The ruling contains a detailed explanation of the torture and misery the US inflicted on Binyam Mohamed, who I'm sure many of you have heard before. While many of the allegations of torture and abuse should be familiar to anyone who has heard about the case the ruling contains a revelation that should confirm once and for all that this actually happened.
Here is the relevant excerpt from this ruling.
i. Torture Allegations
Petitioner provides sworn declarations from Binyam Mohamed that indicate he was forced to make untrue confessions while being abused after United States authorities detained him overseas. JE 65 at 1 (declaring under penalty of perjury on June 9, 2009, that the attached accounts of his torture "are factually accurate and accurately describe his treatment"); JE 60 at , 8 (declaring that he made false statements about himself and others because of the "torture or coercion [he] was undergoing").
In addition, Binyam Mohamed detailed his mistreatment in meetings with his attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, in August of 2005. Smith recorded his client's words in a memorandum that presents Binyam Mohamed's story chronologically, starting with his detention in Pakistan, following his rendition to Morocco for eighteen months, his transfer to the "Dark Prison"20 in Kabul, his imprisonment at Bagram, and then his arrival at Guantanamo Bay.
See JE 65 at Mem. 1, 2, 4, 16, 19-20. The narrative is at its most detailed in this memorandum, but has been repeated a number of times, in whole or in part, by Binyam Mohamed sUbsequent to his release from united States custody. See JE 65 at Daily Mail; JE 61 (collecting articles). The remainder of this section presents the harrowing story that Binyam Mohamed has told about his abuse, as recounted in either Smith's memorandum or the diary he created for his lawyer in 2005, and repeated since his release from Guantanamo Bay.
He was initially detained while attempting to leave Karachi, Pakistan on April 10, 2002. He was planning to return to London, where he had lived recently. JE 65 at Mem. 2. According to his account, the Pakistani authorities held him in prison, and gave the FBI access to him while there. Four FBI interrogators conducted daily interviews between April 20 and 27, 2002. ~ Just weeks after his capture, his torture began.
The FBI questioned him about his activities, and, unsatisfied with his answers, threatened to transfer him to other countries where he would experience harsher treatment. Then, the FBI agents would leave the room and Pakistanis entered. They beat him with a leather strap, and staged a mock execution where a guard pointed a semi-automatic weapon at Binyam Mohamed's chest for several minutes, and stood over him motionless. The guard relented, left the room, and FBI personnel re-entered the room for further questioning. Id. at 2-3
Binyam Mohamed told his lawyer that on July 19, 2002, he was flown from Karachi to Islamabad. He was kept in a cell for the weekend. On July 21, he was taken to a military airport and turned over to United States authorities. Soldiers dressed in black and wearing masks stripped him, conducted a full-body search, and put him aboard a plane. He was shackled, blindfolded, and made to wear earphones. Id. at 4. The plane arrived in Morocco the next day, at a place that he believed to be near the city of Rabat.
At this point in Smith's memorandum, he transcribes undated entries from a "very rough preliminary edition of Binyam's diary of his torture." Id. at 4. According to that diary, Binyam Mohamed was told that the United States wanted a story from him, and that he had been linked to important figures in al-Qaida, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Ibn Sheikh Al Libi, and Jose Padilla. Id. At the prison, which is described in great detail, he was confronted by several individuals, each of whom played a role in eliciting information from him. Id. at 5-6. He claims that the Americans wanted testimony from him to use in court proceedings. Id. at 6.
In the first week at the prison, he was questioned repeatedly, warned that he would experience torture if he did not cooperate, and told that the British government knew of his situation and sanctioned his detention. Id. at 7-8. Throughout the narrative, Binyam Mohamed conveys dates, physical descriptions of guards and interrogators, details about his surroundings, and details about his treatment.
On August 6, his captors began to beat him. With hands cuffed behind his back, he was punched in the stomach many times, kicked in the thighs, and left on the floor, where he vomited and urinated on himself. Id. at 9. His entry for August 7 begins by stating, " [t]here was to be no more first[-]class treatment. No bathroom. No food for a while. I was taken for interrogation." The guards beat him, then demonstrated sympathy, and then resumed beatings. Id. at 10. While being beaten, he was fed information about himself and told to verify it. If he denied it, he was beaten; he would then confirm the information, and be ordered to provide more details about it. When he failed to provide more information, he was again beaten. After a week without any abuse, he was moved to a room in another location, and introduced to a man named \Marwan." Id.
