Detainee: Gitmo Better Than Freedom

(Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) A 38-year-old terrorism detainee, Ahmed Belbacha, has filed an emergency motion to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., asking that he not be released.

Zachary Katznelson, senior counsel with the human rights lawyers Reprieve and Mr Belbacha's lawyer, has asked the US courts to block any transfer.

"Ahmed is being held in camp six, the harshest part of Guantanamo," he said. "His cell is all steel, there are no windows, he is not allowed to communicate with other prisoners and he gets just two hours exercise each day in a metal cage."

"He says his cell in Guantanamo is like a grave and that although it sounds crazy he would rather stay in those conditions than go back to Algeria. The fact is that he is really, really scared about what might happen to him in Algeria."

Belbacha fears that the government will torture him or the Islamists will murder him. So, continuing to breathe in a cold cell is preferable.

The Belbacha case complicates the efforts of the leftist human-rights outragees. It's much harder to convince the court that Gitmo is a torturous, inhumane hell-hole when inmates beg to stay.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.