ACLU: Heavily redacted CIA docs render more torture evidence

Update: Bush administration redacted paragraph which describes lasting effects of torture, as claimed by detainee

In response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the CIA released a series of heavily redacted documents which detail new allegations of torture made by terror war prisoners.

The documents posted online by the ACLU have red highlights to mark what was unredacted from the previously released version.

One notable unredacted part, found by RAW STORY, indicates that the Bush administration attempted to cover up the lasting effects of torture committed upon a detainee.

From page 17 of the pdf of the transcript of detainee Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, a Saudi national accused of masterminding the USS Cole bombing who had all charges dropped against him earlier this year (although charges may be refiled):

Before i was arrested i used to be able to run about ten kilometers. Now, i cannot walk for more than ten minutes. My nerves are swollen in my body. Swollen too.

In February of 2008 former CIA director Michael Hayden confirmed that waterboarding was utilized against Al-Nashiri, but the still-redacted transcript doesn’t detail what interrogation tactic the detainee believes may have caused his nerves to swell.

Firedoglake’s emptywheel writes, “We’ve been trying to understand why they only waterboarded al-Nashiri twice–and don’t claim it worked with him. These swollen nerves may be a clue. They don’t t rule out that he suffered other problems–such as a tracheotomy pursuant to some accident during waterboarding–but it does explain one effect his torture had on him.”

An ACLU media advisory highlights the key statements disclosed Monday:

Abu Zubaydah: “After months of suffering and torture, physically and mentally, they did not care about my injuries that they inflicted to my eye, to my stomach, to my bladder, and my left thigh and my reproductive organs. They didn’t care that I almost died from these injuries. Doctors told me that I nearly died four times.” “They say ‘this in your diary.’ They say ’see you want to make operation against America.’ I say no, the idea is different. They say no, torturing, torturing. I say ‘okay, I do. I was decide to make operation.’”

• Al Nashiri: “[And, they used to] drown me in water.”

• Muhammad: “This is what I understand he [CIA interrogator] told me: you are not American and you are not on American soil. So you cannot ask about the Constitution.”

• Khan: “In the end, any classified information you have is through…agencies who physically and mentally tortured me.”

“The information released today sheds some new light on the CIA’s torture program, but there are still unanswered questions,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project, in an advisory. “The Obama administration should make good on its commitment to transparency, stop suppressing information about torture and abuse and hold accountable the officials who put unlawful policies in place.”

The complete series of documents is available on the ACLU’s Web site.

The full press release follows.

####

NEW YORK – The CIA today released still-highly redacted documents in which Guantánamo Bay prisoners describe abuse and torture they suffered in CIA custody. The documents were released as part of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) that determine if prisoners held by the Defense Department at Guantánamo qualify as “enemy combatants.” In previously released versions of the documents, the CIA had removed virtually all references to the abuse of prisoners in their custody; the documents released today are still heavily blacked out but include some new information.

“The documents released today provide further evidence of brutal torture and abuse in the CIA’s interrogation program and demonstrate beyond doubt that this information has been suppressed solely to avoid embarrassment and growing demands for accountability,” said Ben Wizner, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project and lead attorney on the FOIA lawsuit. “There is no legitimate basis for the Obama administration’s continued refusal to disclose allegations of detainee abuse, and we will return to court to seek the full release of these documents.”

The newly unredacted information includes statements from the CSRTs of former CIA detainees, including Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Abd Al Rahim Hussein Mohammed Al Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah and Majid Khan, including descriptions of torture and coercion. These statements include:

• Abu Zubaydah: “After months of suffering and torture, physically and mentally, they did not care about my injuries that they inflicted to my eye, to my stomach, to my bladder, and my left thigh and my reproductive organs. They didn’t care that I almost died from these injuries. Doctors told me that I nearly died four times.” “They say ‘this in your diary.’ They say ’see you want to make operation against America.’ I say no, the idea is different. They say no, torturing, torturing. I say ‘okay, I do. I was decide to make operation.’”

• Al Nashiri: “[And, they used to] drown me in water.”

• Muhammad: “This is what I understand he [CIA interrogator] told me: you are not American and you are not on American soil.  So you cannot ask about the Constitution.”

• Khan: “In the end, any classified information you have is through…agencies who physically and mentally tortured me.”

“The information released today sheds some new light on the CIA’s torture program, but there are still unanswered questions,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. “The Obama administration should make good on its commitment to transparency, stop suppressing information about torture and abuse and hold accountable the officials who put unlawful policies in place.”

Attorneys in this case are Wizner and Jaffer of the ACLU National Security Project, Judy Rabinovitz and Amrit Singh of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and Arthur B. Spitzer of the ACLU of the National Capital Area.

More information about the ACLU’s CSRT FOIA, including the documents released today, is available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/csrtfoia.html

7 comments

  

Get breaking news alerts: Email/mobile

Email - No spam: