MPAC Calls on Catholic
& Jewish Leaders to Speak out
Washington, DC: The
Muslim Public Affairs Council January 3 called new revelations
that guards at Guantanamo Bay had used religiously-oriented
interrogation tactics "morally reprehensible and un-American",
following the release of an FBI report earlier last week.
SEE: "FBI Reports Duct-Taping, 'Baptizing' at Guantanamo"
(Washington Post, 1/3/07)
MPAC also sent letters to Catholic and Jewish leaders, including
Cardinal Roger Mahoney and Rabbi David Saperstein of the
Religious Action Center, asking them to speak out publicly
against the use of religiously-oriented interrogation methods
as an insult to all Abrahamic religions.
The report included new allegations that guards staged a
mock baptism of a Muslim inmate. One interrogator bragged
to an FBI agent that he had forced a prisoner to listen
to "Satanic black metal music for hours," then
dressed as a Catholic priest before "baptizing"
him. Other cases involved interrogators wrapping a prisoner
in an Israeli flag, and squatting over the Qur’an
to offend Muslim detainees.
SEE: Full Text of Released FBI Documents (pdf file)
In the letters, MPAC Senior Advisor Dr. Maher Hathout calls
such methods "a danger to our national security at
a time when religious and political extremists around the
world can use this new information to bolster their argument
for a clash of civilizations".
The FBI report, which shows 26 agents raised concerns about
the camp in 2004, describes the abuse as 'over the top'.
The document was released as part of a lawsuit filed by
the American Civil Liberties Union, which is suing former
Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of former detainees
who allege they were abused.
"Our nation's ability to win the war depends on our
willingness to stick to the principles that define us,"
said MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati. "This
latest news do not aid us in that endeavor."
Founded in 1988, MPAC is a public service agency working
for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration
of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive
relationship between American Muslims and their representatives.
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