(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 September 2002, RSF called on United States (US) officials to urgently explain why they are still holding Sami al-Haj, an assistant cameraman from the Qatar-based television station Al-Jazeera, at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, nine months after his arrest. “It is quite irregular for the US authorities to refuse […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 September 2002, RSF called on United States (US) officials to urgently explain why they are still holding Sami al-Haj, an assistant cameraman from the Qatar-based television station Al-Jazeera, at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, nine months after his arrest.
“It is quite irregular for the US authorities to refuse to tell the journalist’s family and friends what the charges are against him,” the organisation said in a letter to US Attorney-General John Ashcroft.
“It is now in their interest to break their silence in the case,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “Without questioning why he was arrested, we think this continued silence is especially unfortunate because it could be seen as an intention to harass Al-Jazeera, which has already been the target of US State Department pressure,” noted Ménard.
Since Al-Haj’s arrest on 15 December 2001, the station has sought to obtain news about him and obtain his release through diplomatic channels. On 16 September, Al-Jazeera said that the US embassy in Doha (Qatar) had promised in June to seek details from the State Department about the cameraman’s detention. The station had heard nothing since then and its letters to the embassy have not been answered.
Al-Haj, who is a Sudanese citizen, had been working for Al-Jazeera since October 2001 as an assistant cameraman. He was sent to cover the US military operation in Afghanistan and was arrested in southern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. He has sent messages to his wife saying he is being held at Guantanamo. The station said he had lost his passport in 2000 and that it may have been fraudulently used by other people.
About 600 prisoners of 43 different nationalities are being held at Guantanamo. All are suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda, which is blamed for the attacks on 11 September 2001 in New York and Washington. On 3 October, US Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as Al-Jazeera’s main shareholder, to see to it that the station changed its allegedly biased reporting of events.
A month later, the US military bombed the station’s offices in Kabul, saying Al-Qaeda people were reportedly hiding there. Despite promises to the station, the US authorities have never investigated the incident. Al-Jazeera has broadcast video recordings of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden several times.
