In the main square of Stockholm, Mehdi Ghezali has built a cage similar in size to those used by the U.S. government to lock up prisoners at "Camp X-Ray" in Guantánamo--2.4 by 1.2 meters (6.5 by 3.3 feet). Since September 3, to show passersby the barbaric conditions the imperialist jailers have subjected their prisoners to, Ghezali has lived in the cage, with his hands and feet chained, blindfolded, and gagged most of the time.

Swedish officials have taken no serious steps to get Mehdi-Muhammed Ghezali out of the Guantánamo prison camp. In January they violated his rights by sending a member of the Swedish secret police together with an official from the Swedish embassy in the United States to Guantánamo to talk with his son in the presence of U.S. military personnel. The transcript of the "talk" was stamped "secret" by Swedish officials, who argued that its publication might hurt relations with a foreign power, namely, Washington. These actions by the Swedish government reflect the closer relations it has developed with Washington over the past decade in order to strengthen its hand in relation to its imperialist rivals in Europe and the world.

U.S. officials have branded the hundreds of people locked up in Guantánamo as "enemy combatants," claiming the right to hold them indefinitely without guarantees such as access to legal counsel.

In a U.S. military trial, Mehdi-Muhammed Ghezali could face the death penalty, a sentence not in effect in Sweden. He has not yet been charged with any crime, although he has been incarcerated for months under inhuman conditions.

Ghezali invited visiting socialist campaigners into his cage on September 11. He told Daniel Ahl, Communist League candidate for parliament, that while the prime minister, Göran Persson, was visiting the town of Örebro he had a chance to talk briefly to him. Afterward a journalist asked him how he felt about it. "I’m not satisfied by talking to him, and I won’t be satisfied until my son is here," he told the campaigners.

"There were two American women here signing their names to support the release of the detainees. I told them to tell all the mothers and fathers in the United States to demand Rumsfeld bring their children home from Afghanistan," Ghezali said, referring to U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A person standing by the cage asked Ghezali why he had U.S. flags on his cage. "It is to show that this is being done by the U.S. government, and not by Cuba," he replied.

On September 13 Ghezali submitted a list with 12,000 signatures of people demanding justice for his son. The petition demands the U.S. government "state the nature of the charges against" Mehdi-Muhammed Ghezali and "that he be given a fair trial before a court of law."

In August there were almost 600 prisoners locked in the hellhole on Guantánamo, and Washington has expanded the prison to hold more people. In February, the prisoners held a hunger strike protesting the denials of their rights.

Björn Tirsén works as a meat packer and is a member of the food workers union.  
 
 
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