scales. "I hope they will take it seriously and close the place down," he told the Monitor.

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