Ahmed, Ruhal - short clip - PBSandwich

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	They marched us out to the runway,	0:00
	put us on the plane.	0:03
	I could hear the plane engines were running.	0:04
	We knew we was on the plane.	0:06
	Sat down and they took the rows.	0:07
	So we sat down individually.	0:09
	I was sitting against the wall of the plane,	0:11
	and I could feel the other detainees were,	0:13
	them sitting in a line,	0:15
	and I could kind of make out.	0:17
	'Cause the goggles were obviously on,	0:20
	I could see underneath here and through my nose.	0:21
	So if I'd done that kind of thing,	0:24
	I could see the people around me.	0:26
	I could see the soldiers feet, and so on,	0:29
	so I knew that we was all sitting on the wall of the plane.	0:32
	And they tied us down.	0:36
	They padlocked my chain to the floor,	0:37
	so I couldn't lift my knees up.	0:40
	And I think there was strap around my chest	0:43
	to hold me down	0:47
	to the wall of the plane	0:49
	so I couldn't come forward.	0:50
	Then, basically, we set off, flew off,	0:53
	and obviously on the journey,	0:56
	they offered us peanut butter sandwich,	0:59
	which I could smell,	1:01
	which my mouth was watering,	1:02
	but obviously I couldn't eat it.	1:03
	Obviously, I had a mask as well.	1:05
	They gave me a mask, just in case,	1:06
	because they thought people had got TB,	1:08
	so it doesn't spread.	1:10
	You know, even though I never had TB	1:12
	but they use just a precaution that they took.	1:14
	Some of the detainees did have TB	1:16
	but it was just a precaution.	1:19
	Obviously I could see through	1:21
	the bridge of when I was,	1:24
	I could see straight down	1:25
	and they actually, they came to my ear.	1:26
	This woman came to my ear	1:27
	and she lifted my ear muffs	1:28
	and she said to me.	1:30
	"I'm going to place a peanut butter sandwich in your hand.	1:33
	So eat it."	1:34
	So obviously I'm tied down to my chest	1:36
	my hands are tied here, which I can't lift.	1:38
	I can't even go forward.	1:41
	So in between my gloves,	1:42
	she puts this peanut butter sandwich.	1:43
	My mouth's watering	1:45
	(both laugh)
	because obviously I was starving	1:46
	and you know the smell of the peanut butter sandwich	1:48
	is like (sighs hungrily) when you haven't had food for,	1:50
	decent food, even as, you know,	1:52
	it's only a peanut butter sandwich.	1:54
	It's not nothing, you know,	1:55
	delicious or exotic, you can say.	1:57
	So I reach down, I'm there and I'm looking down	1:59
	and I'm thinking, "How am I supposed to eat that?"	2:00
	(laughs angrily)	2:03
	How am I supposed to eat that?
	I'm there for maybe half an hour, trying to eat it.	2:04
	I'm trying everything.	2:05
	Coming forward, trying to lift my arms up	2:07
	(interviewer chuckles)	2:10
	And I'm thinking,	2:11
	"Damn, things do you have to do to eat your food."	2:11
	So I'm there.	2:15
	Basically, she came to my ear again	2:16
	and she lifted muffs again up and she goes,	2:17
	"Don't you want to eat it?"	2:19
	So I said, "Well, how am I supposed to eat it?"	2:20
	"She goes, "What do you mean?	2:22
	With your hands and your mouth."	2:22
	And I thought, "There's no point explaining."	2:24
	So she took the sandwich,	2:26
	threw in the bin.	2:27
	Cause everybody had the sandwiches.	2:29
	And I think they threw everybody's in the bin.	2:30
	Cause nobody could eat it.	2:31
	Then they came, they put a apple	2:33
	And I thought,	2:36
	(interviewer laughs)
	"That was ridiculous and how like,	2:38
	you guys must be thick or stupid or something like that."	2:41
	And I just thought,	2:45
	"Damn, I'm missing out on my apple.	2:47
	I missed out my peanut butter and now I'm missing out."	2:50
	So then they took the apple threw that way obviously.	2:53
	And they gave a glass of water and I thought,	2:56
	"You know, are you having a laugh	3:00
	is this supposed to be funny?"	3:01
	And then there's, I could hear, you know,	3:03
	sometimes because of the ear muffs	3:05
	if you over your shoulder it would move out.	3:07
	So I could hear things.	3:10
	and they will saying like, "Oh, they ain't eating?	3:12
	No one's eating."	3:14
	and I thought, "You stupid idiots."	3:15

Item Info

Title:

Ahmed, Ruhal - short clip - PBSandwich

Date:

August 16, 2009

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Ahmed, Ruhal

Role:

Detainee

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Detainee Number US9UK-000110DP
Ruhal Ahmed, male, age 28, British, was detained in Guantanamo from February 11, 2002 until March 9, 2004, when he was returned to Britain, and released without charge.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United Kingdom

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

2:27:29

Digital Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo

Source Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Rights Note:

Unless otherwise noted, copyright is held by Peter Hongisberg. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, you are free to use and share these materials subject to the following conditions: You must attribute Peter Hongisberg as the rights holder. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You may not distribute any modifications to the materials. For other uses, including commercial uses, please contact Rubenstein Library at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/ask.

Identifier:

7184497ded721b4cfc91d63edd020792
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4xs5s26k
dadea3d7-9c30-4330-b60d-9cdb03cdcb58

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4xs5s26k

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Ahmed, Ruhal - short clip - PBSandwich

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