American Torturers-FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantanamo

• Locations: United States of America • Topics: Torture Victims Act, Torture Victims

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Seton Hall University School of Law

Center for Policy and Research

American Torturers
FBI and CIA Abuses at
Dark Sites and Guantanamo
MARK DENBEAUX
Professor, Seton Hall University School of Law
Director, Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research
Counsel for Guantanamo Detainees

DR. JESS GHANNAM
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences,
University of California, San Francisco

Drawings & Descriptions of Torture by

ABU ZUBAYDAH
(Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, ISN 10016)

CONTRIBUTORS
Asma Alqudah '20, Andrew Broome '21, Brenden Brower '21,Austin Burnett '2 1, Veronica Chmiel '21,
Leighton Cohen '21, Darius K. Dehnad '23, Louis Dodge '21, Robert Garcia '21, Melanie Laprade '21,
Joseph Mendonsa '21, Hana Jeong Pak '22, Kamille Perry '21, Chelsea Thomas '21, Niki Waters '20

Seton Hall University School of Law

Center for Policy and Research

One Newark Center, Room 426, Newark, NJ 07102

ABSTRACT
Despite the efforts of the federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency,
to conceal evidence of the actual operation of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” (“EITs”) it
deployed on detainees in dark sites and at Guantanamo, a steady drumbeat of disclosures has
provided an unparalleled view into this disgraceful episode in the nation’s history. One of the most
dramatic revelations has been the drawings by Detainee Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn aka
Abu Zubaydah (hereinafter “Mr. Abu Zubaydah”), the first victim of such EITs. These drawings
viscerally convey the brutal reality the CIA sought to hide with its calculated destruction of video
recordings of torture conducted by its agents. These drawings also depict the kinds of torture -- in
which the FBI was also complicit -- inflicted on the artist and his fellow detainees. These tortures
are, if possible, all the more disturbing as to Mr. Abu Zubaydah himself because even the
torturers—CIA and FBI – now recognize that his was a case of mistaken identity. Nevertheless,
he remains in detention – albeit uncharged – until this day. His drawings dovetail with the recent
accounts of Dr. James Mitchell, a chief architect of the torture regime, who both wrote a book on
EITs and testified in hearings on Guantanamo. These sources, together with the report of the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, provide the most complete – and compelling – account to date
of America’s torture program.
This Report is an amalgam of the work of many individuals but special credit must be
accorded Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s artistic renderings of the mistreatment he and other detainees
received. All 40 of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings and descriptions of torture are found in the
report, and included in the Appendix. Questions regarding the Report may be addressed to
Professor Emeritus Mark P. Denbeaux at Mark.Denbeaux@shu.edu.

DEDICATION
This paper is dedicated to victims of torture – past and present – especially those who have
been subject to inhumane torture in black sites across the globe operated by the Central Intelligence
Agency (“CIA”), and at Guantanamo Bay, where many have been held, indefinitely, with no
charges or trial.
Mr. Abu Zubaydah was not the only individual tortured--he was only the first among many.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (hereinafter “SSCI”) Report, published in 2014,
identified at least 119 individuals who were detained by the CIA as part of its torture program in
CIA black sites. This figure is likely a lower estimate of torture victims as some were held in
facilities operated by foreign intelligence services or in U.S. military custody, where CIA still had
access to those individuals. Importantly, of the 119, there are 14, including Mr. Abu Zubaydah,
who were brought to Guantanamo in September 2006. Called “High Value Detainees” (“HVDs”)
because of their torture by the CIA, these 14 remain detained in Guantanamo without trials. In fact,
some have not been, and will never be, charged with a crime. They are forever prisoners.
In this Dedication, the 119 identified torture victims are named first and the High Value
detainees who were tortured and were brought to Guantanamo in September 2006 where they
remain today are listed separately.

The 119 Identified Detainees
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.

Abu Zubaydah
Ridha Ahmad Najar, aka Najjar
Rafiq bin Bashir bin Halul al-Hami
Tawfiq Nasir Awad al Bihani
Lutfi al-Arabi al-Gharisi
Dr. Hikmat Shaukat
Gul Rahman
Ghulam Rabbani aka Abu Badr
Abdelrahim Hussein Abdul Nashiri
Ghairat Bahir
Ramzi Mohammed bin al-Shibh
Muhammad Umar 'Abd al-Rahman, aka Asadallah
Abu Khalid
Khaled Shaik Mohammad
Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi
Abu Yasir al-Jaza'iri
Suleiman Abdullah
Abu Hazim, aka Abu Hazim al-Libi
AI-Shara'iya, aka Abd al-Karim
Ammar al-Baluchi
Walid bin Attash
Laid Ben Dohman Saidi, aka Abu Hudhaifa
Majid Khan
Mohd Farik bin Amin, aka Abu Zubair
Samr Mimi Abdul Latif al-Barq
Bashir bin Lap, aka Lillie
Riduan bin Isomuddin, aka Hambali
Majid Bin Muhammad Bin Sulayman Khayil, aka Arsala Khan
Adnan al-Libi
Hassan Ghul
Muhammad Qurban Sayyid Ibrahim
Abu Bahar al-Turki
Abu Talha al-Magrebi
Janat Gul
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
Sharif al-Masri
Abu Faraj al-Libi
Abu Ja'far al-Iraqi
Muhammad Rahim
Zakariya
Jamal Eldin Boudraa
Abbar al-Hawari, aka Abu Sufiyan
Hassan Muhammad Abu Bakr Qa'id
Ayub Marshid Ali Salih
Bashir Nasir Ali al-Marwalah
Ha'il Aziz Ahmad al-Mithali
Hassan bin Attash
Musab Umar Ali al-Mudwani
Said Saleh Said, aka Said Salih Said
Shawqi Awad
Umar Faruq aka Abu al-Faruq al-Kuwaiti
Abd al-Salam al-Hilah
Karim, aka Asat Sar Jan
Akbar Zakaria, aka Zakaria Zeineddin
Yaqub al-Baluchi aka Abu Talha
Abd al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani
Haji Ghalgi
Nazar Ali
Juma Gul
Wafti bin Ali aka Abdullah

61. Adel
62. Qari Mohib Ur Rehman
63. Shah Wali Khan
64. Hayatullah Haqqani
65. Bisher al-Rawi
66. Jamil el-Banna, aka Abu Anas
67. Pacha Wazir
68. Muhammad Amein Al-Bakri
69. Abdullah Midhat Mursi
70. Ibn Shaykh al-Libi
71. Hamid Aich
72. Sayed Habib
73. Muhammad Khan (son of Suhbat)
74. Ibrahim Haqqani
75. Mohammad Dinshah
76. Muhammad Jafar Jamal al-Qahtani
77. Abu Nasim al-Tunisi
78. Zarmein
79. Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul
80. Adel Abu Redwan Ben Hamlili
81. Shaistah Habibullah Khan
82. Ali Jan
83. Muhammad Khan (son of Amir)
84. Modin Nik Muhammad
85. Abdullah Ashami
86. Sanad 'Ali Yislam al-Kazimi
87. Salah Nasir Salim Ali, aka Muhsin
88. Abd Qudra Allah Mala Azrat al-Hadi
89. Bismullah
90. Sa'id Allam
91. Sa'ida Gul
92. Shah Khan Wali
93. Yahya, aka Rugollah
94. Zakariya 'abd al-Rauf
95. Zamarai Nur Muhammad Juma Khan
96. Abdullah Salim al-Qahtani
97. Awwad Sabhan al-Shammari
98. Noor Jalal
99. Aso Hawleri
100. Mohd al-Shomaila
101. Ali Saeed Awadh
102. Muhammad Abdullah Saleh
103. Riyadh the Facilitator
104. Abu Abdallah al-Zulaytini
105. Binyam Ahmed Mohamed
106. Firas al-Yemeni
107. Khalid 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Masri
108. Saud Memon
109. Gul Rahman (2)
110. Hassan Ahmed Guleed
111. Abu 'Abdallah
112. Abd al-Bari al-Filistini
113. Ayyub al-Libi
114. Marwan al-Jabbur
115. Qattal al-Uzbeki
116. Abdi Rashid Samatar
117. Abu Munthir al-Magrebi
118. Ibrahim Jan
119. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi

The 14 High Value Detainees (HVDs)
Mr. Abu Zubaydah and 13 other individuals who were brought to Guantanamo in
September 2006 were subjected to cruel physical and psychological torture in various CIA black
sites prior to their indefinite confinement in Guantanamo. While this paper mainly documents the
gruesome torture of the CIA’s first formal prisoner, Mr. Abu Zubaydah (ISN 10016), the torture
he suffered was just the beginning, and perhaps not the worst. The 13 other victims of torture, in
addition to Mr. Abu Zubaydah, are:
Ramzi Mohammed bin al-Shibh (ISN 10013)
Abdelrahim Hussein Abdul Nashiri (ISN 10015)
Mustafha Ahmad Al Hawsawi (ISN 10011)
Khaled Shaik Mohammed (ISN 10024)
Majid Khan (ISN 10020)
Ali Abdul Aziz Mohammed (ISN 10018)
Walid bin Attash (ISN 10014)
Mohammed Farik Bin Amin (ISN 10021)
Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (ISN 10022)
Encep Nuraman (aka Hambali) (ISN 10019)
Haned Hassan Ahmad Guleed (ISN 10023)
Ahmed Khalafan Ghailani (ISN 10012)
Mustafah Faraj Al-Azibi (ISN 10017)

