US group urges release of Sudan cameraman from Guantanamo

Feb 28, 2007 (NEW YORK) — The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” about reports that a Sudanese cameraman, believed to be the only journalist held at the U.S. prison camp for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been on hunger strike for the last 48 days and may be in failing health.

Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera TV, has been on hunger strike since early January in protest of his incarceration, the network’s Arabic-language web site has reported.

“We are concerned for the wellbeing of Sami al-Haj who has been held by the U.S. for more than five years without charge or trial,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement. “The United States should either charge him with a crime and give him a fair trial, or release him at once.”

Al-Hajj, 38, was detained by Pakistani forces in December 2001 while attempting to cross the border into Afghanistan to cover the U.S.-led offensive against the Taliban. He was turned over to U.S. forces and hauled in chains six months later to the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, where about 390 men are held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

There are currently 12 detainees on hunger strike at Guantanamo, Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a Guantanamo spokesman, said Wednesday. Durand said 11 of the hunger strikers were being “enterally fed,” meaning they are being fed by tubes inserted through their noses.

U.S. military officials declined to confirm whether al-Hajj was among the 12 currently on hunger strike.

U.S. military documents say Al-Hajj transported money between 1996 and 2000 for a now defunct charity that allegedly provided money to militant groups, and that he met a “senior al-Qaida lieutenant.”

During an appearance before a military review panel in August 2005, al-Hajj, citing advice from his lawyer, declined to respond to questions and denied any links to terrorism.

Sudanese officials say Washington has given them no information about Al-Hajj.

Al-Jazeera has often come under fire from the Bush administration, which accuses the Qatar-based pan-Arab television network of inflaming Arab and Muslim public sentiment against the United States and its allies – particularly in its coverage of Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Al-Hajj’s colleagues have said his detention is a way for Washington to harass the Arab network.

(AP)