[Marxism] Aljazeera cameraman held in Guantanamo asked to spy on the network

["Jeffrey Thomas Piercy, El Pato Comunista" <mqduck@xxxxxxxxx>]

Aljazeera cameraman 'asked to spy'

Tuesday 27 September 2005, 15:32 Makka Time, 12:32 GMT

An Aljazeera cameraman, held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, has been
promised release if he spies on his colleagues at the channel, Britain's
The Guardian newspaper reports.



The Guardian reported on Monday that the US military told Sami Muhyi
al-Din al-Hajj that he would be released as long as he agreed to spy on
journalists at Aljazeera.



In documents seen by the Guardian newspaper, al-Hajj says US military
personnel alleged during interrogation that Aljazeera has been
infiltrated by al-Qaida and that one of its presenters is linked to
Islamists.



The documents state some of the interviews have been carried out by
British interrogators, who also wanted the cameraman to spy for them.



Al-Hajj's allegations are written in note form during visits he received
in Guantanamo in June this year from his lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith.



The notes have been declassified by the US military.



The documents appear to show that the American military views Aljazeera
as an al-Qaida front.



Aljazeera reaction



An Aljazeera spokesman said: "The allegations made by the US military
are baseless ... . It is just an attempt to disparage the Aljazeera name."



Stafford-Smith told Aljazeera.net earlier this year: "The Americans have
tried to make him an informant with the goal of getting him to say that
Aljazeera is linked to al-Qaida."



Al-Hajj said that in one session of questioning he was offered US
citizenship if he became a spy.



The Guardian said al-Hajj was told: "We will help you write a book and
then we will publish it. This will help make the al-Qaida people contact
you, and work with you.'"



Al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was arrested in late 2001 while working
for Aljazeera in Afghanistan.



"He is completely innocent. He is about as much of a terrorist as my
granddad. The only reason he has been treated like he has is because he
is an Aljazeera journalist," Stafford-Smith told Aljazeera.net.



On Tuesday, he told Aljazeera.net in an email interview: "The US needs
to wake up to the fact that the most effective counter-terrorism measure
is the enforcement of human rights such as the freedom of the press,
rather than attempting to muzzle such freedoms by persecuting members of
media networks that it disagrees with."


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