INTRODUCTION

Prior to this publication, the Center for Policy and Research issued a report detailing the
ten torture techniques that the U.S. government authorized for use in its “enhanced interrogation
techniques” program—more aptly referred herein as “America’s torture program.” 1 That report,
How America Tortures, describes those techniques as they were approved but more importantly,
as they were applied. 2 Unsurprisingly, those responsible for implementing the program deviated
from what was initially envisioned in the now infamous Bybee Memorandum. 3 Those deviations
transformed the program from the merely indefensible to the almost unimaginable. Despite
systematic CIA efforts to destroy all video evidence of this crime, a first-hand account of
American’s torture program survived in the mind of its first victim—Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad
Husayn—and inevitably in the minds of all others subjected to the same torture program.
Through his original illustrations and accompanying descriptions published in this report,
Mr. Abu Zubaydah memorializes his experience and the experiences of other Guantanamo
(“GTMO”) prisoners. His illustrations—the last surviving visual representations of America’s
torture program—bring to life what the CIA and FBI hoped to keep buried. Expanding on the
foundation laid in How America Tortures, this report shows how the torturers tortured and just
how far they strayed from the techniques that were officially authorized.
The historical significance of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s illustrations in documenting the torture
of GTMO prisoners cannot be overstated. As the CIA’s first victim, Mr. Abu Zubaydah serves as
the premiere witness for the implementation of both the approved and unapproved torture
techniques. His detailed, disturbing recollection of the trauma he endured as the first victim is
remarkably and unmistakably authentic. In fact, Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s depictions are so realistic that
the faces of his abusers have been redacted to protect their identity. In almost every drawing, a
black box replaces the face of one or more of those responsible for the repeated and unrelenting
torture of Mr. Abu Zubaydah and the other GTMO prisoners.
The redactions of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings are not the first attempt to conceal the
evidence surrounding his years spent in CIA and FBI custody. As this report will detail, Abu
Zubaydah spent his time in CIA and FBI custody viciously beaten, repeatedly drowned, and
endlessly abused. In several drawings, Mr. Abu Zubaydah prominently places multiple video
cameras recording this violence. Regrettably, the tapes from those cameras no longer exist, and
other drawings representing this torture were never declassified. The events contained within those
tapes are so horrific that the CIA intentionally violated a federal court order by destroying all video

On August 1, 2002, a memo to John Rizzo from Jay Bybee approved the use of ten torture techniques: (1) the attention grasp, (2)
walling, (3) facial hold, (4) facial slap (insult slap), (5) cramped confinement, (6) wall standing, (7) stress positions, (8) sleep
deprivation, (9) insects placed in a confinement box, and (10) waterboarding. See Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General
Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Re: Interrogation
of al Qaeda Operative (Aug. 1, 2002), https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/legacy/2010/08/05/memo-bybee2002.pdf
[hereinafter “Bybee Memo”].
2
Denbeaux, Mark, et al., How America Tortures, Seton Hall University Center for Policy and Research (Dec. 2, 2019),
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3494533 [hereinafter “Mr. Abu Zubaydah Notes on Torture”].
3
Bybee Memo, supra note 1.

evidence of their commission. 4 Of the video evidence destroyed, there were at least ninety-two
tapes—ninety of which related to interrogations of Abu Zubaydah. 5
Despite the CIA’s various attempts to characterize the tapes and their contents as
inconsequential, the agency’s own records suggest otherwise. In 2003, the CIA’s Office of the
Inspector General initiated a special review of the torture program—including an examination of
the torture tapes prior to their destruction. After review, Inspector General John Helgerson
concluded the recordings were undeniably damning. The report stated that as a result of the CIA’s
“[u]nauthorized, improvised, inhumane, and undocumented detention and interrogation
techniques . . . [t]he Agency faces potentially serious long-term political and legal challenges . . .
particularly [in] its use of [enhanced interrogation techniques].” 6 Jose Rodriguez—the man who
ordered the tapes’ destruction—said it best when he stated, the “heat from destroying [the tapes] is
nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into public domain” and that “out of
context, they would make us look terrible; it would be ‘devastating’ to us.” 7
Due to the CIA’s extralegal destruction of the torture tapes, Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s
experience-based illustrations garner even more historical significance. No other Guantanamo
detainee has been permitted to release such a detailed portrayal of the specific tactics and routines
that the CIA used. As the “poster boy” and first test subject of the CIA torture program, Mr. Abu
Zubaydah’s narrative is all the more significant. With each deliberate pen stroke, Mr. Abu
Zubaydah sketches the stories of GTMO prisoners from the confines of his cell at Guantanamo
Bay. His drawings display the grizzly truth that the CIA, the FBI, and other members of the federal
government, understandably, wished the public would never see. Slowly those secrets are rising to
the surface. Through recent testimony, James Mitchell revealed some previously unknown details
about the torture program and its methodology. Fortunately, the omissions in Mitchell’s testimony
are captured by Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s paper and pen.
The following illustrations and their accompanying descriptions show the CIA’s and the
FBI’s unrelenting efforts to break the prisoners. Every waking minute of his life became another
opportunity for his torturers to practice their craft. He came to reside in a small box with only a
toilet; he was subjected to round the clock waterboarding, walling, and stress positions; in the few
moments he considered sleep, he was forcibly kept awake through beatings, loud noises, and the
fear of deadly insects inserted into his cell. He was sexually abused, religiously persecuted, and
continually chained. This report documents the life of the tortured, the confined, the abused—the
narrative that the CIA and FBI sought to prevent the public from ever learning.

ACLU v. Dept. of Defense, 339 F. Supp.2d 501, 502 (S.D.N.Y. June 2, 2004) (Judge Alan Hellerstein ordering the CIA to produce
or identify documents requested by the ACLU—which would have included the videotapes.)
5
ACLU v. Dept. of Defense, 827 F. Supp. 2d 217, 222 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 2011).
6
Id. at 224-25.
7
Id. at 226 (emphasis added).

II.

THE FBI’S INVOLVEMENT IN TORTURE

The public has been led to believe that the CIA was solely responsible for torturing
detainees, while the FBI’s hands remained clean of the dirty work. This could not be further from
the truth. The reality is that the FBI played a central and secret role from the beginning. In fact,
the FBI was involved from the first day when Abu Zubaydah was captured—both before and after
America’s first, and only, torture program was officially sanctioned by the Department of Justice.
(To be clear, the issue is not which agency is worse or deserves more blame—the issue is that both
the CIA and the FBI participated in the dehumanizing and violent torture of detainees.)
When Abu Zubaydah was first detained by the CIA in late March 2002, President Bush
approved his rendition from Pakistan to Detention Site Green, where he was questioned by special
agents of the FBI. 8 He informed the interrogators that he intended to cooperate and provided
background information on his activities before his medical condition deteriorated and was
apparently hospitalized the very evening he arrived at Detention Site Green. 9 As his medical
condition worsened, he was put on a breathing tube; however, he continued to communicate with
both CIA and FBI officials while at the hospital by using an alphabet chart during this time. 10
FBI agents remained with him while he was hospitalized and immediately debriefed him
after his breathing tube was removed on April 10, 2002. 11 During an FBI interrogation the same
day, Abu Zubaydah identified a man named Mukhtar as the “mastermind” of the FBI attacks and
identified “Mukhtar” in a picture. 12 The picture showed Khalid Sheykh Mohammad (KSM), whom
Abu Zubaydah reported was related to Ramzi Yousef, a man convicted and imprisoned in the
United States for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center attack. 13 Abu Zubaydah further
provided information on KSM’s background. He also provided information on al-Qaida, his past
travel to the United States, and general information on extremists in Pakistan. 14 Future
representations made by the CIA about the success of the agency’s Detention and Interrogation
program describe this intelligence, specifically that on KSM, as “vital” information, although a
review of CIA records found it merely corroborated information already available in CIA
databases. 15
What these representations demonstrate, however, is the close nature of the work done
between the FBI and the CIA during this early stage of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation. The CIA
credits information revealed to the FBI as being an example of the success of its own interrogation
program, when the two agencies seemingly had two distinct – and at times, adverse – interrogation
teams.

Report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and
Interrogation Program, S. Rep. No. 113-288 24 (2014) [hereafter “SSCI Report”].
9
Id. at 25.
10
Id.
11
Id.
12
Id.
13
Id.
14
Id.
15
Id. at 26.

