A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez,
airing on over 650 stations, pioneering the largest community media
collaboration in the U.S.
* Donate </get_involved/donate>
* Store <http://www.democracynow.org/store>
* Stations <http://www.democracynow.org/stations>
* Past Shows <http://www.democracynow.org/shows>
* Features </features>
* Get Involved <http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved>
* Blog <http://www.democracynow.org/blog>
* Español <http://www.democracynow.org/es>
* About <http://www.democracynow.org/about>
(Download 63-page pdf)
<http://www.chrgj.org/projects/docs/survivingthedarkness.pdf>
* More documents relating to Bashmilah's case
<http://www.chrgj.org/#testimony>
* Salon's article: Inside the CIA's notorious "black sites"
<http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/14/bashmilah>
of the CIA rendition program-kidnapped, held in secret jails and
tortured-speaks out in his own words. His name is Mohamed Farag Ahmad
Bashmilah, one of hundreds of men to have passed through the CIA's
so-called "black sites." Today, he tells his story.
2003 to arrange surgery for his ailing mother. He was living in
Indonesia at the time. Jordanian authorities took him into custody
shortly after seizing his passport. There, he says he was tortured,
threatened and forced to sign a false confession. He was turned over to
the CIA within days and flown to a secret prison he later found out was
in Kabul, Afghanistan.
interrogated, shackled, force-fed, subjected to sleep deprivation and
loud music for days. He attempted suicide at least three times. He talks
about his interrogators and the American psychiatrists or psychologists
who also played a role.
abetting his kidnapping. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing
Jeppesen Dataplan on behalf of Mohamed and four other victims of CIA
kidnapping and torture. The lawsuit accuses Jeppesen of providing direct
logistical support for the CIA flights.
Yemen, in his first broadcast interview. We're going to play that
interview in a moment, but first I want to turn to Meg Satterthwaite.
She is director of the International Human Rights Clinic at New York
University Law School. She's Mohamed Bashmilah's attorney, joining us
from Washington, D.C. Welcome to /Democracy Now!/, Meg Satterthwaite.
describes happened to him.
story is so important is that he is one of a very small number of
individuals to have actually come out of the so-called "high-value
detainee" program. This is a program that targeted individuals who were
suspected of being quote/unquote "high-level al-Qaeda" members or had
associations with such members. Mohamed is one of very few people who
was later released from that program, rather than being sent to
Guantanamo. And for that reason, he is able to tell about some of the
black sites that, really, we haven't heard much about from any
perspective outside of the US government perspective.
being-
says, at the behest of the Americans.
any way. In fact, he still doesn't know to this day why the Americans
picked him up and why they requested his transfer from Jordan. He was
charged finally by the Yemeni government. When he was transferred to
Yemen, the Yemeni government has said that they were told to hold him on
behalf of the US government. They later received a file from the US
government, and essentially they felt that they didn't have any evidence
that he was a terrorist, so they interviewed him and they found that he
admitted to using a false identity document at one point when he was in
Indonesia, and they charged him with forgery. They then sentenced him to
time served, and they counted the time that he spent in secret prisons
abroad.
representing suing this Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen?
American Civil Liberties Union, is a suit that challenges corporate
complicity in the rendition and secret detention program. And the point
here is to show and to try to stop the complicity of regular
corporations in the secret detention and forced disappearance program.
International Human Rights Clinic at New York University Law School. And
what is the Boeing subsidiary's response-Jeppesen?
defendant, Jeppesen, in this case. What has happened instead is that the
US government has made a motion to intervene, and they've also at the
same time made a motion to dismiss the lawsuit or to get a summary
judgment granted in their favor on the basis of the state secrets
doctrine. So the idea is the US government needs to come in and say,
"Wait, we can't forward with this case. We can't even go forward to have
a response from the defendant, because the issues in the case are so
linked to national security that the entire case must be dismissed on
the basis of state secrets."
going to turn now to the interview that I did with Mohamed Bashmilah.
