THE United States Customs and Border Protection denied all allegations of torture and religious discrimination made by Moro human rights and peace advocate Jerome Aladdin Succor Aba.
Jaime Ruiz, the Branch Chief of Strategic Media Engagement Office of Public Affairs in the US, told the Manila Standard the CBP spokesperson denied they forced Aba to remove his clothes, entrapped him with a gun and grenade nor served him pork.
“US Customs and Border Protection is aware that Mr. Jerome Aladdin Aba has publicly made numerous allegations, claiming inhumane treatment while in CBP custody,” the CBP spokesperson said.
The CBP had been sought out for reaction to a six-page letter of complaint before the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“These allegations of torture and religious discrimination made by Mr. Aba are false,” the spokesperson stressed.
Aba on Wednesday went to the DFA to submit a letter of complaint against the Philippine Consulate General and officials in San Francisco for neglect to do their jon by protecting Filipino citizens.
The Muslim activist also urged DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to file a diplomatic protest against the United States authority for allegedly torturing him and violating his basic human rights and religion.
“I strongly urged the Philippine government to file a diplomatic protest in what had happened to me and in behalf of my Moro brothers and sisters whom I have been representing,” Aba said.
“I suffered physical and psychological torture from the hands of the United States of America Department of Homeland Security and officers of the US Customs and Border Patrol,” he added.
In his letter, he described in detail the verbal, emotional and physical abuse in the hands of several CBP officials with surnames Reyes, Lopez, Nguyen, and Witto.
The officials, he said, forced him to confess that he was a terrorist and a communist on several occasions and in different rooms where he met diferrent officials.
He was also told, according to him, to strip off all his clothes including his underwear inside an airconditioning-unit room and turned a big industrial fan at him while Lopez interrogated him about his supposed involvement with the terrorists or a funder of ISIS.
“I was still in handcuffs and naked. I lost track of how much time had passed. I was shaking with exhaustion, hunger and was freezing,” Aba related.
The officers, according to him, yelled at him: “Don’t play with us! We know that you are well trained in this! Are you giving money to rebels-ISIS, communist, terrorists?”
Without receiving any important answers he was asked to wear his clothes back.
After more than approximately 24 hours, the agents asked him what he wanted to eat.
“I replied that I do not eat pork since I am a Muslim. But at the height of their insensitivity and religious intolerance, they came back with a ham sandwhich,” he said.
“I had to ask for food from my fellow detainees to relieve me of my hunger,” he added.
Another two interrogations occured before he was released where American officials deliberately placed a 9mm pistol and cellphone in front of me when he was sent to another room where a grenade was placed in front of him.
The 25-year old Aba did not touch all those weapons for fear that the Americans might use them against him.
But the U.S. CBP denied Aba’s allegations where they “exercised discretion, allowing the Filipino traveler to voluntarily withdraw his application for admission into the U.S.
“CBP did mot issue a removal order for Mr. Aba and he waited overnight to be returned on the mext available flight in the CBP waiting lounge, along with several other travelers,” the spokesperson of the CBP said.
Contrary to Aba’s allegations, the spokesperson said the lounge area consisted of reclining chairs, blankets, and access to rest rooms, food and water.