Further, much of such information was collected prior to the CIA’s use of enhanced
interrogation techniques, yet the CIA represented that the information was acquired “as a result”
of their new torture program, using it as a pretext to continue the program. 16
While Abu Zubaydah was still hospitalized, the CIA “formally proposed that Abu
Zubaydah be kept in an all-white room that was lit 24 hours a day, that Abu Zubaydah not be
provided any amenities, that his sleep be disrupted, that loud noise be constantly fed into his cell,
and that only a small number of people interact with him,” 17 leading to a state of “learned
helplessness.” 18
On April 12, 2002, in an update on the Abu Zubaydah interrogation plans, the CIA planned
to ramp up their interrogation tactics and “[i]n accordance with the strategy, and with concurrence
from FBI Headquarters, the two on-site FBI agents will no longer directly participate in the
interview/debriefing session.” (CIA Sensitive Addendum “Update on the Abu Zubaydah
Operation,” dated 12 April 2002, “1630 Hours.”) Implicit in this statement is the fact that the FBI
had previously had a “presence” in the interview room, possibly even simultaneously with CIA
interrogations. This was the same day that DCI Tenet gave orders that the CIA would have sole
custody of Zubaydah. 19 The FBI special agents questioning Zubaydah at the hospital objected to
the CIA’s plans. The SSCI report does not indicate that CIA officers also remained with Abu
Zubaydah while he was hospitalized. At that time, Abu Zubaydah identified Khalid Shaykh
Mohammad (KSM) as the mastermind of the September 11 attack. 20
On April 13, 2002, while Abu Zubaydah was still hospitalized, the CIA implemented their
“new interrogation program” conducted by a CIA interrogator “coached by [a] psychological
team.” 21 In a meeting lasting only 11 minutes, the CIA interrogator advised Abu Zubaydah that he
had a most important secret that the interrogator needed to know.” 22 Abu Zubaydah nodded in
agreement, but ultimately feel asleep. 23 Though the FBI was barred from interrogating him, the
FBI officers they remained on site, sitting in the adjoining room. In a cable back to headquarters,
the FBI officers noted that they “spent the rest of the day in the adjoining room with the CIA
officer and one of the psychiatrists waiting for Abu Zubaydah to signal he was ready to talk.” 24
The officers had even “explained their rapport-building approaches to the CIA interrogation team
tried to explain that [they had] used this approach before on other Al-Qaeda members with much
success” 25 and “tried to politely suggest that valuable time was passing where we could attempt to
solicit threat information.” 26
On April 15, 2002, “Abu Zubaydah was sedated and moved from the hospital [back] to
Detention Site Green,” 27 awaking “surprised and disturbed by his new situation.” The next day, on
April 16, 2002, the interrogation strategy changed away from “total isolation as originally planned”
16

Id.
Id.
18
Id.
19
Id.
20
Id.
21
Id. at 27.
22
Id.
23
Id. at 27-28.
24
Id. at 28.
25
Id.
26
Id.
27
Id.
17

and towards a “24-hour interrogation strategy,” which allowed FBI officers to resume interrogating
Abu Zubaydah.20 The identities of these new interrogators were also masked to further prevent
Abu Zubaydah from identifying them, beginning in April 2002, resulting in even blurrier line
between FBI and CIA.21
The officers were to wear “all black uniforms, including boots, gloves, balaclavas, and
goggles.” 28 This was intended to prevent Abu Zubaydah “from seeing the security guards as
individuals who he may attempt to establish a relationship or dialogue with.” 29 During this time,
Abu Zubaydah was kept naked, in his cell, handcuffed, shackled, with loud music and noise
generators, and sleep deprived, to ensure that he was at his most vulnerable state. At this point,
when being stripped to nothing but a towel, 30 there was a blurred line between the CIA and the
FBI, such that they were synonymous as their torturers. It is likely that in the course of the
aggravated techniques used by the CIA that Abu Zubaydah lost any good faith rapport he may
have previously had with the FBI.
On April 17, 2002, FBI officials questioned him again. 31 An officer met with him for six
hours, during which time Abu Zubaydah denied any knowledge related to specific targets and
provided only general information related to extremists in Pakistan. 32 He continued to deny having
any knowledge relating to a pending attack, or specific targets, claiming that the conversations
between “brothers on the front lines” were “just talk,” such that the United States should not be
concerned. 33 Although Abu Zubaydah had “not seen the interviewing agent,” he greeted the agent
by name. 34 It is not clear whether this agent was required to wear the identity-concealing garb
discussed above, or if he revealed his identity to Abu Zubaydah voluntarily. In either case, after
these harsh conditions and interrogation techniques had commenced, Abu Zubaydah was
cognizant of the fact that he was still being questioned by FBI agents, although it is not clear that
Abu Zubaydah knew the distinction between the agents interrogating him from different agencies.
On April 20, 2022, he told FBI agents about men who had approached him with a plan to
detonate a uranium-based explosive device in the United States. 35 Though Abu Zubaydah
reiterated his disbelief that this was a viable plan, and that he did not know the individuals, he
provided physical descriptions of the two individuals, which the CIA later represented as having
enhanced the agency’s previous suspicions in the thwarting of the ‘Dirty Bomb Plot‘ and the
capture of Jose Padilla. 36 However, this information was provided after Abu Zubaydah was
allowed to sleep. 37
On July 13, 2002, the CIA’s acting general counsel, John Rizzo, met with attorneys from
the National Security Council and the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), as
well as with Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Justice Criminal Division, and Daniel
Levin, the chief of staff to the FBI director, to provide an overview of the CIA’s proposed
28

Id. at 29.
Id.
30
Id.
31
Id.
32
Id.
33
Id.
34
Id.
35
Id.
36
Id. at 29-30.
37
Id. at 30.
29

interrogation techniques and to ask for a formal, definitive DOJ opinion regarding the lawfulness
of employing the specific CIA interrogation techniques against Abu Zubaydah.
After Abu Zubaydah was placed in isolation in early June, the FBI special agents did not
return to Detention Site Green as all interrogation had ceased.
This information would later be used by the CIA as evidence in support of the use of
enhanced interrogation techniques, implying that even three months before the torture program
had officially been approved the CIA may have been experimenting with the same or different
“enhanced” techniques that the agency would employ once the program obtained formal
authorization. 38 This is further evidenced by the CIA’s decision to adopt Mitchell’s most “coercive
interrogation option” out of the three strategies sent to CIA HQ around late April 2002 in the face
of FBI opposition. 39
Given the presence of FBI officers during this period of intense interrogation their mere
presence, whether or not they participated in the torture, would undermine their credibility as
interrogators in Abu Zubaydah’s eyes. Even if the FBI officers did not participate in the torture, if
it occurred at that time, they undoubtedly witnessed it or had knowledge that it occurred. Indeed,
the Department of Justice concluded that FBI agents “participated in interviews in which
interrogation techniques that would not be available to an FBI agent in the United States were used
on Zubaydah.” 40 Further, Abu Zubaydah’s perception of who was interrogating him was entirely
dependent on what the interrogator chose to share.
FBI agents reported that during this time, CIA personnel impersonated FBI agents in
interviews with detainees. 41 More importantly, the interrogator’s identity and employer would be
inconsequential to Abu Zubaydah once the torture had begun because a reasonable person in that
situation would realize that any interaction with agents of the United States government could
result in further torture based on the things that he said or did not say.
Any ability to get a clean confession would be tainted by his fear that anything he said
could lead to further torture, altering his decision matrix and creating uncertainty as to the accuracy
of any statements he made after the torture began. If in fact the CIA began using enhanced
interrogation techniques before they were legally authorized, any confessions taken by the FBI
after that time should be viewed skeptically.

Id.
Id.
40
A Review of the FBI’s Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq,
U.S. Dep’t. of Just. Off. of the Inspector General 323 (rev. May 2008), https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/
s0910.pdf.
41
Id. at 200, 259.
39

III.

THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF TORTURE: A BRIEF NOTE

One of the essential lies of the torture program was the proposition that the torture effects
were temporary—the OLC reasoning that the controlled environment allowed for termination
before chronic pain developed. Therefore, for the OLC’s purposes, these enhanced interrogation
techniques did not rise to the level of torture. Research and common sense argue otherwise.
Irrespective of the label, the effects of these acts were the same. Traumatic events impact the brain
and the central nervous system, and the structure of the techniques performed on GTMO prisoners
created a profound and indelible lifelong impact on their brains and, as a result, the totality of their
human existence.
Traumatic events are encoded in the brain through a complex system of neurotransmitters,
hormones, and neurons. During those traumatic events, the Hypothalamic Pituitary Axis (“HPA”)
plays a vital role in regulating that system. When a traumatic event occurs, the central nervous
system initiates a stress response. The HPA is intimately involved with coding and managing our
stress responses to those events. When people experience intense traumatic events, the HPA is
compromised and unable to regulate the massive, cascading physiological damage being inflicted
upon the person. The long-term consequences of chronic HPA dysregulation are extensive.
Individuals suffering from HPA dysregulation often develop chronic health problems, including
cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, gastrointestinal distress, and wide-ranging
psychiatric symptoms and cognitive difficulties.
Research on the consequences of chronic child abuse, domestic violence, sexual violence,
and chronic traumatic exposure during war have repeatedly demonstrated the long-term negative
consequences of chronic exposure to stressful events. Voluminous research on the effects of
posttraumatic stress disorder demonstrates the likelihood for lifelong cognitive and emotional
changes from even a single traumatic event. For example, Mr. Abu Zubaydah's torture lasted many
weeks, and, even after the physical torture ended, the psychological trauma persisted. Mr. Abu
Zubaydah relives his torture experience almost every day at Guantanamo Bay, and in the absence
of any treatment, his condition worsens by the day. Far from temporary, the impact of the U.S.
Government’s torture program is enduring and devastating for both Mr. Abu Zubaydah and all
others subjected to the same program at black sites and prisons around the world.
Either by ignorance or willful blindness, those responsible for the torture program still
refuse to acknowledge its devastating effects. Donald Rumsfeld, the former Department of
Defense Secretary once said, “I stand for ten hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?”
He stood at a work desk in the Pentagon, fully clothed, in a position of power. Often times, these
prisoners were naked, stripped of their humanity and dignity, sleep-deprived, shackled, threatened
with death, physically beaten, slapped, hooded, hosed down with freezing water, anally raped, and
drowned in water.

