“Depositions released by detainees of Guantanamo living in Italy indicate that groups of Italian agents went to Guantanamo to interrogate prisoners on at least three different occasions. These visits took place in the first three months of activity in the prison, that is, when torture and cruel treatment—inhuman and degrading—were the order of the day.”

The Involvement of Italy. This is the accusation, supported by testimony and verification, that Reprieve, a non-governmental agency whose home office is in London, launches against Italy. Reprieve is concerned with legal assistence to people involved in the “war on terror” whose inalienable rights have been violated. In particular, seven cases are under examination, all Tunisian citizens residing in Italy at the time of the arrest which cost them detention in Guantanamo: Lofti bin Ali, Saleh Sassi, Adel Ben Mabrouk, Lofti bin Swei Lagha, Hedi Hamamy, Adel al-Hakeemy and Hisham Sliti. Italian responsibility for the odyssey of these individuals is direct. Reprieve, in fact, demonstrates how all of them were captured in Pakistan or Afghanistan on information, revealed to be unfounded, of police forces or Italian intelligence. All seven, now, have been exonerated from every accusation and are free to return home. But here is the point: Tunisia, in the unanimous opinion of the principal international organizations, is a country in which torture is systematically practiced. They cannot be sent to their native land, therefore, where in the meantime (and always issuing from the objective responsibility of the Italians) they have been sentenced by default to punishments of from ten to forty years. For not having done anything. These seven people, therefore, find themselves in a juridical limbo. Recognized to be innocent, they cannot be repatriated to Tunisia. The only solution would be for Italy to accept its responsibility and allow them to return to Italy. Notwithstanding that both the executive of Berlusconi and that of Prodi, as the report of Reprieve reminds, declared themselves contrary to Guantanamo, no one has lifted a finger for these people, some of whom, when they were arrested, were in possession of a valid permesso di soggiorno [visa] in Italy, where they still have family.

Assumption of Responsibility. An absurd history that shows how Italy is involved in the hell of Guantanamo. As said, thanks to (unfounded) information from Italian intelligence the status of “enemy combatant” was attributed to all seven Tunisian citizens, a judicial opprobrium that permitted the American authorities to incarcerate the suspects in Guantanamo without guaranteeing them the respect of elementary human rights. Italian responsibility does not end with this. During detention, on at least three occasions, officials of the Carabinieri, of the Police, and of Sismi (the Italian military secret service) went to Guantanamo in order to interrogate the seven Tunisians. Their testimony agrees in claiming that it was clearly stated to all the Italian agents what the terrible conditions of detention were and what tortures were undergone. Furthermore, in all seven cases (but Reprieve can document more than 680 cases in total), Italy conceded the right of flyover to American planes that brought the detainee suspects from Pakistan or Afghanistan to Guantanamo—also violating the law. A precedent already exists, moreover, about how Italian responsibility towards what happens to foreign citizens resident in its territory may be demonstrated. The Supreme Court of Canada recently accepted the petition of an ex-detainee of Guantanamo who asked to see the Northamerican nation in which he resided recognized as responsible for his unjust detention.

The report of Reprieve, in its conclusions, asks Italy to make available to defense lawyers of the detainees all the information in its possession to prepare an adequate defense of their clients, to protect those individuals who live in Italy, avoiding their return to Tunisia where they would be tortured, and favoring the reunion with their families living in Italy. The document only adds that, after all, it is the minimum that Italy can do for these seven innocents.