Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

nose so I had the feeling that I was drowning. I couldn’t breathe.… I tried to
turn my head left and right as much as I could to take in some gulps of
breath. I felt as if I was suffocating. 177
When asked how often this happened, he said he could not be sure about the number of
times or how long the sessions lasted:
“I really can’t be sure about the numbers. I spent three months getting interrogated
heavily during the first period and they gave me a different type
of torture every day. Sometimes they used water, sometimes not.… Sometimes
they stripped me naked and sometimes they left me clothed.” 178
Sharif said a male doctor was present during the sessions with water. He could feel him
putting his hands on his upper arms while he was undergoing this treatment, as if he were
measuring his body temperature. He would then tell others in the room to either continue
with the treatment or stop. 179 Sharif also said that the cast he had on his leg due to his
broken foot became soft as a result of this water treatment, so the doctor put another type
of cast on him that had three sides that could be removed. They would take off his leg cast
before the sessions with water and then put it back on afterwards, binding it with mesh. 180
Wooden Box
Shoroeiya described the use of a small wooden box, about 1 x 1 meter in size, with a lock
on it and small holes on the sides. A number of times his American interrogators would
threaten to lock him in the box. He said that he was only actually put in there on one
occasion which lasted for an hour or more. 181 While in the box, they prodded him with long
thin objects through the holes on the side of the box. 182
177Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Sharif, May 24, 2012.
178 Ibid.
179 Sharif understands some English.
180 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Sharif, May 24, 2012.
181 The use of “cramped confinement” was another technique on the list of EITs the CIA requested permission to use and that
the Department of Justice approved on August 1, 2002. The CIA’s request to use this technique described it in the following
manner: “The subject is placed in a confined space, typically a small or large box, which is usually dark. Confinement in the
smaller space lasts no more than two hours and in the larger space up to 18 hours.” See DOJ OPR Report, July 29, 2009, p. 35-
36. See also “Memorandum for John Rizzo,” p. 13-15, 18, approving the technique for Zubaydah,
51 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012