IV.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE TORTURED

The United States government has held Mr. Abu Zubaydah and other GTMO prisoners
captive for almost two decades. For a period of twenty consecutive days, near the beginning of
this decades-long captivity, Mr. Abu Zubaydah endured round-the-clock torture by the CIA. It is
hard to appreciate what that must feel like to the victim, but this was Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s life in
CIA and FBI custody.
Looking at Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings one at a time can give the impression of a limited
event, a single water boarding session or a single confinement session in a suffocating, coffin-like
box. What is lost in the drawings is the painful reality of the staging, the length of time, the unfolding
and tortuous execution of each technique. The drawings, albeit powerful and compelling, cannot
be fully appreciated without the proper context. One session could last for hours and frequently
involved multiple torture techniques during the same day. Mr. Abu Zubaydah, however, clued the
reader in on this—perhaps unknowingly or subconsciously—by depicting several clocks in one
drawing to highlight the passage of time. 42
The lived experience of America’s torture program was multidimensional and multisensory.
It occurred over many dimensions—space, time, and complexity. The multidimensional,
multisensory nature of the experience was a product of the torture program’s design. It was
designed so that combinations of sensory and psychological pain could be used to torment the
prisoners. It was through this continuous abuse that the interrogators hoped to condition the
detainee to a “baseline dependent state.” In pursuit of this goal, interrogators deployed techniques
designed to disrupt basic life functions. Those techniques included forced nudity, dietary
manipulation, and sleep deprivation. Then, interrogators combined those techniques with
enhanced interrogation techniques which were designed to degrade and inflict vast amounts of
physical pain. Finally, to reduce the prisoners’ ability to resist or escape their suffering, the
interrogators immobilized their motor functions by temperature manipulation combined with
freezing water. 43
For example, during consecutive 24-hour sessions, Mr. Abu Zubaydah was “waterboarded,
confined into a tiny ‘dog box,’ deprived of sleep . . . hung by the hands, deprived of food, forced
into stress positions, shackled . . . for weeks and weeks.” 44 He was subjected “to temperature
extremes while being kept naked, denied the ability to use the toilet, requiring [him] to defecate
and urinate on [him]self, exposed to extremely loud and constant noise and light, slammed by [his]
head into the wall, beaten in [his] face and back, and many more similar examples of horrifying
treatment.” 45
Without reprieve, the “interrogations” continued like clockwork. Mr. Abu Zubaydah
recalls that “[a]s soon as two interrogators were done with [him] after harsh hours of interrogations,
two others would come to replace them.” 46 Though night and day became indistinguishable, the
rhythms of torture held steadfast. In his drawings, the artist reflects on how “[t]he humiliations,
the terrorizing, the hunger, the pain, the tension, the nervousness and the sleep deprivation lasted
42

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #10.
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 105.
44
Mr. Abu Zubaydah Notes on Torture, supra note 2, at 87.
45
Id.
46
Id. at 65.
43

for some time until one day they did all these things to me but with more intensity and for longer
periods of time before they brought me back to the big box.” 47 While this report categorizes
different forms of torture into distinct categorizes, the line demarcating their use is not as clear. At
the discretion of their interrogators, Mr. Abu Zubaydah and other prisoners were simultaneously
subjected to stress positions, sleep deprivation, beatings, starvation, and more. America’s torture
program was not a neat methodology. It was what it was designed to be: chaos.
There was no respite, there was no break, and to this day, there is no escape. The brain’s
processing of complex traumatic exposures is not additive. One plus one does not equal two when
you are being exposed to multidimensional traumatic events. Multidimensional torture is
experienced and coded in the brain on a logarithmic scale, so that the negative impact is
compounded multiple times over. As alluded to by Dr. Ghannam, it leaves life-long scars—scars
that never heal and can erupt and bleed at any time. This renders the possibility of healing from
repeated trauma exposure unlikely.
None of these prisoners have ever received treatment for this abuse. In fact, rather than
receive treatment, their traumatic exposure is chronically re-activated every day during detention—
every time they see a guard, every time they are placed in their cell, every time they feel bodily
pain—vivid flashbacks of torture come to life. In this way, the torture never goes away. For
example, as an added level of depravity, the architects—Mitchell and Jensen—knew of Mr. Abu
Zubaydah’s trauma history, including a traumatic brain injury in 1992 that was so severe he was
unable to speak, read, or write for an entire year. The impact of traumatic exposures on a person
with a traumatic brain injury is especially burdensome. For Mr. Abu Zubaydah, the burden is with
him every second of his existence.

Id. at 73.

WATER

Water is for most humans a healing element. Cognizant of this reality, the CIA and its
agents weaponized water in a variety of ways. Water is widely recognized as an essential
component to the enhanced interrogation technique of waterboarding. As America’s torture
program evolved, the CIA’s use of water evolved as a means of torture. While the detainees were
stripped naked, and often forced to lie in their own filth, even their opportunity to be washed was
manipulated through ice water “baths” in extreme temperatures, water dousing in air-conditioned
rooms, and horrific, high-pressure hosing. The following illustrations by Mr. Abu Zubaydah, his
accompanying descriptions, and other referenced materials describe the several uses of water in
America’s torture program.
A.

“Again and Again” – Traditional Waterboarding Procedures

On August 4, 2002, at 6:20 PM, the CIA waterboarded Mr. Abu Zubaydah for the first
time. Just one day prior, the CIA received formal approval to apply the “enhanced interrogation
techniques” on its first post-9/11 detainee, and its interrogators wasted no time exercising their
new authority. 49 Once approved, the waterboarding never stopped. Each day for hours on end, Mr.
Abu Zubaydah laid bound to a makeshift metal table and blinded by a thin cloth—the only barrier
between him and the gallons of water rushing toward his face.
48

They restrained me to a metal bed that had many belts in every direction. I was totally
restrained to the point that I was unable to make any movement whatsoever . . . After they
restrained my body, they restrained my head as well with the help of strong plastic cushions
on the sides, which made it impossible for me to move it, not even for one centimeter to
the left or one centimeter to the right, and obviously neither upward nor downward. At any
rate, I didn’t understand the reason for this very strong restraint and found them suddenly
putting a black cloth over my head and covered it completely. I suddenly felt water being
poured . . . [T]he water that was being continuously poured and flowed over my face was
indeed aimed at giving me the feeling of drowning resulting from a feeling of suffocation.
And this is exactly what happened. They kept pouring water and concentrating on my nose
and my mouth until I really felt I was drowning and my chest was just about to explode
from the lack of oxygen. 50

He likened the waterboarding board to that of a medical patient’s gurney or stretcher; it
“has straps to restrain the patient (in this case, the detainee) and has . . . two plastic pieces to firmly
brace the head of the patient (detainee) to always keep the head motionless.” 51 Nevertheless,
Zubaydah notes that there was a stark difference between the one used in a patient context and the
one used on detainees:
[T]he special bed used to transport the patient (detainee here) on which a stretcher is placed,
has a particular mechanism under the head of the detainee that is manually controlled. It
gets depressed few degrees to lower the head of the detainee so the constantly flowing
water’s entry through the cloth placed on the detainee’s face would be more difficult; the
more degrees they depress, and eventually the detainee’s head, the more and more difficult
the situation becomes. Even when they remove the cloth from the detainee’s face, the return
to normal breathing is delayed due to the airways being filled with the trapped water. Then
48

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 41.
Id.
50
Id.
51
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #4.
49

they repeat the same method again and again . . . and in every time, the detainee feels as if
he had actually died from the drowning. 52

Dr. James Mitchell applied multiple waterboarding sessions to Mr. Abu Zubaydah. 53 The
Department of Justice (“DOJ”) provided Mitchell with specific guidance on how to conduct these
sessions on Mr. Abu Zubaydah. 54 When asked about the waterboarding process, Mitchell stated
that this meant that “in 20 minutes, you could do 40 pours. If you did that for 17 or 18 days, it
would quite literally be many hundreds of pours.” 55
Mitchell
observed
the
c:,
startling effect that the DOJapproved waterboarding inflicted
upon Zubaydah: “[W]ith respect to
Mr. Abu Zubaydah, it became very
clear to me right away in the first
session that that was too much
water; that we had actually been
authorized to use too much.” 56 The
SSCI Report unveiled the gruesome
details where “over a two-and-ahalf hour period, Mr. Abu
Zubaydah coughed, vomited, and
had involuntary spasms of the torso
and extremities during water
boarding.” 57 After the first round of
pours, Mr. Abu Zubaydah explains
how the interrogators then “set the bed in a vertical position” while he was still restrained. 58 For a
brief moment, he hoped that might be the end, but “as soon as [he] emptied [his] stomach from the
water and the food[,] they brought the bed back to the normal horizontal position” to continue the
onslaught. 59 As the table lowered, they would place “the black cloth over [his] head again.” 60
He recalls how “the suffering was more intense every time they interrupted the operation
for few minutes to allow [him] to breath or vomit.” 61 The CIA labeled waterboarding as an
“enhanced interrogation technique;” however, suffering, not information, was the intended result
at that point. Dr. Mitchell explains, “In that first session, Mr. Abu Zubaydah was so panicked that
we didn’t think he would provide reliable information on the waterboard. We weren’t expecting

