FBI details Guantanamo abuse witnessed by its agents


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday January 3, 2007

Washington- Twenty-six agents with the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) witnessed abuses at the detention facilities for
terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the agency said.
The abuse included chaining detainees for long periods of time,
insulting the Koran, using dogs to intimidate detainees and employing
sexual intimidation, the FBI said in documents released Tuesday and
compiled during an internal FBI investigation.

"On several occasions, witness saw detainees in interrogation
rooms chained hand and foot in foetal position to floor with no
chair, food, water; most urinated or defecated on selves and were
left there 18, 24 hours or more," the documents said.

Other FBI agents witnessed full-bearded men's heads wrapped in
duct tape or interrogators squatting over the Koran as they
questioned detainees.

The documents also said the detainees told FBI agents that they
had been beaten and one detainee complained that a female guard had
rubbed up against him, fondled him and wiped menstrual blood on his
head.

Agents reported seeing detainees with facial injuries, such as
black eyes and cuts, and broken fingers.

The temperature of detention rooms were also kept either extremely
hot or cold and loud music was played to deprive detainees of sleep
while a few agents said they had seen prisoners wrapped with Israeli
flags.

One detainee was seen laying unconscious in a sweltering,
unventilated room after pulling out his hair, the documents said.

The FBI said none of its agents were involved in the mistreatment,
which it said was carried out by civilian security contractors or
military personnel.

At times, its agents were told that the treatment was approved of
by the Defence Department or appropriate under department policy,
including sleep deprivation and interviews with strobe lights and
loud music, it said.

One agent told former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved
of a technique in which detainees were kept in dark cells and
interrogated for 24 hours straight.

The documents also said the FBI personnel heard that one
interrogator had bragged about performing a lap dance on a detainee
and another of dressing a detainee as a priest and baptizing him.

The 26 FBI agents were among the 493 agency personnel assigned to
Guantanamo since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the
United States. All were interviewed for the FBI report.

It was released because of a request made under the Freedom of
Information Act by the American Civil Liberties Union, a US
non-profit group devoted to the protection of civil liberties, often
through court cases and legislation. It has filed suit on behalf of
Guantanamo detainees who have charged they were abused. Among the
defendants is Rumsfeld.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency