The arrest of Al-Haj marked one of the most flagrant and alarming reports of targeting Al Jazeera and its employees. Sami Al-Haj recounts the details of his arrest: “I know you’re a journalist and that you have been crossing through this point here more than once, the Pakistani se- curity officer told me, but I have an arrest warrant for a journalist named Sami, who works for Al Jazeera, and is on his way out of Afghanistan. I received the arrest warrant from the Pakistani security services. The security officer then contacted the Pakistani intelligence, who upon ar- rival checked my passport, ID, and tickets” (1) . Even though one of the intelligence officers told him there seemed to be a misunderstanding in the matter, Al-Haj found himself subject to interrogation and was put under arrest at Kandahar Military Prison. No one listened to his con- stant assurances that he was there on a reporting mission. Throughout his detention at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, American inter- rogators kept asking him about filming an interview with Osama bin Laden, which Al-Haj denied categorically. In fact, when the interview was filmed, he was not in Afghanistan (2) . Al-Haj’s detention continued for six months in Kandahar, with constant interrogations. Afterward, he was flown half way across the world to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where yet again, he went through further interrogations, suffering a years-long ordeal of horrific conditions. In January 2007, he began a hunger strike, together with a group of oth- er prisoners, protesting against their ill-treatment and their unknown fate. He remained on hunger strike for 438 days until he was released on May 1, 2008. According to reports released by his British lawyer, Clive Stamford Smith, it was evident that “Sami was subjected to ex- tremely brutal treatment coupled with sexual harassment and religious persecution” (3) . The prominent scars left on his face, are clear signs of the repeated flogging and beating he was subjected to by U.S. military personnel. Throughout the interrogation sessions, ranging between 125 and 130 sessions, the investigators persistently kept asking him whether
(1) Sami Al-Haj, personal interview, Doha, 11 October 2020.
(2) Al-Haj, personal interview, Ibid.
(3) Sami Al-Haj, Director of Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights, Al Ja- zeera Media Network Corporate Website.
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