Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
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WTC [World Trade Center] smoke? You’re gone. How would you like<br />
<strong>to</strong> die? With the electric chair?” 132<br />
One of the material witnesses, Tony Oulai, a citizen of the Ivory Coast, claims<br />
interroga<strong>to</strong>rs beat him while he was detained in Baker County Detention Center,<br />
Florida. 133 The other cases of physical abuse typically occurred at the hands of prison<br />
staff. For example, Khan <strong>to</strong>ld HRW/ACLU that:<br />
When I arrived, the guards said “these are the guys involved with the<br />
WTC.” I had rough treatment, I was thrown on walls, there was pushing<br />
on either side as they hand and leg cuffed me. I was strip and cavity<br />
searched in front of four or five guards. 134<br />
[Whenever I was taken out of my cell] they would twist my hands. My<br />
feet were shackled and guards would step on chains. I got a deep cut on<br />
my feet. I was stripped <strong>to</strong>o many times <strong>to</strong> remember and hit on the<br />
back. I would be pushed against the wall. Whenever they <strong>to</strong>ok me <strong>to</strong> the<br />
FBI, guards would twist my hands and fingers and tell me <strong>to</strong> “Just shut<br />
up.” 135<br />
In addition, Awadallah alleged physical abuse at Metropolitan Correctional Center in<br />
Manhattan:<br />
After being examined, a guard caused his hand <strong>to</strong> bleed by pushing him<br />
in<strong>to</strong> a door and a wall while he was handcuffed. The same guard also<br />
kicked his leg shackles and pulled him by the hair <strong>to</strong> force him <strong>to</strong> face an<br />
American flag.<br />
The next day, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 2, 2001, the marshals transported Awadallah <strong>to</strong><br />
this Court. With his hands cuffed behind his back and bound <strong>to</strong> his feet,<br />
the transporting marshals pinched his upper arms so hard that they were<br />
132<br />
HRW/ACLU telephone interview with Ayub Ali Khan, Hyderabad, India, April 2, 2004 (Interview with Ayub Ali<br />
Khan).<br />
133<br />
“Presumption of Guilt,” p. 74.<br />
134<br />
Interview with Ayub Ali Khan.<br />
135<br />
Ibid.<br />
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G) 44