Marwan told Binyam Mohamed to \give [him] the whole story over again," and when the witness faltered in repeating information, watched as three "goons" stepped in to beat him while he was tied to a wall. Id. He was left hanging from the wall for an hour. The men returned and resumed beating Binyam Mohamed; they kicked his feet out from under him so that his arms were wrenched upward behind him. They beat him throughout the night, and left him on the floor the next day. ~ at 10-11. He heard the screams of others outside his cell, and thought that they were either being raped or electrocuted; he was kept awake at night by these sounds. Id. at 11.
According to the diary, his Moroccan captors made it clear that they were working with the United States. Id. at 11 (stating that Moroccans sided with "pissed off" Americans, and would do "whatever [the United States] wants"). Binyam Mohamed was told that he was suspected of being a "big man" in al-Qaida. Binyam Mohamed stated that he was willing at this point to say Whatever his captors wanted him to, which pleased Marwan. Put off by his satisfaction, Binyam Mohamed mocked Marwan for being Moroccan and not having intelligence as the British do. rd. at 11-12.
After this exchange, Marwan had Binyam Mohamed tied to a wall. Three men stripped him of his clothes with "some kind of doctor's scalpel." The witness claims he feared rape, electrocution, or castration. rd. at 12. His captors cut one side of his chest with the scalpel, and then the other. One of the men then "took [Binyam Mohamed's] penis in his hand and began to make cuts" with the scalpel as Marwan looked on. Id. at 13. They cut "allover [his] private parts" while Binyam Mohamed screamed. He estimates that they cut him 20-30 times over two hours; "[t]here was blood all over." Id. He was given a cream from some doctors. This precise conduct continued about once per month for the 18 months that he was in Morocco. ~ at 12-13; 16 (describing "routine" cuttings and use of liquids to burn him). He reports that a guard told him that the purpose of the scalpel treatment was to "degrade" him, so that when he left, he'd "have these scars and [he'd] never forget. So [he'd] always fear doing anything but what the US wants." Id. at 13.
The captors coached Binyam Mohamed on what to say during interrogations, according to the diary. He was told that if he simply repeated in court the information being fed to him, then the torture would cease. Binyam Mohamed agreed to repeat what he was told. Id. at 14. He was told to say, among other things, that he met Bin Laden five or six times, that he advised him on places to attack, and that he had conferred with Bin Laden's deputies. Id.; but see JE 65 at Daily Mail 14 (claiming that he told interrogators he met Bin Laden thirty times). He was given names of people that he allegedly knew, and told to confess to being "an [a]l[-]Qaida operations man." JE 65 at Mem. 14.
He was moved again in September or October of 2002 to a new location in Morocco. His new quarters are described in his diary in extreme detail, including a listing of the color of his sheets, the type of toothpaste he was given, and the brand of soap he was supplied. For days on end, he remained handcuffed with earphones on, and loud music was blasted into his ears. This tactic, as well as others, interrupted his sleep for the whole time he was in Morocco. rd. at 14-15. This treatment, in Binyam Mohamed's account, was the beginning of a campaign of mental torture designed to break him. He claims that his captors put mind-altering substances in his food, forced him to listen to sounds from adult films, drugged him, and paraded naked and semi-naked woman around his cell. rd. at 15.
He wrote that the mental torture led to an "emotional breakdowns." rd. Throughout this period, he was subject to two or three interrogations per month. These sessions are described as being "more like trainings, training [him on] what to say." rd. at 16. He was deprived of all access to the outdoors. He met only interrogators and guards while in the Moroccan prison.
On January 21 or 22, 2004, Binyam Mohamed and two other prisoners were put on a plane with United States soldiers dressed similarly to those who had transferred him to Morocco from Pakistan. rd. at 16-17. Again they stripped him before transporting him. Binyam Mohamed recalls that one female soldier was assigned to take pictures of him. She expressed horror at the On January 21 or 22, 2004, Binyam Mohamed and two other prisoners were put on a plane with United States soldiers dressed similarly to those who had transferred him to Morocco from Pakistan. rd. at 16-17. Again they stripped him before transporting him. Binyam Mohamed recalls that one female soldier was assigned to take pictures of him. She expressed horror at the The diary reports that Binyam Mohamed was taken to the "Prison of Darkness" in Kabul. He describes the location of his cell, its proximity to the shower room, and its size ("2m by 2.5m"). Before being locked in that cell, his head was banged against a wall a few times "until [he] could feel blood." Id. He was given a thin blanket, and a bucket to use as a toilet. Binyam Mohamed was chained to the floor and then locked in complete darkness. He was "hung up" for two days,21 deprived of sleep, and fed only once over that period. Id. at 17-18 (stating that his "wrists and hands had gone numb"). "After a while I felt pretty much dead," he wrote. Id. at 18.
