Stress, trauma, stigma stalk ex-Guantanamo inmates

* Many ex-inmates suffering trauma in silence

* Yemenis are of particular concern

By William Maclean

LONDON (Reuters) - Many former Guantanamo prisoners suffer lingering physical harm or post-traumatic stress, mostly without much support, and feel isolated from society, fellow ex-inmates said on Thursday.

"We are living in torture -- a world of torture," former detainee Binyam Mohamed said at the launch of the Guantanamo Justice Center, an association that plans to lobby for help for ex-inmates around the world, especially in poor countries.

Another fellow inmate, Moazzem Begg, told reporters at the launch that returning British ex-prisoners had support from families, activists, community members and individuals, but those returning to developing countries had little help.

"Whether they are in Bermuda, Morocco, Mauritania or Yemen, the story is pretty much the same -- where is the welfare for people who have been tortured? Where is the support system for people who have endured cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment? The fact of the matter is, rarely does it exist."

There are about 230 detainees still held at the U.S. prison, which was set up in 2002 to hold foreigners captured in the U.S. war on terrorism that then-President George W. Bush declared after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to close the detention center by early 2010 and is lobbying allies in Europe to accept prisoners who are not seen to pose a security threat but cannot return to their home countries because of a risk of torture.

Explaining how prison still haunted ex-inmates, Mohamed said: "People want to hear about torture stories, somebody hanged here, beaten there, blood over here, blood over there, but that's physical torture.

"What remains (on release) is, each time you see a rope, you always go back to the time you were hung up. That doesn't go ....I cannot fit into society."

YEMENIS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN

Begg said Yemenis, as the largest single group of remaining prisoners, were of particular concern to the new organization because their impoverished country lacked the facilities necessary to care for people traumatized by long captivity.

Former inmates in the West were suffering too, he said: Two men now living in London were unable even to communicate with other people due to psychological and physical damage.

"One of them lives in a room that is so tiny it is close to the size of his cell where he spent five years. That is the difficulty in the UK. But our own situation is much better than the vast majority of people who were held there."

Mohamed, an Ethiopian resident in Britain, was speaking publicly for the first time since his release in February from four years at the internationally condemned U.S. facility.

Rights groups say one practice carried out on detainees at Guantanamo was "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, which human rights groups call torture. Obama has banned the practice.

Under Bush, Washington confirmed it had used "rendition" to grab terrorism suspects around the world and deliver them for interrogation in third countries, but denied employing torture.

Begg said the Center would be a non-profit organization with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and would partner with non-governmental groups in Middle East and African countries well placed to deliver care on the ground. It was looking for funds from sources in the Gulf, Europe and elsewhere, he said. (Editing by Diana Abdallah)