Secret Red Cross Report Says CIA Detainees Were Tortured
A secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross concludes some al-Qaida detainees were tortured by the CIA and subjected to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
The Washington Post obtained a copy of the report from Mark Danner, a journalism professor and author. The story says the report is the most authoritative account of such treatment and the first that uses the word “torture” in a legal context.
“It could not be more important that the ICRC explicitly uses the words ‘torture’ and ‘cruel and degrading,’ ” Danner said told the Post. “The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, and when it uses those words, they have the force of law.” Danner said the detainees’ accounts overlap “in minute detail” even though they were kept at separate locations and held in isolation.
The report cites an account from detainee Abu Zubaida, a senior al-Qaida official. The CIA provided medical treatment for gunshot wounds the detainee suffered in a shootout, then subjected him to harsh treatment after he recovered, according to the report.
Among the allegations: Zubaida was shackled to a chair for two to three weeks in a cold room with constant blaring music, and investigators sprayed water on his face to wake him every time he fell asleep. Later, interrogators slapped Abu Zubaida, tied a towel around his neck, and slammed him into a plywood wall. After the beatings, he was placed in a wooden box with no light and little air and forced to crouch in painful positions. Interrogators also placed a cloth on his face and poured water over it so he couldn’t breathe.
“I struggled against the straps, trying to breathe, but it was hopeless,” he said. “I thought I was going to die.”