Fuad Yahya provided the translation. I spoke to Mohamed at his home in
Yemen. He began by talking about his initial capture in Jordan before he
was turned over to the CIA.
six days, but what I endured there is worth years. They took me
there, and in the evening they started their interrogations
process. They started putting some psychological pressure on me.
They wanted me to confess to having some connections to some
individuals of al-Qaeda. They tried several times to get me to
confess, and every time I said no, I would get either a kick, a
slap or a curse. Then they said that if I did not confess, they
will bring my wife and rape her in front of me. And out of fear
for what would happen to my family, I screamed and I fainted.
After I came to, I told them that, "Please, don't do anything to
my family. I would cooperate with you in any way you want."
*AMY GOODMAN: *CIA torture and rendition victim, Mohamed Farag Ahmad
Bashmilah. He was speaking to me yesterday from his home in Yemen. We'll
come back to this interview in a moment.
with CIA torture and rendition victim, Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah. I
spoke to him at his home in Yemen late yesterday and asked him to talk
about his transfer to CIA custody after his detention in Jordan.
in the morning out of the detention facility. I was told that I
was being released. I was cautiously optimistic, because how could
someone be released at 1:30 in the morning?
belongings consisted of my passport, $200, an ID card and my
wedding ring. I signed receipt of these items, but they were not
given to me. They were put inside an envelope. In addition, they
put also the paper that I had signed, the confession, which was
essentially a false confession.
being taken and where is my family? At that time, my heart was in
distress. I felt there was something wrong, there was some kind of
a conspiracy regarding my fate.
would speak to the interrogator, and I saw another man who had a
Western look. He was white and somewhat overweight and had dark
glasses on. I realized then that they were probably handing me
over to some other agency, because during the interrogations I had
with the Jordanians, one of the threats was that if I did not
confess, they will hand me over to American intelligence. At that
time, I did not take that threat seriously, because they had
threatened me before that they would rape my wife, so I thought
this was just psychological pressure. But at this moment, I
realized I was being handed over to some other parties.
vehicle started to move, so I realized if the vehicle turned left
and then turned right, that would mean that I was being taken to
the airport, and that could mean that I would be handed over to
some other parties. On the other hand, if the vehicle turned left
and then turned left again, then that would mean that we were
going to the city center, and that could mean that I was being
released. I could not see or hear, but I could feel the movement,
and the vehicle went into the direction toward the airport. I
became increasingly afraid, increasingly worried, because I was
being handed over to some other parties, and I didn't understand why.
without any precautions or anything, I felt that I was being
pulled violently by some other people. They took me to another
room. They started tearing down my clothes, from above all the way
down. And I was being stripped completely naked. They started
taking pictures from all directions. And they also started to beat
me on my sides and also my feet. And then they put me in a
position similar to the position of prostration in Muslim prayer,
which is similar to the fetal position. And in that position, one
of them inserted his finger in my anus very violently. I was in
terrible pain, and I started to scream. When they started taking
pictures, I could see that they were people who were masked. They
were dressed in black from head to toe, and they were also wearing
surgical gloves.
and that consisted of putting a diaper on me. And then they put
pants, which went down to below the knee, and a top with the
sleeve to the middle of the forearm. And then, they also put some
gauze on my eyes. And then they put what looked like headphones on
my ears-sorry, these were not headphones; they were like little
plugs inside the ears, plastic. And then they put gauze on that,
on the ears. And then they taped that with very strong adhesive
tape. And then they put a hood over my head. And then, on top of
that, they put a headphone. This is as far as the top of my body
was. And then they handcuffed me with a chain, and also they
chained my ankles. Then they put a belt above the pants, and then
they tied the hands and the ankles to that belt. This was after
being slapped and kicked until I almost fainted.
on the floor of the airplane. Then they strapped my legs at my
chest so that I wouldn't move right or left. The aircraft flew for
about two-and-a-half to three hours. And I was in such a terrible
psychological state, only God could determine. There was a lot of
physical pain because of what I had endured, and also all the
thoughts regarding what might happen to my wife and my mother.
