Eight years on suicide watch

That Walid Ibrahim Abu Hijazi, a former Guantánamo inmate, is finding it hard to lead a normal life in Spain is hardly surprising in light of the secret Department of Defense files, made available to EL PAÍS by WikiLeaks.

The Palestinian was placed on a list of "high risk" prisoners due to his health. He suffered from "an extreme personality disorder," had threatened to kill himself on several occasions and was placed on daily suicide watch. Despite his evident mental health problems, and that he was classified only as "possibly" dangerous, Hijazi spent eight years incarcerated at Guantánamo.

Today, Hijazi lives in a city in northern Spain. His first months at liberty were spent in a hotel but he was transferred to an NGO center when he found it impossible to live alone. He arrived in Europe in terrible condition, hardly able to speak, frightened of everything and displaying behavior that led authorities to believe he would do himself harm. He is better now, but only after lengthy psychiatric care. It is not easy to get over Guantánamo.

The secret file on Hijazi is dated May 24, 2007, when he had already been held for five years. The recommendation of the military was that he should be transferred "beyond the control of the Department of Defense" - freed, but outside US borders. It was a further three years before Hijazi would be released. The file said nothing about the reasons for his release, nor about his mental state, which earned four lines. It concentrated mainly on his state as an "enemy combatant." He was accused of admitting he had aided Osama bin Laden, but nothing on this claim was included in the internal report. Hijazi denies saying anything of the kind.

The son of a carpenter, Hijazi left school early to help his father. In 2001, he decided to make his first pilgrimage to Mecca. Hizaji told his captors at Guantánamo that animosity toward Palestinians in Saudi Arabia made it difficult to find work, and money to return home. He spent three months penniless in a mosque, where a Saudi offered him the chance to travel to Afghanistan to join the jihad. Hijazi answered that, as a Palestinian, his fight was against Israel but that he would accompany the man in return for some money to get home.

The Saudi arranged a passport so that Hijazi could leave the country and he took him to the insurgent camp of Al Faruq. According to Guantánamo officials, he spent two weeks there, leaving a day before the September 11 attacks. Hijazi went to Khost, where he was injured by a mujahadeen grenade. After being taken to hospital, Pakistani authorities handed him over to the United States. Department of Defense files now corroborate his version of events, and even note the contrary: Hijazi said he would fight in a war if he had to, but would not jump just because somebody like Bin Laden said he should. Since he arrived in Spain he has ceased to wish to take his own life.