Guards bombarded his cell with loud music ("Slim Shady and Dr. Dre" for 10 days) and scary sounds. He was fed inedible food and weighed every other day. Guards made noises to prevent prisoners from sleeping. There were infrequent showers and even less frequent changes of clothes. Id. He told a British newspaper in 2009 that he was shackled often, once for eight days on end in a position that prevented him from standing or sitting. JE 65 at Daily Mail 5. While undergoing this treatment, it appears that Binyam Mohamed attempted to be forthright with CIA interrogators and renounce the story he had been coached to adopt. This resulted in his "being chained to the rails for a fortnight." JE 65 at Mem. at 18. He stated that he tried to tell the truth because "the CIA interrogators looked understanding." ~ at 18. He and another prisoner were interrogated regularly. Binyam Mohamed says the sessions drove other detainees crazy.
He heard these detainees "knocking their heads against the walls and the doors, screaming their heads off." Id. Binyam Mohamed maintains that he was fed information about individuals in pictures. When he tried to be compliant and provide made-up information about the pictured men, his interrogator was initially happy, but then "did [his] homework" and threatened to torture him further if he lied again. They simply wanted him to repeat what they told him to say. This included an admission of his involvement in a dirty bomb plot. Id. at 19.
At first, his cell was dark for all but one hour per day. Gradually, he was allowed more light, until it was dark for half of the day. Similarly, showers were not allowed initially, but later prisoners were permitted weekly bathing. Binyam Mohamed at first received food once every 36 hours. After some weeks, that was increased to twice per 36 hours, and by May of 2004, he received tea and bread for breakfast. Eventually, he was given five minutes per week to spend outside. Id. at 18-19.
In May, Binyam Mohamed and other prisoners boarded a helicopter destined for Bagram Air Base. While there, he was permitted to see the ICRC for the first time. Id. at 19-20. According to Binyarn Mohamed, the ICRC could not publish his story, because they had an agreement with the United States to "keep everything on the hush hush." Id. at 20. At Bagram, Special Agent _ made him write out his narrative. Part of this story repeated the lies that he was fed by his captors while in Morocco, including the story about his involvement with the alleged "dirty bomber," Jose Padilla. Id.
In October of 2008, the Government dropped allegations that Binyarn Mohamed was involved in any bomb plot. See Peter Finn, Key Allegations Against Terror Suspect Withdrawn, Wash. Post, October 15, 2008, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
ii. Legal Analysis
The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Article 15), Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 ("Convention" or "CAT"), requires that governments which are party to it "ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made."22 rd. The Government has represented that it "recognizes torture to be abhorrent and unlawful, and unequivocally adheres to humane standards for all detainees.. . Consistent with these policies and with the treaty obligations imposed by the Convention on the United States as a State Party, the [G]overnment does not and will not rely upon statements it concludes were procured through torture in the Guantanamo habeas litigation." Resp't's Br. in Resp. To the Ct.'s Order of Sept. 4, 2009, at 1-2 [Dkt. No. 248] .23
The Government does not challenge or deny the accuracy of Binyam Mohamed's story of brutal treatment. Rather, it argues that the Court should not adopt any automatic per se rule requiring exclusion of the statements he made at Guantanamo Bay because they were not "tainted" by any mistreatment by Special Agent [REDACTED] or anyone else at that detention center. The Government candidly "acknowledges that there is a dearth of precedent directly on point," and suggests using existing case law in the criminal area as a useful, albeit not perfect, analogy. .Id.... at 3. The Court agrees .
[...]
The reasoning is horrible: that because Binyam was not mistreated during the specific interrogation at Gitmo in which he ratted out Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed everything he said about Farhi must be accurate. How can any government attorney actually argue this? They don't deny any of the details of Binyam Mohamed's torture and the way he was prepped to lie for his American interrogators, yet we are still expected to believe that this evidence is legitimate.
Strange times we are living in.