shaving of beards, heads and eyebrows.526 Further, numerous reports and testimonies have alleged that guards and interrogators have mishandled the Koran and disrespected detainees’ religious beliefs while they prayed.527 256. Former detainees described how guards and interrogators reportedly used to interfere with their religious freedom. They explained that “guards have screamed insults and obscenities at [them] during [their] daily prayers and imitated howling dogs during the distinctive Muslim call to prayer”.528 They also told ODIHR that guards turned music on very loud and made noise to disturb them while they were praying.529 Mustafa Ait Idir recalled a particular instance where a detainee in a cell next to his was allegedly told to stand up during his prayer and was beaten while he continued to pray, to the point where he fainted.530 257. Reports also document cases of desecration of religious items, including in the form of guards and interrogators kicking and stepping on the Koran.531 These practices would have offended detainees’ religious sensitivities to the extent that many individuals preferred not to keep the Muslim holy book in their cells to avoid further incidents.532 The mishandling of Korans and other religious items is also said to have triggered a number of hunger strikes.533 258. Additionally, there have been indications that US authorities have “implicitly or explicitly, encouraged or tolerated the association of Islam and terrorism” by, for example, “interrogating detainees on the extent of their faith in Islamic teachings”534 in apparent contravention of OSCE commitments. 259. In 2009, the Walsh Report concluded that “considerable efforts were undertaken to avoid actions that could be construed as disrespectful [to detainees’ religion]” and that “no 526 UN Special Procedures, “Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay”, op. cit., note 23, para. 63. See, for example, ibid., para. 62; IACHR, Djamel Ameziane v. United States, “Petition and request for precautionary measures”, 6 August 2008, para. 182, <https://ccrjustice.org/files/Petition%20and%20Request%20for%20Precautionary%20Measures_Ameziane%20v%20%20United %20States%20(2).pdf>. 528 IACHR, Ameziane v. United States, “Petition”, ibid., para. 182; ODIHR interview with Mustafa Ait Idir and Hajj Boudella, op. cit., note 217. 529 ODIHR interview with Murat Kurnaz, op. cit., note 400; ODIHR interview with Mustafa Ait Idir and Hajj Boudella, ibid.; ODIHR interview with Lakhdar Boumediene, op. cit., note 216. 530 ODIHR interview with Mustafa Ait Idir and Hajj Boudella, ibid.; ODIHR interview with Lakhdar Boumediene, ibid: Boumediene also explained that soldiers would ask any question to detainees while they were praying in an attempt to disrupt their prayer and justify the use of IRF teams to take them by force for interrogation. 531 See, for instance, UN Special Procedures, “Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay”, op. cit., note 23, para. 62. 532 ODIHR interview with Murat Kurnaz, op. cit., note 400: “we actually didn’t want the Koran in our cells because every time they took us out of the cells to search us (…) they also searched the Koran, and most of the time, after they searched it they threw it on the floor. Many times they took off pages and threw them in the toilets. (…) we didn’t want to have the Koran in our cells anymore because it was mistreated by the guards”; ODIHR interview with Mustafa Ait Idir and Hajj Boudella, op. cit., note 217. 533 It has been reported that the first large-scale hunger strike, which began in February 2002, started after a military officer removed the homemade turban of a detainee while he was praying. A hunger strike of December 2002 may also have been triggered by the mishandling of Korans. Moreover, during the hunger strike of June-July 2005, detainees demanded, inter alia, that religious abuses, including the desecration of the Koran, and religious discrimination stop. “The Guantánamo Prisoner Hunger Strikes and Protests”, Center for Constitutional Rights, op. cit., note 405, pp. 6-10; ODIHR interview with Murat Kurnaz, ibid. 534 UN Special Procedures, “Situation of detainees at Guantánamo Bay”, op. cit., note 23, para. 65. 527 111