Lufti Bin Swei Lagha

Lufti Bin Swei Lagha is a citizen of Tunisia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] The Department of Defense reports that he was born on November 28, 1968, in Tunis, Tunisia.

Lufti Bin Swei Lagha
Born (1968-11-28) November 28, 1968
Tunis, Tunisia
Detained at Kandahar, Bagram, Guantanamo
Other name(s) Lotfi Lagha
ISN660

Background

According to historian Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files, Lagha had lived for a time in Italy, prior to traveling to Afghanistan.[2] According to Worthington, Tajik captive Airat Vakhitov asserted medical staff in Kandahar unnecessarily amputated eleven of Lagha's fingers and toes, and then beat the stubs when they participated in his interrogation.[3]

After his repatriation from Guantanamo Lufti Lagha stood trial in Tunisia, was convicted, and sentenced to three years imprisonment, for "associating with a criminal group with the aim of harming or causing damage in Tunisia.[4]

Official status reviews

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[5][6][7] Lagha's assessment was four pages long.[8] It was drafted on September 10, 2004, and signed by camp commandant Jay W. Hood. According to The Telegraph

"JTF GTMO recommends this detainee be transferred for continued detention to his country of origin (Tunisia) if a satisfactory agreement can be reached that allows access to detainee and/or access to exploited intelligence."[7]

Repatriation

A Tunisian named Lotfi Lagha was repatriated from Guantanamo to Tunisian custody in late June 2007.[9][10] Bouazza ben Bouazza, of the Associated Press reports that Lofti Lagha was held in the Bagram Theater detention facility for several months in early 2002, prior to transfer to Guantanamo. Lofti Lagha reports that his all eight of his fingers were amputated, against his will, while in American custody at Bagram, even though Pakistani doctors told him amputation was unnecessary. He reports that American soldiers beat him and kicked him, when he awoke from the operation.

Lufti Lagha was held in a prison in Mornaguia "on charges of associating with a criminal group."[9]

On September 2, 2007, Jennifer Daskal, writing in The Washington Post, reported that Lufti Lagha, and another repatriated Tunisian were "...telling visitors that things are so bad they would rather be back at Guantanamo Bay."[10]

Daskall wrote that Lufti Lagha had been held in solitary confinement from June 21, 2007, to August 7, 2007, even though the Tunisian Civil Code only allows solitary confinement for ten days or less, and in spite of the Tunisian governments assurance to the US State Department that the captive would be treated humanely upon their return.

Trial and conviction

Lufti Lagha was convicted on Wednesday October 24, 2007, of "associating with a criminal group with the aim of harming or causing damage in Tunisia."[4] Several other charges were dropped. The Associated Press notes: "Authorities did not name the group that Lagha was said to participate in or specify what its planned violence was." The Associated Press notes that his hands were still bandaged in 2007, five years after his fingers were amputated.

Lufti Lagha's lawyer, Samir Ben Amor, said that he had been beaten both in Guantanamo, and upon his return to Tunisia.[4] Cynthia Smith did not respond to the specific allegations that Lofti Lagha was abused, but repeated that all US captives were treated humanely.

References
  1. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2006-05-15. Works related to List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 at Wikisource
  2. Andy Worthington (2007). The Guantanamo Files. Plute Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7453-2664-1. ...four Tunisians captured at that time were regarded with particular suspicion. Two of the men -- 31 year old Adil bin Hamida Mabrouk and 33 year old Lufti bin Swei Lagha -- had however traveled to Afghanistan from Italy, and said they were searching for a better life.
  3. Any Worthington (2011-07-25). "WikiLeaks and the Guantánamo Prisoners Released from 2002 to 2004 (Part Five of Ten)". Archived from the original on 2012-07-25. Retrieved 2012-07-27. I can recollect the guy under the name of Lufti [Lotfi Lagha, ISN 660] from Tunisia. They amputated 11 of his toes and fingers and they justified this by saying he had infected blood and gangrene. And really it was only inflammation, and his fingers and toes could have been saved easily. He told me that the doctor who operated on him was the one who interrogated him after that and while interrogating him he was beating him in all the places where he had just operated on him, this happened in Kandahar and when he was taken to Cuba, they stopped giving him any medical assistance.
  4. "Former Guantanamo detainee convicted at home in Tunisia on terror charges". International Herald Tribune. October 24, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  5. Christopher Hope; Robert Winnett; Holly Watt; Heidi Blake (2011-04-27). "WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed -- Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose". The Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2012-07-13. The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
  6. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  7. "Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Lufti Bin Swei Lagha, US9TS-000660DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  8. Jay W. Hood (2004-09-10). "Recommendation for Transfer out of DoD Control (TRO) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN US9TU000660DP" (PDF). Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-17. Retrieved 2012-07-27. Media related to File:ISN 00660, Lufti Bin Swei Lagha's Guantanamo detainee assessment.pdf at Wikimedia Commons
  9. Bouazza Bein Bouazza (August 11, 2007). "Tunisian Says US Soldiers Beat Him". Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  10. Jennifer Daskal (September 2, 2007). "A Fate Worse Than Guantanamo". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
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