Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

links between Iraq and al Qaeda. On February 4 and 5, 2004, CIA officers sent cables to
headquarters acknowledging that al-Libi’s account from 2002 was not reliable. 411
Reports vary as to where al-Libi was detained after his return to US custody following his
time in Egypt. His brother and nephew in Libya said they mapped out his trajectory using a
combination of information they got from him during family visits they had with him while
he was detained in Libya as well as information from others with whom he was detained.
They believe al-Libi was subsequently taken to a prison in the Panjshir Valley north of
Kabul from June 2003 to October 2003, then Kabul again, Morocco for about a year,
Guantanamo for three to five months, Alaska, 412 a US air base in Sweden, 413 and finally to
Libya. Prisoners who were held with al-Libi told Human Rights Watch that he told them he
was detained at each of these locations, 414 except some do not include Guantanamo or
Sweden 415 and others add additional places, like Syria, 416 a warship, 417 and Poland or a
European country for which they could not remember the name. 418 The amounts of time
they say al-Libi spent in these locations vary, and they are less certain about this information.
Human Rights Watch could not independently confirm this information.
“darkness prison” in Kabul, then Egypt, then to Bagram. He described the “darkness prison” as being so dark he could not
see anything. He had only a bucket to use as a toilet and there was loud music playing all the time. These conditions are very
similar to what Shoroeiya and Sharif describe (see above) and both reported talking to Sheikh al-Libi during their time in
detention at this location. Human Rights Watch interview with Abdullah Mohammed Omar al-Tawaty, March 21, 2012.
411 SSCI Sept. 8, 2006 Report, p 79-83; See also Mayer, The Dark Side, p. 138; and Michael Isikoff, “The Missing Terrorist,”
The Daily Beast, May 27, 2007, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/05/27/the-missing-terrorist.html (accessed
May 25, 2012).
412 Some speculate that al-Libi was told he was in Alaska but that he was actually in a secret CIA site in Poland, another cold
location. See Larry Siems, The Torture Report (New York and London: OR Books, 2011), p. 401. Either way, he told a lot of
other prisoners, including Bousidra, Tawaty, Othman, Shoroieya, and his family that he was in Alaska (he apparently told his
mother that he was in a prison in North America that was an “icy desert”).
413 There have been allegations of forced repatriations from Sweden at the request of the CIA; See Agiza v. Sweden,
Communication No. 233/2003, U.N. Doc. CAT/C/34/D/233/2003 (2005),
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/decisions/233-2003.html (accessed August 29, 2012). However, Human Rights Watch
could not confirm any information about the US facility in Sweden to which a l-Libi’s relatives believe he was taken.
414 Mohammed Bousidra, Abdullah Tawaty, Shoroeiya, and Othman Salah all said al-Libi told them he was detained in these
locations.
415 Neither Shoroeiya nor Abdullah Tawaty mention Guantanamo or Sweden. Othman Salah mentioned Guantanamo but did
not mention Sweden.
416 Mohammed Bousidra also said al-Libi told him he was held in Syria but was not sure if it was before or after Egypt. He
said al-Libi told him he was stripped naked there and handcuffed from behind and hung up by his hands from behind.
417 Mohammed Bousidra said al-Libi told him he was held on a warship.
418 Shoroeiya said al-Libi told him he was detained in Poland. Abdullah Tawaty and Bousidra both said al-Libi told them he
was detained in a European country, but they did not remember which one.
127 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012