DRAFT - SAVED for DC_ARCH - TV News Footage - Five years on, families of Guantanamo detainees desperate for news about the fate of their relatives

Title: FIVE YEARS ON, FAMILIES OF GUANTANAMO DETAINEES DESPERATE FOR NEWS ABOUT THE FATE OF THEIR RELATIVES

Date & location: Alam Khil Village after Balkh District Shulgarah 30 km from Mazar-i-Sharif, 1- 10 April 2006, Geneva 11 January 2007
Sound: Natural with Dari, Pashto and English speech
Duration: 3'
Produced by: Jon Bjorgvinsson, Virginie Louis
Source: ICRC – Access all
Reference: VF-F-CR-F-00908-C

For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Virginie Louis, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva,

This report will be distributed free-to-air and rights free over the Eurovision News Exchange network on 11 January 2007

SHOWS - START AT FIRST FRAME

00:00 Various Market in Mazar-I-Sharif
00:25 ICRC Landcruiser arriving in Alam Khil Village
00:33 Ghafur Hamraz getting out of car, shaking hands with Abdul Hakim, brother of Guantanamo detainee
00:46 Ghafur Hamraz from the International Committee of the Red Cross hands out the letter (Red Cross Message) to Abdul Hakim. The letter comes from his brother, detained at Guantanamo Bay.
00:56 Interview of Abdul Hakim

"When I receive a Red Cross Message from my brother, I feel very happy. It is a kind of meeting, when we receive his letters. We feel as if we had met with him (6")."

01:02 Ghafur Hamraz and Abdul Hakim walking in the village streets
01:23 Interview of Abdul Hakim " When I received a Red Cross message from my brother, from Guantanamo, I was very happy because at least I knew that my brother was alive. He was not dead. (7")

01:30 Interview of Abdul Hakim "I hope my brother will be released as soon as possible"
01:37 Various Abdul Hakim reads the letter from his brother
02:08 Ghafur Hamraz explains what is a Red Cross Message and how to write a reply.
02:15 Interview Vincent Lusser:

" Up to five years after these people were captured, most detainees held at Guantanamo still live in uncertainty about their fate. At Bagram in Afghanistan, there is also people held for over two years and we think that this uncertainty has added to the emotional and mental strain experienced by many detainees but also by their families".

02:37 Interview Vincent Lusser:

"While we welcome the recent application of Common Article 3 to those people detained in relation to armed conflict, our concern in legal term today is that most people held at Guantanamo and at Bagram still don't have a clear legal status and that the legal framework is not adequate".

02:59 ends

STORY

FIVE YEARS ON, FAMILIES OF GUANTANAMO DETAINEES DESPERATE FOR NEWS ABOUT THE FATE OF THEIR RELATIVES

Families in Afghanistan are desperate for news of relatives detained by the U.S. authorities at Guantanamo and Bagram detention facilities.

Five years after the opening of the Guantanamo detention facilities, families of detainees remain in an agony of uncertainty, not knowing for how long their relatives will be detained and unable to see or talk to them. The pressure on families waiting for clarification on the fate of their relatives grows daily. Many have been separated for up to five years.

As Vincent Lusser says " Up to five years after these people were captured, most detainees held at Guantanamo still live in uncertainty about their fate. At Bagram in Afghanistan, there is also people held for over two years and we think that this uncertainty has added to the emotional and mental strain experienced by many detainees but also by their families".

FAMILY NEWS THROUGH RED CROSS MESSAGES

The only news the family of Abdul Hakim have had of their brother is through the Red Cross message system, enabling detainees and their families to exchange personal letters. Five years ago, they received their first message from their brother and it is through this means they got to know their brother was alive. It was a relief for them to know he had not disappeared nor being killed.

Abdul Hakim is the owner of a grocery in Alam Khil village. Although his family cannot read or write, they have been able to send five Red Cross messages (RCM), and they received a reply to each of them thanks to the help of ICRC and Afghan Red Crescent Society Field Officers. Today, ICRC Field Officer Gharfur Hamraz came to deliver a new message.

Abdul Hakim talks about the stress the absence of his brother causes the family, and the problem of not knowing for how long he will be detained. He is sure that his brother is innocent, and says he was ‘set up’ on account of a land dispute. The Pashto landowners had spent the last 23 years in Pakistan. This year they returned to their 500 hectares of land, and this summer they will be harvesting their own crops for the first time. Via Red Cross messages, Abdul tries to reassure his brother that he is helping supporting his children economically and making sure they get a good education. To him, these messages are vital. Already, nearly 40 messages have passed between Pakistan and Guantanamo, and the two have continued their correspondence since Abdul returned to Afghanistan. As he says, "When I receive a Red Cross Message from my brother, I feel very happy. It is a kind of meeting, when we receive his letters. We felt as if we had met with him (6")."

He adds; " When I received Red Cross message from my brother, from Guantanamo, I was very happy because at least I knew that my brother was alive. He was not dead. (7")

In fact, these messages allow detainees to reassure their families that they are still alive and well, but give little details of their daily existence. This is standard procedure for Red Cross Messages in every detention place visited by the ICRC worldwide. It's important that the letters are limited to strictly personal, family related content, and they cannot be used to pass on political messages, or messages related to conflict situations.

The ICRC has been conducting regular visits at the US detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay since January 2002. ICRC teams generally conduct a visit every two months, lasting two to three weeks. Ad-hoc visits also take place regularly.

To date, the ICRC has conducted almost forty visits to Guantanamo, the latest one in December 2006. There are currently about 400 detainees from roughly 30 countries. As of January 2007, the ICRC had facilitated the exchange of about 28,000 Red Cross messages between the detainees and their families in more than 30 countries.

The ICRC currently has access to all persons interned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including the 14 detainees previously held by the CIA and transferred to Guantanamo during fall 2006.

Contacts
Vincent Lusser, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 24 26 or ++41 79 217 32 64
Regarding this footage: Virginie Louis, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++41 22 730 25 11 or ++41 79 251 93 14