This is knowing that my mother was seriously ill, and my wife
could not speak Arabic very well so she could be of much help to
my mother. And so, throughout this flight, I was in some kind of a
coma, and I would come to and I would faint and come to. And so,
during those times when I was thinking of my wife and mother, I
would be distracted from the pain, and then the pain would
distract me from the thoughts to my wife and mother.
[inaudible], and they handled me very roughly. They took me to a
detention center. I was in a very poor psychological state. Then
they took me to a room where they took my weight, and they
examined my eyes and my ears. Then they put me in a solitary cell.
not beaten. They did not seem to have anything that indicated that
I should be treated that way. In addition to that, they could see
that I was in a terrible psychological state. It did not make any
sense to pressure me in interrogations.
of my mother and my wife. Also, I was thinking what they were
thinking-why would they take me from one detention center to
another? And I remained in this cell for three months, during
which I had no relief at all, despite the fact that they brought a
number of psychiatrists, in addition to the general practice
physician there.
Jordanians had told me, that they would hand me to American
intelligence, in addition to the interrogators in this place who
came to see me with interpreters, I realized quite certainly that
I was being held by American intelligence.
interrogators would come to me and interrogate me in the
interrogation room, and they would tell me, "You should calm down
and be comforted, because we'll send all this information to
Washington." And they would say that in Washington, they will
determine whether my answers are truthful or not.
*AMY GOODMAN: *Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, speaking to us from Yemen,
CIA torture and rendition victim. We'll come back to this conversation
with him in a minute.
Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, the CIA torture and rendition victim. In the
previous excerpt, he described his ordeal while he was sent to the
secret CIA prison in Afghanistan. I asked him to talk about the
conditions at that prison.
was totally dark. It was as if you were inside a tomb. Then, after
that, they would turn a light on. Above the door, there was a
camera. And there was constant loud music.
music, and it was very noisy.
switched to Arabic music.
so that you could not hear what happens in the other cells when
the doors opened and closed.
people very clearly, because sometimes there would be power
outage, and during that time the music would stop and you could
hear the other people.
hear a call for prayer, and sometimes I hear them conversing about
this new person who has just arrived, and that's me, because I
didn't talk. So I would hear them once in a while.
interrogators speaking?
speak a single word, but the interrogators spoke in English, and
they had interpreters with them.
months in this cell, I tried hurting myself three times, because I
could not take it in that place, because I had not done nothing
wrong.
trying to fashion a rope to hang myself. I tied it to the window
that was opposite to the door, where the sound of music would
come. I think they saw me through the camera, so the guards came
and stopped me.
giving to me every day. I kept a number of these pills, about
twenty, and then I dissolved them in a cup of water. But it just
happened that at that time, the guards came, and it was just the
wrong time.
metal that I had. But this piece of metal was not sharp enough, so
I injured myself, but the wound was not deep enough.
having the psychiatrists see me. And what these psychiatrists did
was just give me the opportunity to speak and express myself. And
the therapy mainly consisted of trying to look at my thoughts and
try to interpret them for me, and in addition to some
tranquilizers whenever they thought I needed some.
wall. And then what happened was, they brought me a helmet,
similar to what people wear when they play golf. So all of my
attempts were unsuccessful.
that I had not done anything that would call for being transferred
from one prison to another and to endure such suffering. In
addition to that, knowing that my mother was seriously ill, and
she and my wife were in a foreign country-imagine any mother
having her son snatched away from her and taken away, even for
just one week. Imagine what this person would suffer and how the
mother would suffer also. This made me want to have nothing to do
with life anymore.
