Mahmoud Abu Rideh is a 31-year-old Palestinian held without trial since Dec. 17, 2001 at Britain’s high security Belmarsh Prison on suspicion of “associating with a terror suspect.”
As a victim of torture by Israel, Abu Rideh was granted refugee status in Britain in 1997 and diagnosed as suffering from a severe
post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International, his mental and physical health has seriously deteriorated as a result of his detention. He
is suicidal and has been involved in frequent incidents of self-harm.
Concern has been voiced that his continued detention at Belmarsh Prison constitutes “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” A request by Abu Rideh’s lawyers for him to be transferred to a medium- or low-level secure mental hospital was rejected for a second time on June 24.
His health has deteriorated as a result of his refusal to take prison food. Doctors treating Abu Rideh believe he should be moved from Belmarsh to another facility with “less oppressive security measures” where his family can visit him, but the British government continues to reject pleas by psychiatrists.
In the “big picture,” where momentous events are planned and fates of entire nations decided, news about individuals seems trivial. Only occasionally do we stop to ponder on the minute details and find time to reflect on the suffering of the multitudes of small, marginal individuals whose travails ultimately make up the details of the overall picture.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have voiced concerns about the human rights consequences of the British Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001.
Under the ATCSA enacted in December 2001, the British Home Secretary can direct the indefinite detention without charge or trial ­ i.e., internment, also known as administrative detention ­ of non-UK nationals by certifying them as a “risk to national security” and suspected of being “terrorists.”
As a “Category A” detainee, Abu Rideh has been held in detention conditions that fall short of many basic rights recognized by international standards. Amnesty International has rebuked the British authorities for not granting such prisoners the same rights as other detainees, including adequate access to social activities and
proper healthcare.
Their contacts with their families and lawyers are severely restricted. Visits are delayed for months because of the need to obtain “security clearance.”
Except for some details, Abu Rideh’s ordeal is not unique. Most Western governments have enacted legislation similar to Britain’s ATCSA.
In March, Amnesty-USA issued a report based on visits to detention centers in 26 states depicting “a pattern of abuse that belies the basic principles of justice.”
The report details the arbitrary detention of hundreds of people, mostly on visa violation charges. These detainees have been denied contact with their families and lawyers. They are not “noncombatant prisoners,” i.e., persons arrested in Afghanistan suspected of membership in
Al-Qaeda and currently held without trial at Camp X-Ray, the high-security US Army prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Similar stories have been reported in several European countries. Even in Sweden (known for its pioneering role in the field of human rights), the government has submitted to US pressure and introduced several legal and administrative measures, ostensibly intended to help meet the threat of terrorism, that are restricting the constitutional rights of citizens and sacrificing civil rights and freedoms of all.
While there are no detention camps in this country, the Swedish authorities have on several occasions deported “suspects” back to the Middle East. In some cases, deportees are not allowed to be present or to be represented by their lawyers at the secret hearings based on information provided by Arab and Israeli intelligence sources.
Incidents have been reported in several West European and North American countries where people ­ whether Arabs, Muslims or “of Middle Eastern appearance” ­ were subjected to harassment, discrimination
and assaults.
The sweeping terminologies of most
anti-terror legislation, and the wide discretion exercised by security agencies, have given neo-Nazis, bigots and those suffering from a diversity of phobias a free hand to act out their beliefs.
In addition to personal tragedies, surreal stories abound. A few weeks ago, a Bahraini couple on their way to spend their honeymoon in the US were detained for several days at a New York airport. They were interrogated and sent back to Bahrain because an American immigration officer was suspicious of two recent Beirut entry stamps on the bride’s passport. US Immigration officers did not accept her explanation that she had traveled to the Lebanese capital on shopping trips ahead of her wedding.
But the Bahraini couple was lucky. Some Arabs living in the West have nowhere to
go and can’t seek help from their countries
of origin.
Arab countries do not fare any better. Arab governments have used Sept. 11 not only to emulate the US, but also as a pretext to pass additional laws that flagrantly violate basic human rights. Arab security services saw the Sept. 11 attacks as an opportunity to continue committing the same human rights abuses for which they were criticized in the past.
More seriously, Sept. 11 provided Arab governments with an excuse to put grass roots solidarity actions by Arab NGOs on hold. In the past, these activities included collecting contributions to provide aid to destitute families in Palestine. Accepting US/Israel claims that these contributions encourage would-be suicide bombers, Arab governments have cracked down on local activists.
The weakened and intimidated Arab NGOs are now unable to provide help to hundreds, probably thousands, of detainees currently languishing in anonymity behind bars around the world.
Perpetrators of the Sept. 11 outrage may have achieved considerably more than they hoped for. By their actions, the West has abandoned the moral high ground it has claimed for generations that rested largely on adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights and dignity.
While the Sept. 11 plotters may not have calculated beyond the immediate consequences of their acts, security agencies in Europe and the US seem determined to make the dream of every fanatic come true ­ namely, a rerun of the medieval clash of civilizations. And there is nothing that justifies such disaster.
In Abu Rideh’s case, one can see a dying man pointing an accusing finger at all of us, who for our own different reasons are unable to look beyond the big picture and see the tragic stories of marginal, small but real individuals like himself. Their suffering should not be ­ as a former US secretary of state once said ­ “a price worth paying.”

Abdulhadi Khalaf is a Bahraini academic who teaches sociology of development at the University of Lund, Sweden. He wrote this commentary for The Daily Star

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