Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations had strongly condemned the secret CIA detention program and had been trying for years to get access to forcibly disappeared prisoners as well as those at Guantanamo, but without success. Two weeks after Human Rights Watch saw al-Libi at Abu Salim, Libyan authorities reported that he committed suicide in his cell, a claim that merits a thorough investigation. 397 There is limited information available about the US detention of al-Libi. While researching this report, Human Rights Watch tried to develop a clearer picture with information from family members and prisoners with whom he was held. He apparently was taken into custody near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan at the end of 2001, though different dates have been reported. 398 Adusalam Abdulhadi Omar as-Safrani, another Libyan interviewed for this report (see above) who was apprehended in the same area around the same time, said he saw al-Libi in detention in Kohat, Pakistan, in December 2001. He had been taken there a day or two after the Pakistani army detained him just inside the Pakistan border. He was not sure of the exact date, but by the time he had arrived in Kohat, al-Libi was already there. 399 About 300 other prisoners were also being held in the same facility. Al-Libi had been initially detained by tribes in the area, who then turned him over to Pakistani authorities. 400 After Safrani was there for about two weeks, “the Americans” came. They were in civilian clothes, not military uniforms, and Safrani believes they were CIA. They interrogated him and later moved him, al-Libi, and the rest of a big group from Kohat to Kandahar. In Kandahar, al-Libi was identified as a commander and split from the rest of the group. 401 That was the last time Safrani saw al-Libi. Safrani was then taken to Guantanamo, where he was included in Human Rights Watch, Libya – Truth and Justice Can’t Wait: Human Rights Developments in Libya Amid Institutional Obstacles, December 12, 2009, http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/libya1209web.pdf, p. 63-65. 397 “Libya/US: Investigate Death of Former CIA Prisoner,” Human Rights Watch news release, May 11, 2009. 398 Reporting on the exact arrest date varies. Some accounts say he was arrested on November 11, 2001. See Dana Priest, “Al Qaeda-Iraq Link Recanted: Captured Libyan Reverses Previous Statement to CIA, Officials Say,” Washington Post, August 1, 2004, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30909-2004Jul31.html (accessed May 30, 2012); Others indicate it was “toward the end of November 2001.” Soufan, The Black Banners, p.450; Others say he was captured on December 19, 2001 by Pakistani security. Mayer, The Dark Side, p. 103-04 and Isikoff and Corn, Hubris, p. 119. 399 Human Rights Watch interview with Safrani, Bengazi, Libya, March 20, 2012. 400 Ibid. 401 Ibid. 125 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012
held until December 2006, when the United States forcibly transferred him back to Libya (see above). 402 According to al-Libi’s family, after Kandahar, the United States took him to Kabul (more likely Bagram Air Base) 403 and then transferred him to Egypt. 404 Al-Libi’s family said he was in Egypt for 13 months. 405 He told his family and other detainees with whom he was detained that he was sent to Egypt “in a coffin.” 406 During his time in Egypt, he told others that his Egyptian captors beat and abused him constantly. He showed one fellow prisoner marks he said were from a drill that was used on him in Egypt and burns on his body that he received there. 407 He told another fellow prisoner at the time that he was cut with blades on his skin while there and that he was hung out an open window with no clothes on. 408 His Egyptian captors also had him lie on his stomach and forced his legs back towards his shoulder blades. 409 After Egypt, al-Libi was apparently brought back to US custody, possibly to a CIA prison at Bagram. 410 This is where it seems he recanted the information he had provided earlier on 402 Ibid. 403 Mayer, The Dark Side, p. 104; Isikoff and Corn, Hubris, p. 120. 404 Some prisoners held with al-Libi said that al-Libi told them he was actually given a choice of either Egypt or Israel and that he chose Egypt, a choice he said was a bad one. Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya, Tripoli, March 18, 2012; Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Bousidra, April 2, 2012. Bousidra was detained with al-Libi in the foreign intelligence building in Libya, Bousidra in cell three and al-Libi in cell seven; other prisoners described something similar. Sheikh Othman Salah said al-Libi told him that they said “if you don’t talk in 24-48 hours and tell us your plan, you will be transferred to one of two countries that will have no mercy on you—Egypt or Israel.” Human Rights Watch interview with Sheikh Othman Salah, Tripoli, Libya, Janurary 12, 2012. Al-Libi told Abdullah Mohammed Omar al-Tawaty when they were detained together in a place called Asouk (he in cell three and Tawaty in cell 14) that when he was in the “dark prison” in Afghanistan, someone representing himself from the White House came into his cell and said that if he did not tell him in the next 20 minutes the operations that al Qaeda was planning against the US he would be taken to either Egypt or Israel. Human Rights Watch interview with Abdulla Mohammed Omar al-Tawaty, Benghazi, Libya, March 21, 2012. 405 Human Rights Watch interview with Faraj el-Fakhri, March 21, 2012. 406 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Bousidra, April 2, 2012; Human Rights Watch interviews with Sheikh Othman Salah, January 12, 2012; Tawaty, March 21, 2012; Faraj el-Fakhri, March 21, 2012; Abdul Aziz el-Fakhri, March 22, 2012; and Shoroeiya, March 18, 2012. 407 Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya, March 18, 2012. Shoroeiya said al-Libi showed him these marks when they were detained in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. All prisoners detained there said at some point during their detention in Abu Salim, Libyan authorities allowed prisoners to leave their cells for limited periods of time and mix with other prisoners in certain sections of the prison, though they still had to be confined to certain locations. 408 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Bousidra, March 29, 2012. 409 Ibid. 410 Both Shoroieya and Sharif report talking to him during their time in US detention in Afghanistan, although when is not clear, from around April 18, 2003 to between April 20 and 25, 2004. This was likely the same place where al-Libi described being detained to al-Tawaty while they were in prison together in Asouk in Libya. Al-Libi told Tawaty that he was taken to the DELIVERED INTO ENEMY HANDS 126
Page 1 and 2:
H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H Del
Page 3 and 4:
Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watc
Page 5 and 6:
Mustafa Jawda al-Mehdi ............
