Begg, Moazzam - short clip - HumanContact

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-	There was a cell.	0:00
	The cell was a converted shipping container.	0:02
	And that's it, being locked in there for the next two years	0:07
-	By yourself?	0:11
-	Alone, yes.	0:12
-	How did you manage living in such isolation	0:14
	for, it sounds to me what 18, 20 months?	0:17
-	Well. There's no simple answer to that really.	0:23
	I think my faith played an important role.	0:27
	It was,	0:29
	it was severely tested of course.	0:33
	Thoughts of what I plan to do when I,	0:38
	when, even the word when,	0:42
	if I get released.	0:44
	I tried to memorize as much of the Koran	0:47
	as possible as an Arabic speaker,	0:49
	I tried to contemplate more	0:50
	on its meanings than I had ever done before.	0:52
	I asked for human contact with other people,	0:55
	they sent me a psychiatrist.	0:58
	And this was an occasion,	1:00
	on a couple occasions when I lost my, lost my mind.	1:01
	Banged my head against the wall, kicked and screamed	1:07
	just because of the being incarcerated for so long	1:09
	and not knowing when I'm going to get	1:11
	out of this place and everything building up.	1:13
	I think it was an anxiety attack, more than anything else.	1:18
	And they sent in psychiatrists.	1:22
	And I remember the first psychiatrist,	1:24
	not the one that I've mentioned earlier on, the one who	1:27
	who said that she was very upset about Guantanamo.	1:30
	But this one in particular came along	1:33
	and she sat on the opposite side of myself,	1:34
	and she said "have you thought about hurting yourself?"	1:36
	I said, no, not, not, not	1:40
	not in the way that you're suggesting.	1:44
	And then she said, have you thought	1:47
	about removing your trousers, threading your trousers	1:49
	with a sheet, putting the crotch part	1:52
	around your neck so you can make a strong noose	1:55
	and then tying it to the top corner of your cell	1:58
	and jumping off to kill, to commit suicide.	2:00
	I said, no, not until you put that thought in my mind.	2:05
	And I couldn't understand why she told me that.	2:10
	But what I have learned since that time is the five people	2:13
	in Guantanamo have died almost identically from that method.	2:15

Item Info

Title:

Begg, Moazzam - short clip - HumanContact

Date:

August 17, 2009

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Begg, Moazzam

Role:

Detainee

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Detainee Number US9UK-000558DP
Moazzam Begg, male, age 41, British, was detained in Guantanamo from February 6, 2003 until January 25, 2005, when he was returned without charge to Britain.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United Kingdom

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

2:04:16

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:

c30c8fcdb988aad2993bf7dc9697ec77
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4xp72p4q
fe8d1c85-436f-461d-b356-2369c47d50a5

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4xp72p4q

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Begg, Moazzam - short clip - HumanContact

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