US admits translation errors at Guantanamo tribunals

US military authorities have acknowledged translation errors during special tribunals on the status of Guantanamo Bay war on terror detainees. Two Arabic television journalists watching Combatant Status Review Tribunals noticed what they called glaring mistakes in translations of statements made by a Saudi inmate. Mohammed Alami, a correspondent for Al Jazeera television network, said that when the detainee explained that he went to Afghanistan for training but wanted to go on to Chechnya "it came out as 'he went to Afghanistan for training but wanted to go on to join some kind of cult'." Nadia Charters of Al-Arabiya said she was "shocked" by the standards of the translation. When the Northern Alliance, a coalition of Afghan opposition groups was mentioned, it was translated as "the United States or the United States and its allies," she said. More serious, the journalists added, was when the Saudi was asked whether he had gone to Afghanistan for training before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Mr Alami and Ms Charters, he was asked if he had left Afghanistan after the attacks. "The questions have a completely different meaning and consequence for the detainee," Alami said.
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