Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

After one week in Islamabad, both said they were stripped, blindfolded, handcuffed, and
their legs shackled. 126 Their captors also put ear plugs in their ears and hoods over their
heads. 127 Shoroeiya said that they did some additional things to him, but they were things
he could not describe to a female Human Rights Watch researcher. 128 Before being stripped,
Sharif mentioned that they examined his mouth, ears, and eyes. The two said they were
then taken on a vehicle, and then boarded onto a plane.
They flew for about half an hour to a location they believe was inside Afghanistan. Sharif
said that after they disembarked, the detainees were thrown into the back of trucks. Sharif
believed he was brought to a hangar-type facility near Kabul airport. 129 Shoroeiya also said
he was in a hangar-type facility and believed it was in or near Bagram Air Base, which is
about 40 kilometers north of Kabul airport. 130 Neither was sure of their locations but both
said they knew they were in Afghanistan because of the time it took to fly to the location
and the fact that the guards were dressed in traditional Afghan clothing when they first
arrived, occasionally spoke to them in Dari (the local Afghan language), and served them
Afghan food. Both knew they were detained in the same location because although they
never saw each other, occasionally they were able to talk to one another over the loud
music that played constantly. 131
126 Human Rights Watch interviews with Sharif, March 14, 2012; and Shoroeiya, March 18, 2012.
127 Ibid.
128 Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya, Abu Salim Prison, Tripoli, April 27, 2009.
129 Sharif thought this because, despite the constant music, he said he could at times hear airplanes landing and taking off,
and they landed somewhere near where the men were detained when they arrived from Islamabad.
130 Shoroeiya based this determination on rumors he heard about a secret CIA “black site” in Bagram before he was arrested
by US and Pakistani authorities in Peshawar; the time it took him to travel to this location from Islamabad; and one nonverbal
exchange he had with an Afghan guard. He asked the guard if he was in Bagram and the guard, though he could not
speak to Shoroeiya, returned an expression and a smile that Shoroeiya took to mean confirmation of that fact. Shoroeiya’s
hypothesis was shared by other prisoners at the facility. Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, a former Yemeni detainee who
appears to have been held at the same facility and who knew the two Libyans by the aliases they were using at the time
(“Hazem” for Sharif and “Raba’i” for Shoroeiya), recalls hearing other prisoners also guessing that the prison was part of
Bagram Air Base. Bashmilah’s descriptions of the facility in Afghanistan and of the treatment he received there are strikingly
similar to those offered by Shoroeiya, Sharif, and others interviewed for this report. Like Shoroeiya and Sharif, Bashmilah
was also later moved to a second facility where he remained until May 5, 2005. See Bashmilah Declaration,
http://www.chrgj.org/projects/docs/declarationofbashmilah.pdf, (accessed August 27, 2012), para. 84-92.
131 Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya, March 18, 2012.
37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012