Gutierrez, Gitanjali - short clip - DemandingAccessToHerClient

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-	My strongest memory of that week	0:00
	is just being enraged the whole week.	0:02
	I was just furious, and with him,	0:05
	because he was Saudi I actually wore	0:07
	sort of all long black clothing and a hijab.	0:10
	I didn't cover my face, but I covered my hair.	0:13
	And so we	0:16
	finally won the argument with the SJA,	0:20
	or he finally agreed	0:24
	that we would all go in this room together.	0:25
	So we walked through.	0:27
	I'm furious and just glaring at everyone,	0:31
	all of the guards, all of the MPs.	0:35
	They are all a little unnerved by my dress.	0:37
	And when I wear that clothing it's unclear	0:43
	what ethnicity I am,	0:47
	and they probably, it was,	0:49
	I was in a new camp I'd never been in before.	0:51
	They probably all thought	0:53
	that I was a Muslim woman attorney.	0:54
	So they were very unnerved.	0:58
	They didn't know how to search me.	1:00
	They,	1:02
	and where we were, other men who were in the cells	1:04
	could look out into the central area,	1:08
	and so then they also saw a woman wearing a hijab,	1:10
	and that just, it was just,	1:14
	that was a good thing for them.	1:16
	And so they had sort of the opposite reaction of the guards.	1:18
	So the door opens and Mohammed is kind of just	1:22
	crouched in on himself in the corner chair,	1:25
	not looking at any of us,	1:29
	probably expecting a tall white man,	1:31
	an American lawyer to come in,	1:34
	because at that point a lot of lawyers had gone out in 2005.	1:35
	So there was, at this point,	1:38
	an impression of what an American lawyer was,	1:40
	and it wasn't the impression that I made	1:42
	when I walked in a room.	1:44
	So, he's kinda crouched in there,	1:46
	and this big SJ, the big SJA,	1:47
	the staff judge advocate, opens this door,	1:51
	and we're all hulking there.	1:54
	He's hulking first.	1:56
	My interpreter, who's of Arab descent, is standing there,	1:57
	and I'm standing there,	2:00
	and the SJA opens his mouth first, and I was furious.	2:01
	So he says, they all call him 0632, Mohammed.	2:08
	They don't, they don't-	2:11
-	That's it.	2:12
-	There's no names.
	They call them by their numbers.	2:13
	They never know the guy's names.	2:14
	So he says, "Do you wanna meet with their lawyer?"	2:16
	And Mohammed grunts or just nods his head or something.	2:19
	And the SJA, I've forgotten exactly what he said,	2:23
	but he said something again to give Mohammed	2:27
	the opportunity to say no or get out,	2:29
	or maybe he was asking for a more verbal confirmation.	2:32
	And I just snapped at him and said,	2:35
	"He said, it's fine, get out."	2:38
	And there's MPs behind us.	2:39
	There's just a whole group of people hulking over Mohammed.	2:41
	So they all shove out finally.	2:45
	And we sit down.	2:48
	My interpreter faces Mr. al-Qahtani directly.	2:51
	And I sit with my back to Mr. al-Qahtani,	2:55
	next to my interpreter,	2:58
	because I knew of the sexual humiliation	3:00
	and female interrogators that had been involved	3:04
	in his treatment in Guantanamo.	3:07
	And I just wanted to...	3:10
	I had a lot of time,	3:12
	I had the whole week with him,	3:14
	and I didn't wanna be in his face	3:15
	and push things immediately.	3:17

Item Info

Title:

Gutierrez, Gitanjali - short clip - DemandingAccessToHerClient

Date:

October 21, 2011

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Gutierrez, Gitanjali

Role:

Detainee Attorney

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Detainee Attorney
Gitanjali Gutierrez, female, age 41, is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and was the first habeas lawyer to visit her clients in Guantanamo in September 2004.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United States

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

2:33:40

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:

8ef2c9c60df96a53624a52d4f42bd259
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4kk9bx8q
dc2d8efc-ce96-4ba9-a4fa-3382d9e66511

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4kk9bx8q

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Gutierrez, Gitanjali - short clip - DemandingAccessToHerClient

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Human Rights Archive

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