During Witness Against Torture’s press conference to kick off a day of action to Condemn Torture, we heard from T. Paracha, a New York-based computer consultant, whose uncle Saifullah Paracha has been incarcerated at Guantánamo since July 2003. Here is Mr. Paracha’s statement:

“I am in constant pain. I would prefer to be buried alive than continue to receive the treatment I receive. At least I would suffer less and die.” -- Sami Al-Laithi, Egyptian detained in Guantánamo.

From teenagers to 60-year-old men like my uncle, Saifullah Paracha, the U.S. has kidnapped people all over the world. These people were not on the battlefield, they just disappeared over night. My uncle was kidnapped in July of 2003; we didn’t know where he was for 2 months. When we begged the U.S. government officials to just tell us if my uncle was alive, they said “no comment,” and hung up the phone on us. They beat my uncle, they tortured him, they did everything they could to harm him. They held up by chains and did not feed him for 3 days.

Right now he is in the worst camp in Guantánamo. He has several medical conditions and is 60 years old, yet he was still treated in an extremely hostile manner.

The world has to stand up when detainees prefer death over how they are treated in Guantánamo. It still baffles me how the country like the U.S., who criticizes China and other countries for Human Rights Violations, can kidnap, beat and torture people without proving them guilty of a single thing.

I am very concerned for all the detainees; I have special concern for my uncle because of his old age and medical conditions. The detention of my uncle has devastated our family. He is a gentle and kind man, who has never harmed anyone in his life. He never committed a crime. He was always into humanitarian work.

I want to thank everybody for coming here today, we have to close Guantánamo and make sure every human receives the basic human rights they deserve.