http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten ... 0599119419Feb. 10, 2005. 01:00 AM
U.K. television show recreates Guantanamo abuse
Jailed volunteers humiliated, sleep-deprived for 48 hours
Human rights group says program violates U.N. conventions
THOMAS WAGNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON?Two people vomited, two wet their pants, another suffered signs of hypothermia ? all for the cameras ? after volunteering to spend 48 hours locked in cages and subjected to sexual humiliation, forced nudity and sleep deprivation ? techniques allegedly used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
A British television station plans to air The Guantanamo Guidebook, which the show's producers say recreates some of the milder forms of abuse that terrorist suspects are subjected to at the prison camp on the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
The methods used on seven volunteers included religious and sexual humiliation, forced nudity, extreme temperatures and lack of sleep, Tim Carter, the show's producer and director, said yesterday.
The volunteers were locked in a warehouse with cages, interrogation rooms and surveillance equipment for 48 hours. In the end, after getting sick or suffering symptoms of hypothermia, three of the seven volunteers quit before the 48 hours was over, Carter said.
"We made the program to show viewers how devastating even the milder techniques, such as sleep deprivation and playing on personal phobias, can be," said Carter.
But a human rights group yesterday said the program violates U.N. conventions banning torture and shouldn't be shown.
"Your program may have undesirable effects of acclimatizing the audience to the use of torture. The real issue is: how do we make an end to impunity for torturers?" said Brita Sydhoff of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims in Denmark.
The Bush administration has denied using torture at the Guantanamo prison, where many of the 545 detainees are held without charge.
A broadcast date for The Guantanamo Guidebook has not been announced, but Yad Luthra, a spokesperson for Channel 4 in London, said it is one of four programs dealing with torture planned for a one-week period in the next month.
Carter said TV stations in other countries have expressed interest in the show, but none has bought the rights.