Id.
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 40.
54
Unofficial Transcript of Motions Hearing at 30442, United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed [hereinafter “Mitchell
Transcripts”].
55
Id.
56
Id.
57
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 41 (internal citations omitted).
58
Mr. Abu Zubaydah Notes on Torture, supra note 2, at 10.
59
Id.
60
Id.
61
Id.
53

him to. The program was not designed to extract information while the EITs were being
administered.” 62
CIA records reveal the discomfort expressed by those personnel witnessing this “technique”
inflicted upon Mr. Abu Zubaydah: “[I]t seems the collective opinion that we should not go much
further . . . everyone seems strong for now but if the group has to continue . . . we cannot guarantee
how much longer.” 63 Nevertheless, this discomfort was not enough to discourage the continued
use of waterboarding. Following the first day, the CIA waterboarded Mr. Abu Zubaydah at least
80 more times. In his book, Mitchell describes one particular waterboarding session as “an ugly
sight:”
Mr. Abu Zubaydah had beans and rice stuck to his face and in his chest hair. Because the
fluid around his lips was kind of thick, it bubbled as he breathed in and out. We wiped it off
with a hood and waited what seemed like a long time to see if medical personnel were
going to intervene. When they didn’t (although one stuck his head in the door for a
confirming glance) and we were sure Mr. Abu Zubaydah was breathing properly, we did
one or two more short pours so that he didn’t get the idea that a dramatic display would
stop the procedures. 64

Corresponding emails from members at the detention center reveal that during at least one
session, Mr. Abu Zubaydah “became completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his
open, full mouth.” 65 The effects of the waterboarding sessions were not limited to Mr. Abu
Zubaydah although some of the details may have varied as the torturers revised their techniques in
response to their experiences with the artist.

James E. Mitchell & Bill Harlow, Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to
Destroy America 70 (2016).
63
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 44.
64
Mitchell & Harlow, supra note 62, at 69.
65
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 43–44.

Total Immersion

Over time, the DOJ-approved technique of waterboarding evolved into a myriad of forms.
The torturers used coffins for mock burials and confinement sessions, but as pictured below, they
were also a common tool of water torture. On a traditional waterboard, the board angles downward,
so that the water cannot make its way down the detainee’s airways. In the coffin, “the water reaches
his nose, mouth, and then he starts to move strongly with distress while coughing off of
drowning.” 66 In this illustration, the prisoner is lying in a coffin with two small openings, one for
interrogation and one for water. There are no straps to keep him immobile on a board. Instead, the
prisoner is shackled at the ankles to the coffin, with his wrists shackled behind his back. As he lies
bound,
water
enters
through the hole by his feet.
With the water constantly
rising, the prisoner exists in
a mounting state of fear. As
the water begins to reach
his face, he lifts back his
head to elevate his nose. At
this point, the water is only
a few seconds from
interrupting his breath. He
knows he must make his
last gasp for air count. Once
the water reaches the top,
all he can do is wait: “The
water will leak from the
box, but the cycle repeats
again, and he’ll stay
terrified of drowning all
day.” 67 Since Mr. Abu
Zubaydah spent a total of
266 hours in coffin-sized
confinement box, each
moment
of
this
confinement was combined
with the fear and threat of
impending water and
drowning. 68

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #15.
Id.
68
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 42.
67

Another form of water immersion utilizes a “terbal,” or tarp. If this method is chosen, the
terbal is wrapped around the detainee and filled with water. The water then forms an inescapable
vacuum around the detainee, and the interrogators “start pouring the cold water on his head in the
cold weather and continue pouring until the prisoner’s body is drowned.” 69 The guards are able to
manipulate the water in the terbal to control the prisoner’s intake of air, “so if they want him to
only breathe they [] bend the terbal a little so the prisoner can get his head [out] of the water to
breathe.” 70 At this point, “they will start their questions,” and “if they are convinced of what he
says, they w[ill] bend the terbal to cover him with water until he almost dies and that point they will
bend the terbal to allow him to get his head and nose out of the water so he breathes like mad.” 71

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #20.
Id.
71
Id.
70

Water “Bathing”

Because of the constantly evolving
forms of water torture, the detainees were
never certain when and how water would be
weaponized next. Even bathing presented
another opportunity for abuse. From the
interrogators’ perspective, one upside to
“bathing” was that it did not require
confirmation from CIA headquarters to
conduct. There were “no specifications for
how to ensure the safety of detainees during
the procedure,” which means there were no
guidelines for how long or how much water
could be used on a detainee. 72
Unsurprisingly, these “baths” were used as a
punitive and interrogative technique. 73
In addition to its physical
consequence, this form of water torture was
combined with nudity and cramped
confinement to further dehumanize the
detainees. 74 “Bathing,” as they coined it,
was just another name for water dousing, an
opportunity to manipulate a necessity for
detainees into an experiment in hypothermia
and degradation. 75
At Detention Site Cobalt, detainees
were often held down, naked, on a tarp on the
floor, with the tarp pulled up around them to
form a makeshift tub, while cold or refrigerated water was poured on them. Others were hosed
down repeatedly while they were shackled naked, in the standing sleep deprivation position. These
same detainees were subsequently placed in rooms with temperatures ranging from 59 to 80 degrees
Fahrenheit. 76
As a co-requisite to “bathing,” interrogators would adjust the temperature to maximize the
physical pain the water inflicted. With hose in hand, they would then focus on the detainee’s
genitals to further demean their spirit and insult their religious values. The combined effects
allowed the interrogators to “renew ‘capture shock’ of detainees.” 47 Describing the picture below,
Mr. Abu Zubaydah writes:
“On top of this cold, they also used or turned on a very strong (fan), then they start pouring
very cold water on the detainee’s head, (that has been already shaved), for a long time until
72

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 99, 103 n. 599.
Id.
74
Id.
75
Id. at 104 n. 610.
76
Id. at 105.
73

he falls down (and because he is tied up with a chain or two that make him (hang). The
hands’ joint pain and the pain of blood blockage force the prisoner to stand again, and they
will continue pouring cold water on his head. Then, another guard comes with a water hose,
and starts shooting very cold water on his back, belly, behind, and genitals, focusing on an
area or moving around (they used to focus) on the head from the top, and/or under the
genitals. (The pain of cooling the testicles is like someone holding them and squeezing
them hardly and repeatedly). They used this method for hours (before) the interrogation and
hours after it (The AC and the fan does not stop during the interrogation. 77

The illustration to the right portrays
another one of these “baths.” Zubaydah shows
how he was chained in a position that
prevented him from blocking the highpressured water which was often directed at his
genital area. In addition to high-pressure
hoses, the torturers would also use stiff
brushes, which sometimes “caused cuts and
bruises resulting in the intervention of a
medical officer.” 78 In recent testimony,
Mitchell discusses several of these acts,
specifically pointing to an incident involving
detainee Al-Nashiri being “bathed” with cold
water and a coarse-haired brush. 79 This
bathing involved aggressive scrubbing of Al
Nashiri’s genitals, and in particular his
testicles. 80 In assaulting Al Nashiri, the
interrogators were not using a particular EIT,
but were instead following “standard”
procedures for intake and cleanliness. 81
Nevertheless, they focused this technique in
such a way as to cause severe injury to his
genital area.

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #11.
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 70.
79
Id.
80
Id.
81
Id.
78

Commentary

Although these techniques are euphuistically referred to as “water boarding,” “water
dousing,” etc., no word better describes these acts than “drowning.” The emotions induced by the
fear of death by drowning are among the most terrifying that a human being can experience. Water
is poured into the throat while the other airway is blocked by someone pinching the nose.
Therefore, one’s ability to breathe is entirely inhibited.
Oxygen, essential for the brain and all other vital organs, is denied. The victim begins to
choke, his chest is heaving in extreme pain, and as his brain and body metabolize the remaining the
oxygen in his blood stream, a complex set of physiological stress responses is initiated. The
terrifying sense that you are about to die sets in, and, because you are strapped to board and unable
to move, you are overcome by a profound sense of helplessness.
The intention and goal of this technique is to convince you that there is nothing you can do
to save your life. In furtherance of that goal, your inability to breathe is only one aspect of the abuse.
During these drowning sessions, the prisoner was purposefully stripped of his clothing. Being
without clothes while being tortured exacerbates the overwhelming reality that one’s body is
exposed, vulnerable, and without any protection. The torturer has complete control over the
victim’s existence as he is repeatedly drowned—again, again and again. Eventually he faints,
blacks out, or dies.

VI.

STRESS POSITIONS

In recent testimony, Dr. Mitchell describes variations of stress positions that he
recommended for use in America’s torture program. This testimony includes an emotionally
detached and methodical description of a stress position where one of the detainee’s legs is
extended straight out in front, the other kneeled on the floor, his arms raised above his head, and
his body leaning. 82 Mitchell then describes another stress position in which a person is bent
forward with his forehead on a wall to hold him up. He claims that this is an authorized stress
technique if done properly, that is. … 83 According to Mitchell, these varied stress positions were
designed to facilitate a feeling of physical discomfort rather than to … 84 Despite their alleged
purpose, CIA cables state the contrary; as were waterboarding sessions, stress positions were also
intended … 85
Stress positions have been one of the most ubiquitous torture techniques of America’s
torture program, used during rendition, for sleep deprivation purposes, and as an independent form
of torture. 86 Worse yet, torturers frequently combined stress positions with a variety of other
techniques, including but in no way limited to, cold temperatures, water dousing, forced nudity,
and beatings. 87 In fact, stress techniques most often presented concurrently with other torture
methods as a means to maximize pain and discomfort. Below are drawings from Mr. Abu
Zubaydah, along with his descriptions and corroborating descriptions from Mitchell’s testimony
and CIA Cables.

Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31825.
Id. at 31829.
84
Id. at 31825.
85
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 65.
86
Id. at 113.
87
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #7.
83

Short Shackles

Short shackles were often used
during renditions, “using a short chain
attached to manacles, feet or hands, that
[held] the person in a position where they
[could not] move very much.” 88
According to Mitchell, “[the detainee’s]
hands and feet [were] close together in a
way that they're unable to rise up off the
floor.” 89 The interrogators shackled
detainees to the floor for up to thirty
hours at a time while they transported
them from one detention site to another,
often equipping them with a diaper to
allow for discharge of bodily waste. 90
Aside from renditions in vehicles and on
planes, a detainee could be left in this
crouched position for “days or weeks on
the cement floor of the very cold prison
cell,” barely able to move, let alone stand
up or reposition. 91

Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 32541.
Id. at 31842.
90
Id. at 31843.
91
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #2.
89

Standing Suspension

In addition to the short-shackled positions, the
interrogators also subjected the prisoners to standing stress
positions for “days or weeks” at a time. 92 The exact
positioning depended on the preference of his torturer that
day.93 Sometimes it comprised of being suspended from
the ceiling by chains (as seen below), so that the detainee
was forced to stand on the tips of his toes to relieve the
excruciating pain placed on his shoulder joints. What never
varied was the constant, cyclic nature of the abuse which
left him with no other option than to defecate on himself. 94
Dr. Mitchell routinely denies that this illustration
of Mr. Abu Zubaydah was a technique he taught to
interrogators. When asked about such a position, Mitchell
sneered, “[T]hey wouldn’t be as stretched out as yours
are . . . It looks like you’re actually sort of suspended from
the ceiling.” 95 He then reiterated that there were strict rules
regarding how high a detainee could be suspended from
the ceiling. Nevertheless, he confessed that he knows of
one individual “who they had chained through that loop,
and they had manacles on his arms, and he was standing
there . . . his arms . . . extended over his head.” 96
Standing stress positions at other times would
resemble crucifixion, with arms outstretched or extended.
For example, Mr. Abu Zubaydah explains how this
crucifixion caused the prisoner agonizing pain in his wrists
and shoulders as he wallowed in his own defecation. 97 This
torture method also caused cuts and bruises and occasional
dislocation of the detainee’s shoulders from the suspension
itself. 98 Mr. Abu Zubaydah further explains how the
torturers “started hitting [him] hard with their hands on the
abdomen, chest and back, along with slaps on the face.” 99
When the torturers finished beating the prisoner, they
would raise his body and leave him to continue standing on
the tips of his toes. 100 They might even soak him in

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #3.
Id.
94
Id.
95
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31709.
96
Id. at 31843.
97
Id. at 31843.
98
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 70.
99
Id.
100
Id.
93

(il
1110

freezing water before leaving his weakened and exposed body suspended in the intentionally frigid
conditions. 101
Through Mitchell’s testimony, it is apparent that this form of torture did not end with Mr.
Abu Zubaydah; al-Nashiri, too, was suspended in the same standing position for days. 102 Al
Nashiri’s experience even included “threats with a gun and a power drill.” 103
C.

Bent Over

.,-------- ~

_,_,,\ ,,

'le!'.l~~R

The interrogators would also subject he prisoners to bent over stress positions, where they
could neither sit nor stand due to the height of the shackle. 104 While subjected to the bent over
stress position, Mr. Abu Zubaydah reports that the cell would be “filled with filth and [his] waste”
and sometimes with “insects, large black cockroaches, or red in very big numbers, or other scary
looking insects, that are capable of stinging.” 105 Scorpions were a favorite and readily available
method used by the interrogators to incite fear. The fear of a sting from any of the insects—let
alone a scorpion—was enough to keep a detainee in constant terror.

101

Id.
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 69.
103
Id.
104
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #16.
105
Id.
102

For days, the detainee was
unable to sit, lay, or stand, and was
persistently terrified of a lethal sting,
all the while left to endure the stench
of his own waste. The smell was not
the worse part for a prisoner. That was
the pain in his back and limbs from the
position, headaches from the lack of
sleep and food, and constant battle with
hypothermia from the cold cell. 106
When this was combined with the foul
smell, prisoners like Mr. Abu
Zubaydah would often vomit due to
the extremity of their conditions. 107

□
000
000

<>Go

As was the case with all of the
torture techniques, the stress position
always combined new positions with
the use of cold water, an air
conditioner, and loud music. It was
often so cold that the interrogators
would wear cold weather gear. 108 With
the protection of artic snow coats, the
interrogators would place an industrial
fan on the prisoner as they doused him
with cold water until he collapsed,
held up only by his shackled
wrists. 109
Another guard would come in and spray him with “very cold water on his back, belly, behind,
and genitals” causing extreme pain, especially in the testicles where it felt like someone was
“squeezing them hardly [sic] and repeatedly.” 110 This method was used for “hours before the
interrogation and hours after it” with the AC and music kept on between water torture sessions. 111
The heavy metal music stopped only for the interrogation. 112 The AC blew constantly.

106

Id.
Id.
108
Id.
109
Id.
110
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing # 22.
111
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #11.
112
Id.
107

Sleep deprivation was a frequent
consequence of stress positions, but even if
the prisoner was capable of sleep, he was not
allowed to attempt it. Every time he would
start to fall asleep or lean forward, the
interrogators would again douse him with
cold water, causing him to “start screaming
for a very long time from hallucinating or cry
[sic] like a wounded animal or terrified
baby.” 113 Multiple people would then gather
around with large sticks to “beat him up
during the investigation[,] and [ask] him
about things.” If the prisoner denied or
resisted their questioning, they would beat
him on the head, back, buttocks or calves. 114
They were instructed to strike him any time
he “tilt[ed] his head.” 115

113

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #13.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #14.
115
Id.
114

Rendition

While a practice distinct from stress positions, the rendition process involved use of stress
positions. In the following drawings, Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts the painful methods his jailers
used to transport him and his fellow detainees, whether it be between facilities in different
countries or within each prison itself.
This drawing shows four detainees, hooded, naked, and shackled. 116 Their chains connect
their hands to their feet and each detainee to each other. Beside each of the four detainees is one of
four jailers.

Abu Zub:!yd.a?l@ 2021

Zayn Abu Zubaydah
Torture Drav.'lllg- 22

l kemed by :Man De:ubuux, Prof~ssor of Law a.t Seton Hall L.:!iw School
:md Cha.D:ti!ll M. Higg::i.D..5

116
117

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing # 22.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing # 23.

The drawing
below shows what is
going on under the
117
The
hood.
detainee would have
ear plugs inserted
with over the ear
headphones playing
no sound or only the
headphones playing
loud, metal music.
The jailers would
secure
the
headphones
with
duct
tape
that
wrapped all the way
around the detainee’s
head.

flood

The process of transportation, be it rendition to different facilities or within each prison, is
frequently recounted in Abu Zubaydah’s notes. Despite this process not being listed as a method
of torture, Abu Zubaydah recalls it as extremely painful. 118 The duct tape was wrapped so tightly
that it scarred his face. 119 When the prisoners like Mr. Abu Zubaydah were transported by airplane,
the torturers would shackle them in painful positions for hours which inhibited their ability to
relieve themselves. 120 This would result in intense bladder pain and constipation, which led his
jailers to eventually put him in a diaper. 121
In the drawing below, Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts the anal cavity searches that torturers
conducted virtually every time the prisoners were moved in between cells, vehicles, or prisons. 122
These searches involved forcible anal probing with foreign objects of various sizes. 123 The
tormentors would laugh at the detainee during this process, in what Mr. Abu Zubaydah believes

118

Mr. Abu Zubaydah Notes on Torture, supra note 2, at 109.
Id. at 97.
120
Id. at 60, 64, 70, 71, 79, 80, 99.
121
Id. at 60, 61, 69, 70, 80.
122
Id. at 70, 79, 98, 108, 111.
123
Id.
119

was an intentional act of calculated
humiliation. 124 Abu Zubaydah
explains that both the FBI and CIA
subjected him to these searches. 125

~ Co.vit

e1.rch

Mitchell “…traveled on
several [rendition flights].” 126 He
testified that ear coverings—as
depicted in above illustrations—
“are used during rendition flights to
keep the person from being able to
hear what's going on around
them.” 127 He claimed that objects
would cover detainees’ eyes “…in
order to move them safely.” 128
The CIA explained this
process was to create “significant
apprehension in the HVD because
of the enormity and suddenness of
the change in environment, the
uncertainty about what will happen
next, and the potential dread an
HVD might have of U.S.
custody.” 129

124

Id.
Id.
126
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31466.
127
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31464.
128
Id.
129
Memorandum for Dan Levin, DOJ Command Center, Department of Justice, from Central Intelligence Agency,
Background Paper on CIA’s Combined Use of Interrogation Techniques 3 (Dec. 30, 2004),
https://www.thetorturedatabase.org/files/foia_subsite/pdfs/DOJOLC001126.pdf.
125