I was questioned about the places where I had been detained,
which, of course, I didn't know. There was no need to torture me
or even ask me about anything else in terms of violations of the
law or anything. My detention in Yemen, as far as I could
determine from what was written in the press, was at the behest of
the Americans.
indescribable. I could not believe that I was going to be
released. As much as I was happy to be released and to be reunited
with my wife and mother, I was also worried about what my wife and
mother had endured during my absence. I did not tell them what I
had suffered in Jordan or elsewhere.
American people are helpless during the administration of George
Bush. When I was in detention, I would speak to the interrogators,
and I told them that the policies of George Bush was wrong,
especially sending American people to areas where they don't
belong. And I told them that it seems that the policy consisted of
addressing wrongs with wrongs. I didn't know that one day when I
would be released, I would find out that there are American
victims of this policy, as well.
with anything. This is what I have found. I was handed to Yemen,
and they asked them to detain me.
charges against me.
from Jordan to the time you were released?
my family or any human rights organization or the Red Cross or any
agency, other than my interrogators, the doctors and the
psychiatrists.
wished they did.
were ten months in Yemen in jail?
half of being in Yemen, I was able to communicate with my family.
at the behest of the US authorities.
held at places like Guantanamo or the same prisons you were held
in, who remain there?
prisoners in all places that one day truth and justice will
prevail. They want to be released, but their jailers want to keep
them, and God has a plan for them.
to tell us your story.
is my duty to sit here and express what has happened to me and
also to hope that no one else will endure the same.
imprisoned at black sites run by the CIA. I spoke to him at his home in
Yemen, telling his story for the first time in a broadcast interview. He
was translated by Fuad Yahya.
Washington, D.C. You have brought a suit on his behalf. You are not,
though, suing the US government. You are suing Jeppesen for being part
of extraordinary rendition, is that right, Meg?
the suit was actually brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, and
I'm co-counsel in the case, representing Mohamed Bashmilah. The case is
against Jeppesen Dataplan for its complicity and essentially for
enabling some of the flights that were used to take individuals into the
rendition and secret detention program. This is a program that could not
exist without corporate complicity. Jeppesen is a crucial example here.
The CIA used purportedly civilian planes to avoid certain procedures
that they normally would need to use if they used, for example, military
planes or official government planes. So the corporate complicity is
actually a crucial part of the CIA program.
the government?
the government for the rendition and secret detention program. The most
recent one that viewers and listeners may be familiar with is the case
of Khaled el-Masri, also a suit brought by the ACLU. In that suit, the
suit was dismissed on the basis of the state secrets doctrine,
essentially for the reason that-the CIA and the US government was able
to forward the argument that the case was so sensitive it should be
dismissed, because it had to do with state secrets.
the program's existence, the President and other high officials have
given lots of details about the program when it suited them, so it can't
be that the very basis and fact of the program is still a state secret.
It cannot be that that is enough to get rid of a lawsuit about basic
human rights and the violation of those basic human rights.
videotaped?
video cameras in his cells and also in interrogation rooms. I would like
to know, of course, if my client was videotaped. We have filed a Freedom
of Information Act request seeking all records, which would include
videotapes, if they existed, or transcripts. And all we've gotten from
the CIA is the claim that they can neither confirm nor deny having any
records of my client.
director of the International Human Rights Clinic at New York University
Law School.
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/> The original
content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/>. Please attribute
legal copies of this work to "democracynow.org". Some of the work(s)
that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For
further information or additional permissions, contact us
</about/contact?to=9#sendmessage>.
<http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/18/headlines> | Next Story "
* Home <http://www.democracynow.org/>
* Donate </get_involved/donate>
* Store <http://www.democracynow.org/store>
* Stations <http://www.democracynow.org/stations>
* Past Shows <http://www.democracynow.org/shows>
* Features </features>
* Get Involved <http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved>
* Blog <http://www.democracynow.org/blog>
* Español <http://www.democracynow.org/es>
* About <http://www.democracynow.org/about>