VZCZCXRO2854
RR RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHDO #0838/01 3361104
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011104Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8487
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000838 
 
SIPDIS, SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM KAWC KPAO QA
SUBJECT: RELEASE AL-MARRI, EDITOR ASKS AMBASSADOR 
 
---------- 
KEY POINTS 
---------- 
 
--  Abdulaziz al-Mahmoud, Chief Editor of Arabic-language daily "Al 
Arab," published a letter to Ambassador on November 29 asking him to 
"help release Ali al-Marri or guarantee him a fair trial." 
 
--  Al-Marri is a Qatari citizen being held at the Naval brig in 
Charleston, South Carolina.  In his letter, the Chief Editor quotes 
al-Marri's attorney as alleging abuse, torture, and mistreatment. 
 
 
-------------------- 
COMMENTS AND REQUEST 
-------------------- 
 
--  (SBU) Abdulaziz al-Mahmoud is a well-respected media 
professional among Qataris, and hails from a family that is 
considered to be pious.  For that reason, his writings on issues 
such as human rights conditions in Qatar often carry a great deal of 
weight with Qatari readers. 
 
--  (SBU) Embassy welcomes any Washington views on if, and how, to 
respond -- especially if the USG has responded publicly to similar 
letters about other foreign citizens under detention. 
 
---------------- 
FULL LETTER TEXT 
---------------- 
 
Following is the full text of the letter, published as an op-ed, as 
translated by Open Source Center's Doha bureau: 
 
Dear Ambassador ... I Will Kiss Your Head, If You Will Do It 
 
Dear U.S. Ambassador, 
 
Lawyer Andrew Savage's eyes are always on the verge of filling with 
tears whenever he explains how his client Ali Salih al-Kahlah 
al-Marri is being tortured and pressured in order to crush his 
morale and dignity. The Lawyer speaks quietly, using hand gestures 
to explain every situation he wants us to understand. 
 
Mr Savage did his best to explain the circumstances of Al-Marri's 
detention. Moreover, he has volunteered to defend Al-Marri, which he 
has been doing for years.  He is spending a lot of time and money 
defending him; he even buys halal [permissible according to Islamic 
law] meat for his client while his wonderful wife cooks it and takes 
it to him, along with some dessert. Al-Marri now has a family in the 
United States, from where he least expected. 
 
I was about to cry when Andrew Savage was telling me about the 
detained young man. However, I kept on taking deep breaths and tried 
thinking of something else. The lawyer noticed this and was changing 
the subject every now and then to defuse the tense atmosphere. 
 
Ali Salih al-Kahlah al-Marri flew to the United States a day before 
11 September 2001 - that ill-fated day which turned the world 
up-side-down and caused bloodshed with and without reasons. 
Al-Marri's tragedy began when a group of US security personnel 
knocked on his door on 12 September 2001. He was taken into custody, 
leaving behind his wife and five children - of whom the youngest was 
six months old. Since then, Al-Marri has been detained without any 
charge or trial. Al-Marri was transferred from one detention center 
to another under different pretexts and was subjected to various 
kinds of torture and interrogation methods. He was not allowed to 
contact anyone and he became susceptible to hallucination, 
suspicion, and lack of concentration. His morale was broken and he 
was forced into a kind of isolation because he was not allowed to 
talk to his jailors, read newspapers, listen to the radio, or watch 
TV. 
 
Al-Marri spent years without wearing shoes.  He does not know what 
warmth is, and has not slept on a comfortable bed. He has been 
surviving on dry cold food and no longer has a sense of time, date, 
or directions, to the point that some of his jailors felt sorry for 
him. 
 
Dear Ambassador, 
 
I hope you will read my letter and sympathize with this young man, 
who has never been a terrorist. He has never killed anybody. He was 
not found guilty of terrorism, murder, or of planning anything 
either. Is it logical for a murderer to take his family - his wife 
and five children - to carry out a terrorist operation? Was Ali 
Salih al-Marri made of steel to withstand all this torture without 
being able to obtain a single piece of information that could 
incriminate him? What are the terrorist activities that he has done 
to deserve such isolation from the world without a trial? 
 
Dear Ambassador, 
 
 
DOHA 00000838  002 OF 002 
 
 
I have lived in the United States for a while, and left behind 
friends, colleagues, and loved ones whom I still remember. I loved 
your country's freedom, laws, opportunities, and dreams. In the 
United States, I loved everything a free man would love in a 
country. So why, dear ambassador, would such values be scattered and 
distorted in the minds of those who love the United States. Ali 
al-Marri has a family that awaits him. His children have grown up 
without knowing him. He has a wife, a mother, brothers, sisters, and 
relatives who long for his return to end their sadness with tears of 
joy. They look at the clothes he will wear, and the bed that is 
being prepared every day in anticipation for his return.  His shoes 
are at the door waiting for him to wear. These things have become 
strange to him now after seven years. 
 
Al-Marri's family dream of him playing with his young ones and 
laughing with them. They dream of seeing him at the door to his 
home. Can you help us fulfill this d ream? 
 
Sir, I plead to you with all the values you believe in, to do your 
best to help release Al-Marri or guarantee him a fair trial. Under 
which law or jurisdiction could an individual be detained with no 
trial for so many years? Which legal text allows whomever to do 
whatever they want with people's lives? 
 
Sir, I have never met Ali Salih al-Marri, but I saw him in the eyes 
of his lawyer who assured me that he is innocent. Sir, do you think 
that Andrew Savage would voluntarily defend a terrorist, who 
intended to destroy his country? Would he ask his wife to prepare 
food for a terrorist or pay visits to his detention center? 
 
I am ready to kiss your head, in a gesture of gratitude to your 
generosity and efforts, if Al-Marri returns home. We want Ali 
Bin-Salih al-Marri back as an active member in our society, and as 
an advocate of freedom and human dignity - values which he is about 
to forget if he has not already done so. 
 
LEBARON