Newly declassified documents have revealed that Guantanamo detainee Ammar al-Baluchi sustained brain damage after serving as a live prop for trainee interrogators at a secret CIA black site in Afghanistan.
The 2008 report, declassified amid his lawyers’ attempt to get an independent medical examination, detailed that the now-44-year-old detainee was subjected to a CIA-approved
“enhanced interrogation technique” called walling.
“enhanced interrogation technique” called walling.
During the practice, a detainee’s heels are placed against a specially designed plywood board “which had flexibility to it.” A rolled up towel is then placed around the detainee’s neck.
“The interrogators would then grab the ends of the towel in front of and below the detainees face and shove [Baluchi] backwards into the wall, never letting go of the towel,” according to the report.
One interrogator detailed that the goal was to “bounce” the detainee off the wall.
Al-Baluchi was “naked for the proceedings,” the report noted.
The CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” many of which are now deemed as torture, were approved by the Pentagon and developed by so-called 'psychologists' James Mitchell and John Jessen, who were compensated some $81 million for their efforts to invent and implement the tactics into common practice.
These abuses included rectal feeding, hanging by handcuffs, and waterboarding.
“In the case of ‘walling’ in particular the [Office of the Inspector General] had difficulty determining whether the session was designed to elicit information from Ammar or to ensure that all interrogator trainees received their certification,” the report detailed.
It also noted that the CIA’s logic in justifying the detention was “fuzzy and circular,” and treatment did not yield useful intelligence.
This Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009 sketch reviewed by the U.S. military, shows, from top left, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad; Walid bin Attash; Ramzi bin al Shibh; Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, also known as Ammar al Baluchi, and Mustafa al Hawsawi attend a hearing at the U.S. Military Commissions court for war crimes at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Friday, Aug. 30, 2019, a military judge set Jan. 11, 2021 for the start of the long-stalled war crimes trial of the five men being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison on charges of planning and aiding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
© AP Photo / Janet Hamlin
As al-Baluchi and others await drawn-out pre-trial hearings, questions have arisen regarding the legal admissibility of testimony obtained by the US following acts of torture.
The report acknowledges that the CIA is aware that al-Baluchi’s 2003 rendition was conducted “extra-legally,” as he was in Pakistani jurisdiction and was not a terrorist threat at the time.
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