U.S. Owes Al-Jazeera Journalist Freedom

By: Our Opinion

Posted: 9/5/07

Journalists are entrusted with a huge duty to the people they serve. They are supposed to show what is happening in the most objective way possible. In order to do this, sometimes they have to risk going to some of the most dangerous areas of the world and dealing with some of the most unsavory people when they get there. They should be respected and applauded, not jailed, for providing this service.

Alan Johnston, a BBC journalist, was captured and held by Muslim extremists for 114 days earlier this year. There were worldwide calls for his release from corporate media groups, human rights organizations, and even Hamas, a Palestinian resistance movement. When Hamas gunmen escorted Johnston to safety, the world celebrated a victory for the freedom of journalists to operate in even the most hostile areas, and rightfully so.

If only the rest of the world cared as much about Sami al-Hajj as they did about Johnston. Al-Hajj is a cameraman for Al-Jazeera, an Arab news network, who was arrested by Pakistani forces in 2001 for alleged ties to the Taliban. In all actuality, Al-Hajj was covering the destruction in Afghanistan during the aftermath of the American victory over the Taliban. However, despite having legitimate press credentials from Al-Jazeera, Al-Hajj was transferred to U.S. custody where he was allegedly tortured and sent to Guantanamo Bay. He's been there now for nearly six years and has been on a hunger strike since Jan. 7, 2007.

Al-Hajj's story is disturbing in many ways. First and foremost, in correspondence with his lawyer, he has described being tortured in a variety of ways by his American jailors. Besides allegedly beating and sodomizing Al-Hajj, guards have also allegedly forced him to watch while they desecrated the Koran and they confiscated his glasses when he began his hunger strike. For the United States to say it respects human rights and then treat a prisoner this way is incredibly hypocritical.

The other disturbing piece of Al-Hajj's story is that he was carrying legitimate press credentials at the time of his capture. In order to ensure the most objective and responsible reporting possible, journalists must be allowed to operate throughout the world, anywhere they deem necessary to get the story right. Al-Hajj was doing just this. Instead of accepting the American press release version of the victory in Afghanistan, Al-Hajj wanted to show the reality on the ground to all of Al-Jazeera's many viewers.

Unfortunately, Al-Hajj never got his story and probably won't ever get another one. If he ever makes it out of Guantanamo alive, Al-Hajj has vowed to give up journalism because he wants to be able to watch his son grow up. The U.S. should afford him this very opportunity, by releasing him immediately.