Commentary

The stress positions used on Mr. Abu Zubaydah and others cause chronic debilitating pain.
It causes muscular pain, nerve pain, orthopedic pain, head pain, gastro-intestinal pain, and rectal
pain. The notion that these positions cause only “discomfort and not pain” is beyond the realm of
reality. The intention is to inflict pain, a pain so severe and debilitating that is creates a pain memory
that will forever be etched into the mind of the tortured. Physical pain can sometimes remit with
treatment. Pain memories—the experience of pain that embed into our neurobiological
structures—never remit. It is there forever and can be easily exacerbated or activated by a memory,
a sound, a smell, or any sensory stimulation. It is a forever pain that is intertwined with the systems
of the brain that control and manage emotions. For Mr. Abu Zubaydah, the simple act of sitting
down can trigger an entire cascade of complex memories and feelings of severe pain from these
stress positions. It never ends. It sometimes lessens, but it is a constant placeholder for his
experience of being tortured.
Of all the stress positions described above, one in particular deserves special discussion—
the “anal cavity search.” Of all of the euphemisms used by the US Government, this is perhaps the
most depraved misrepresentation of reality. This was anal rape. The prisoners were shackled,
hooded, held by masked torturers, bent over, and repeatedly raped. This was not about searching
for contraband in his anus, but rather part and parcel of the architecture of the Mitchell and Jensen
program. Like all other techniques, it was used to dehumanize and humiliate in order to exercise
total control and domination over the victim.
Rape is always profoundly dehumanizing, but anal rape in the context of America’s torture
program has an even more nefarious history. One of books used throughout the U.S. Government
to “educate” members of the military, diplomats, and intelligence officers was Raphael Patai’s,
“The Arab Mind” (1973). Patai’s book depicts Arab (and Muslim) men as only responding to force
and humiliation due to an uncomfortable, if not fearful, disposition toward sexual matters. Edward
Said (1979) and most academics since 1979 have roundly criticized—if not condemned—this
overtly racist narrative. Nevertheless, this book, and the view of Arab men it depicts, remains part
of a long-standing, embedded racist discourse among many in the military, the diplomatic corps,
and the intelligence services. It was also part of mindset of Mitchell and Jensen and their
collaborators in designing America’s torture. Rape of any person is inherently dehumanizing,
degrading, painful, and humiliating, but anal rape of an Arab man is more so.

VII.

CONFINEMENT

Large and small confinement boxes
were often used in combination with other
techniques, such as waterboarding. 130 When
the prisoner was left alone, he was often left in
one of two confinement boxes – “small” or
“large.” 131 In the large box, detainees were
routinely placed in a horizontal position with
their hands tied so that the box became “like a
coffin waiting for burial . . . .” 132 When placed
in a vertical position, the detainee would be
shackled with a very short chain such that he
would be “unable to stand [except] in [a]
hunchback position.” 133 While detainees were
being tortured, the confinement box became
“the actual prison where he live[d], and from
which he [was] taken to be tortured with []
other methods.” 134 The “coffin” contained a
bucket for a toilet, a can of drinking water, and
a can of Ensure for nourishment. 135

130

See SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 41 (discussing “rapidly progressing” interrogations of Mr. Abu Zubaydah, moving through
the large box, walling, and small box, and finally culminating in waterboarding).
131
See Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 30361; Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54.
132
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #1.
133
Id.
134
Id.
135
Id.

Every five or ten minutes, guards
would bang on the outside of the box with
sticks or metal objects to prevent the detainee
from sleeping. 136 As the clocks ticked on and
the cameras watched, the cycle continued.
Torturers would often carry sticks around to
beat detainees in case one dared to attempt a
moment of sleep. 137 Alternatively, the guards
would “forcibly shake [the box] until the
detainee [fell] on the floor together with his
bucket to drown in his own soiling.” 138
The small box, in contrast could
“barely fit a medium size dog.” 139 Still, the
prisoner would be shackled in the same
manner as the large box. 140 After a short
amount of time inside, he would feel “the
bondage of [his] extremities with [his]
organs,” difficulty breathing, and the pain of
his head being twisted and contorted inside the
box. 141 At times, the pain was so unbearable it
caused the detainee to faint.
There was another type of box, long
and slender, with slots for interrogation
purposes, which the torturers would place the
prisoners in for two different purposes. At a ;q O 'F.
glance, it would be impossible for a detainee
to know whether he would be left alone locked-in the box or whether he would subject to water
torture. Eventually, “[i]f [the detainee] was restrained from the front,” he came to know that he
would be left locked inside the box, facing up, for days on end, left to drown in his own waste. 142
But when his hands were tied behind his back, he would know that one torturer would pour very
cold water through a slot near his feet, while the interrogator questioned him through a second slot
near his face. The box would slowly fill with water, rising until the water “reach[ed] his nose,
mouth, and then he [would begin to move around the box in] distress while coughing [due to]
drowning.” 143 As the boxes were made of wood, the water would slowly leak out, only for the
cycle to repeat again, as the detainee remains “terrified of drowning all day.” 144

136

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #17.
Id.
138
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #1.
139
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #8.
140
Id.
141
Id.
142
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #15.
143
Id.
144
Id.
137

It appears that use of confinement boxes to torture Mr. Abu Zubaydah and others was at the
very least contemplated prior to their formal approval as “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.” In
April of 2002, a CIA cable described the construction of a box 85 inches long, 30 inches wide, and
20 inches deep. 145 In response to the timing of this cable, Mr. Mitchell expressed that he was
“befuddled by the cable because [his] recollection [was that] until EITs were approved, not box
was used, but this cable suggests that there was discussion about that before the EITs were
approved.”

145

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 41.

VIII. PHYSICAL ASSAULTS
A.

Walling

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report defines walling as “slamming detainees
against a wall.” 146 The CIA categorizes walling as a “coercive technique.” 147 In fact, the CIA felt:
“[w]alling is one of the most effective interrogation techniques because it wears down the
HVD physically . . . An HVD may be walled one time (one impact with the wall) to make
a point or twenty to thirty times consecutively when the interrogator requires a more
significant response to a question.” 148

These official descriptions of walling are conveniently vague and do not describe the
precise method, the potential dangers, or the intended physical effects of walling. However, Dr.
Mitchell—the architect of America’s torture program—has provided some insight into the mind of
a CIA torturer inflicting this abuse upon a detainee.
According to Mitchell, “there’s a technique you have to use.” 149 That technique includes
wrapping a towel around the detainee’s neck while you “pull the person’s head forward so that the
shoulders hit the wall.” 150 However, Mitchell warned that “you have to be careful how you do it
because [from a medical standpoint] there are several things that can cause problems.” 151 In fact,
Mitchell stated that often you “would have to work to keep them from putting their head back” in
order to prevent brain trauma and whiplash. 152
Other than the use of a towel, there is no evidence that the CIA attempted to limit the
amount of force, or the number of impacts allowed when authorizing the walling technique. When
questioned about the number of times you may slam a person into the wall, Mitchell replied,
“maybe more than a dozen, less than twenty. I don’t know . . . it could be more than that.” 153
Despite the lack of discernible guidelines for walling, Mitchell admitted that “it [wa]s sometimes
done incorrectly.” 154 When that happened, it caused severe injuries and not just the intended
“disorienting” effect. 155
According to Mitchell, the goal of walling was to cause “the liquid in [the detainee’s] ears
to swirl around a little bit” especially when “it looked like he was going to tell us something that
was not addressing the question that we asked him.” 156 While Mitchell’s testimony helps to
elucidate the CIA’s perspective on walling, it fails to capture the true experience of the individual
enduring the abuse. Mr. Abu Zubaydah is one of those individuals. He relates a portion of his
abuse in this illustration and provides a harrowing description of the depicted events.

146

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 3.
Memorandum for Dan Levin, supra note 129, at 8.
148
Id.
149
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31311.
150
Id.
151
Id.
152
Id. at 31624.
153
Id. at 31314.
154
Id.
155
Id. at 31623.
156
Id. at 31314-16.
147

In the sketch to the right, Mr. Abu
Zubaydah shows the interrogator “powerfully
and violently slamming [his] head against a
cement wall and repeating it until [he fell].” 157
Zubaydah goes on to describe how the
interrogator struck his “head and back against
a wooden wall attached to the cement wall
with the same force, violence, and
repetition.” 158 A redacted source from a 2007
email supports Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s
description:
“[A] collar was used to slam him against a
concrete wall. While we do not have a
record that this occurred, one interrogator
at the site at the time confirmed that this
did indeed happen. For the record, a
plywood ‘wall’ was immediately
constructed at the site after the walling on
the concrete wall.” 159