Page 7 and 8:
This report is based mostly on Huma
Page 9 and 10:
These stories provide new details a
Page 11 and 12:
Gaddafi opponents in Libya. Ten of
Page 13 and 14:
treatment. Nor did they protect det
Page 15 and 16:
two more the following April. Commu
Page 17 and 18:
esponsibilities. Mehdi and Shoroiey
Page 19 and 20:
identified in this report to Libya,
Page 21 and 22:
of compiling the names of those who
Page 23 and 24:
Libya from the 1970s to the 1990s I
Page 25 and 26:
Gaddafi also made major changes to
Page 27 and 28:
Abu Salim massacre, in which prison
Page 29 and 30:
insurgency, mainly in eastern Libya
Page 31 and 32:
In late autumn of 2007, these repor
Page 33 and 34:
econciled with Gaddafi and a number
Page 35 and 36:
PLACES OF ARREST, DATES OF TRANSFER
Page 37 and 38:
Shoroeiya and Sharif said that once
Page 39 and 40:
Arrest and Detention Shoroeiya and
Page 41 and 42:
CIA Rendition Transportation Proced
Page 43 and 44:
Both were detained in this first lo
Page 45 and 46:
Abu Yasser al Jazairi, from Algeria
Page 47 and 48:
Sharif also said he learned the nam
Page 49 and 50:
Afghanistan on April 25, 2004. Both
Page 51 and 52:
Shoroeiya and Sharif both alleged t
Page 53 and 54:
The Interrogators Shoroeiya said th
Page 55 and 56:
He said there were doctors present.
Page 57 and 58:
Mohammed Shoroeiya said his interro
Page 59 and 60:
stan.” 191 Both thought they migh
Page 61 and 62:
Shoroeiya said there were intrusive
Page 63 and 64:
“The biggest suffering for any pr
Page 65 and 66:
Majid Mokhtar Sasy al-Maghrebi Maji
Page 67 and 68:
him in Pashto, they spoke to him in
Page 69 and 70:
Loud music was blaring constantly.
Page 71 and 72:
On various occasions while detained
Page 73 and 74:
he was in Karachi, Pakistan. After
Page 75 and 76:
faces. He said he saw from the eyeh
Page 77 and 78:
His interrogators would come to him
Page 79 and 80: He again went on hunger strike, ask
Page 81 and 82: Di’iki was detained in solitary c
Page 83 and 84: Mustafa Salim Ali el-Madaghi Mustaf
Page 85 and 86: took photos of him; put him in diap
Page 87 and 88: flight plan to go into Nouakchott,
Page 89 and 90: Mehdi said he first went to Saudi A
Page 91 and 92: Pakistanis responded in Pashto. He
Page 93 and 94: There were about 12 interpreters, p
Page 95 and 96: know what’s going to happen to yo
Page 97 and 98: Departure from Libya Belhadj was bo
Page 99 and 100: ‘This is it.’ I thought I would
Page 101 and 102: information with you [Libyan securi
Page 103 and 104: equests for information from Abu
Page 105 and 106: subsequently was able to receive vi
Page 107 and 108: Sami Mostefa al-Saadi © 2012 Human
Page 109 and 110: making harsh statements against the
Page 111 and 112: denied permission for the Libyan ai
Page 113 and 114: Saadi said he was held without char
Page 115 and 116: complicity in his transfer back to
Page 117 and 118: Abu Farsan spent the next decade at
Page 119 and 120: They noted in the fax that they und
Page 121 and 122: On June 7, 2006, Abu Farsan was tra
Page 123 and 124: Safrani in Afghanistan, said that t
Page 125 and 126: V. The Case of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Lib
Page 127 and 128: In late 2001, Pakistani authorities
Page 129: 2004, al-Libi recanted the informat
Page 133 and 134: It is not clear when Ibn al-Sheikh
Page 135 and 136: Mostafa al-Mehdi (see above) saw al
Page 137 and 138: VI. Detainees Rendered From Other A
Page 139 and 140: appointed a lawyer who he said did
Page 141 and 142: In early 2008 he was charged with b
Page 143 and 144: government. After 1992, when the go
Page 145 and 146: governments during the Gaddafi gove
Page 147 and 148: conflict or emergency, may “opt o
Page 149 and 150: them to Libya in violation of their
Page 151 and 152: each country to which the agency de
Page 153 and 154: shelving the Gibson Inquiry and wou
Page 155 and 156: To the US Congress • Create an in
Page 157 and 158: To the Government of the Netherland
Page 159 and 160: Acknowledgments This report was wri
Page 164: Recreation of Document 2144 SUBJECT
Page 174: Translation of Documents 2164-65 Al
Page 215:
Delivered Into Enemy Hands US-Led A
show all

Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?