How innocent Gitmo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari got detained... and detained, and detained...

By GottaLaff

As you know, I've been passionate about trying to free an innocent Kuwaiti, Fayiz al-Kandari. He is being represented by Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, who is a hero to me.

I've posted extensively about this (See all posts here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.), but many have asked how in the world someone like Fayiz ended up in a cell.

Here's how:

Part of a wealthy Gulf family, Al-Kandari was born in Kuwait City in 1975. His father an engineer and his uncle a former parliamentarian, he frequently travelled during his youth. It was the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait preceding Gulf War I that kindled his interest in charity- the government effectively non-existent, Al-Kandari would wake up early each morning to assist in the distribution of provisions to poorer families, as well as clean the streets of the mounds of uncollected refuse. Al-Kandari graduated from high school, but showed little interest in engineering, leaving his course after one and a half years. Pursuing his decision to studying Islamic Sciences, he was led to Saudi Arabia in 1995, and successfully enrolled in Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh in 1997. He frequently traveled back to Kuwait to visit his ailing mother. [Note: She has cancer]

Al-Kandari had been a vigorous charity worker since his teenage years, and, on behalf of the Al-Salwa charitable organisation based near his Kuwaiti home, he made use of his summer holidays by volunteering. After his second year of study, in August 2001, his work took him to Afghanistan, where he supported efforts to reconstruct a mosque and dig a well in a water-parched village on the outskirts of Kabul. Returning to the capital, he was caught up in Coalition bombing raids following 9/11, and desperately seeking safety, he fled to Jalalabad. Sheltering with an Afghan family, Al-Kandari planned to proceed to the Kuwaiti Embassy across the border in Pakistan, but his hosts betrayed him to Afghan security forces, who promptly handed him over to the US.

Ironically confident in the US’s abilities to distinguish between militants and aid workers, Al-Kandari wrote to his family that, after initial questioning and a positive response from his interrogators as to his innocence, he expected to be freed. However, he was kept in Bagram Airbase, subject to, in his own words, a ‘broken ribs session’, that saw him choking on his own blood, as US captors beat his already broken ribs, sexually harassed him and deprived him of any sleep. He was accused of having attended terrorist training camps, producing propaganda videos, and even- most amazingly- being an advisor to Bin Laden himself.

Transfer to GTMO before the later press scandals exposed the true reality, Al-Kandari experienced every form of ‘robust’ interrogation method that the US had secretly devised- he was shackled naked in a squatting position, with the air conditioning on full, occasionally being soaked with buckets of water to keep him awake. Deafening music, strobe lighting, sleep deprivation and face-to-face meetings with attack dogs also featured.

Despite a change in administration, Al-Kandari has been subject to increasingly violent and frequent ‘IRFing’, whilst the most innocent of past times- keeping himself fit and teaching others to read- is interpreted by the prosecution as some sort of covert asymmetrical warfare.

Our system of justice is broken (read: military commissions).

Here is how you can help out: If you use Twitter, the hashtag is #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.