Although the CIA defines walling as
“slamming a detainee against a wall,” the
reality is even worse. Mr. Abu Zubaydah
states “the difference between the concrete and
wooden wall is the first causes the blood to
immediately gush from the head . . .with the
wooden wall the blood doesn’t gush
rapidly . . . although it causes the same pain
and suffering.” 160
As all other torture techniques, walling was not a technique used in isolation. The CIA used
walling in conjunction with other torture techniques in “varying combinations, [twenty-four] hours
a day” for seventeen straight days on Mr. Abu Zubaydah. 161 He specifically remembers one
incident where an interrogator wrapped a towel around his neck, dragged his naked, shackled body
across the floor, and then slammed him into the concrete walls of the room. 162 When describing
another walling session, Mr. Abu Zubaydah writes:
“He was twisting a thick towel which was wrapped with plastic tape so it could be given
the shape of a noose. He wrapped it around my neck and brutally dragged me. I fell on the
floor with the bucket [of my own excrement], with all its contents that fell on me. The
guards did not intervene. It was he who dragged me on the floor with that noose towel. He
brutally dragged me towards the wall. I suddenly realized there was a wooden wall covering
most of the original wall. Before he uttered any word, he started brutally banging me against
157

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #5.
Id.
159
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 43 n.183.
160
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #5.
161
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 42 n.190.
162
Mr. Abu Zubaydah Notes on Torture, supra note 2, at 9.
158

the wooden wall. I suddenly felt the same pain I felt when I was being banged against the
cement wall. However, when I thought about it later, I believe that they didn’t want to leave
any trace of beating and banging on my body . . . Given the intensity of the banging that
was strongly hitting my head I fell down on the floor with each banging. I felt for few
instants that I was unable to see anything, let alone the short chains that prevented me from
standing tall. And every time I fell, he would drag me with the towel which caused bleeding
on my neck.” 163

While the CIA’s definition of its highly prized walling technique is not inaccurate, it is
wholly misleading. Walling involved “slamming detainees against a wall;” however, it also
involved so much more than just that. 164
B.

Facial Slap

In a close-up of one of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s walling illustrations, he depicts another CIAapproved technique, the facial slap. 165 During his walling experience, he recalls how he was
“repeatedly slapped in the face.” 166 Mitchell stated the purpose of the facial slap for all prisoners
subject to it, which he typically refers to as the insult slap, is to serve as a “reset button.” 167
According to CIA documents, this occurred each time Mr. Abu Zubaydah denied having
information relating to al-Qaeda, which the CIA now admits he never possessed. 168
We have evidence of the use of the facial slap on other detainees. Mitchell, one of Mr.
Abu Zubaydah’s interrogators, was once reported for misusing the already abusive facial slap
technique on another detainee, Abu Yasir. 169 Mitchell conceded that he thought “it was a reasonable
thing” that he was reported by another torturer. 170 After all, in response to Mitchell’s slap, Yasir
“jumped in the air and collapsed to the ground.” 171 Nevertheless, the complaint was investigated,
and Mitchell was cleared of any wrongdoing. 172 After the investigation exonerated Mitchell, he
was allowed to continue in his torture of Yasir and other detainees. 173

163

Id.
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 3.
165
Id. at 36.
166
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #5.
167
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31653.
168
SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 41.
169
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31591.
170
Id. at 31599.
171
Id. at 31591.
172
Id. at 31599.
173
Id.
164

Beatings

Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s illustrations
bring back to life the “[u]nauthorized,
improvised, inhumane, and undocumented
detention and interrogation techniques”
that the CIA tried so desperately to erase
from existence. 174
In this drawing, Mr. Abu Zubaydah
reflects on a particularly cruel method of
abuse. He recalls how the prisoners would
be “completely naked and hanged from the
roof with a chain, and for very long hours,
long days or weeks.” 175 They could not
even escape the physical torment by
sleeping because there was “no sleep not
even for one second (even if they were not
trying to stop him from sleeping).” 176 But
the reality of the situation was the torturers
were trying to prevent him from sleeping,
and their preferred method was the use of
large wooden sticks. In this illustration,
Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts how they would
“use [the sticks] to beat him up during the
investigation and as[k] him about things,
once he denie[d] then they [would] beat
him upon the head, back, buttocks (rearend) or calves.” 177

174

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 224-25.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #14.
176
Id.
177
Id.
175

,!;

~ ~) ~

.:;;'

,~ ' ,(

•

~-r~/,.

. " © ©\~~ a

178

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #10.

These illustrations are so
disturbing that one might find it
difficult to spend too much time
examining the finer details. In many
of his drawings, Abu Zubaydah
deliberately
includes
an
air
conditioner blowing frigid air onto
the prisoner’s shivering and shackled
body. The environment in which he
and others suffered these violent
beatings further exacerbated the
anguish he endured. In the left
drawing, Mr. Abu Zubaydah shows
the prisoner screaming as the guards
are “hitting [him] with a stick in very
cold weather, so the pain w[ould] be
doubled. 178

When the air conditioner was
not enough to induce the desired
amount of pain, the interrogators would
turn on a “very strong fan, then they
[would] start pouring cold water on the
detainee’s head.” 179 Even still, this was
not enough. In drawing to the right, Mr.
Abu Zubaydah recalls how the guards
took pressure hoses and started
“shooting very cold water on his back,
belly,
behind,
and
genitals.”
Depending on how the guard felt that
day, he would focus on a specific area
or move around a bit. When they felt
particularly cruel, they would focus
“on the head . . . and/or under the
genitals.” 180

179
180

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #11.
Id.

Commentary

These violent acts of aggression when directed to the head and neck of the detainee cause
traumatic brain and cervical spinal cord injuries. The traumatic brain injuries caused by repeated
walling, facial slaps, and beatings to the head cause severe cognitive impairments— impaired
thinking, attention, concentration, memory and processing of sensory information necessary to
function as a human being. It can also result in a very painful condition called tinnitus—ringing in
the ears. The tinnitus is frequently combined with a painful sensory sensitivity, and people become
extremely distraught at even low levels of sounds, light, smells, touch, and taste. Thinking,
speaking, writing, and processing information become painful, difficult, and at times, impossible.
Injuries to the cervical spine are as damaging and produce chronic headaches, neck pain, and
difficulties moving the head.
Sometimes with treatment these debilitating symptoms can be somewhat mitigated. For
Mr. Abu Zubaydah and others like him, however, mitigation is unlikely. In addition to the denial
of treatment, the repeated exposure to these violent acts increases the likelihood of permanent
injury. Many of the prisoners are likely to suffer from these debilitating symptoms for the
remainder of their lives. Another prisoner, Abu Faraq al-Libi, suffers from complete hearing loss
in one ear due to these torture techniques. 181
The denial of treatment is only one aspect to extending the debilitating consequences of
chronic torture. Mr. Abu Zubaydah, like others, have the misfortune of being repeatedly retraumatized every time they see, hear, or remember the events of their torture. After being in the
various Black-sites, individuals are typically placed in similar settings like Guantanamo Bay,
where they are chronically exposed to reminders of the torture, thereby reliving their torture on a
regular, if not daily, basis. The re-traumatization embeds the debilitating effects of torture more
deeply into the biological and bodily fabric of people. keeping them in a state of chronic distress.
The possibilities of relief, let alone rehabilitation, become remote if not impossible.

181

SSCI Report, supra note 8, at 147-48.

IX.

SEXUAL ASSAULT, RELIGION & HUMILIATION

Of the many unapproved torture techniques the CIA used on the prisoners, among the worst
were the tactics that utilized sexual assault, religion, and humiliation. These tactics included forced
nudity, harm or threat to harm to genitals, and denigration of Islam, including use of the presence
of women. Ultimately, the decision to far exceed the bounds of the officially approved techniques
led to the simulated and actual rape of prisoners.
A.

Psychological Threats

As discussed above, the intention to cause physical trauma with torture warrantes but the
intention to cause psychological and emotional distress by methods used to achieve these results
is worth noting. Some of these tactics can be understood as “collateral” tactics that the CIA used,
as opposed to some more shocking “main” tactics, like waterboarding or walling. Constant nudity,
for example, is collateral because it is an additional stressor that is used in conjunction with a
“main” tactic.
Drawing
#34
and
the
accompanying description demonstrate the
important role that psychological harm
played in the CIA’s and FBI’s torture
regime: it is one of the few drawings where
this psychological torture is the primary
message Mr. Abu Zubaydah is trying to
convey. Therein, a fully bearded Abu
Zubaydah is strapped in a chair, conjuring
up images of the torture being inflicted on
a brother based on the sounds he hears. The
“powerful[] and violent[]” sounds of the
drill is covered up only by the screams of
his fellow detainee upon whom it is
supposedly being used. 182 According to
Mr. Abu Zubaydah, this was only time his cell door was left open, aside from when he was about
to receive torture “so [he] could hear the sound of the (power drill) and the sounds of shouting,
begging, and crying in ‘horror’ of the brother who is receiving the torture.” 183 The torturers would
then cease torturing the brother and come to Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s cell: “[w]hen the power drill
was stopped, the interrogator and/or person who is assigned to torture me w[ould] start[] to threaten
that he would do all these types of torture using the power drill with me.” 184
The psychological harm to Abu Zubaydah did not cease with the power drill, however.
When a brother’s screams would eventually stop, it left him with inescapable worry: “one sound
was starting to shout and scream in my own head, in the shape of questions which were pushing
me to craziness: did they drill the brother’s head?!! Did they drill his stomach or his foot or his
rear end?!! Using the power drill?!!” 185 As planned and desired by the torturers, the effect of these
182

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #34.
Id.
184
Id.
185
Id.
183

methods were long lasting: “All these questions kept going through my mind for days and months
until another day when they come back and use the same method: Threat with power drill. Then
the same sounds of horror (the external) come back, and craziness sounds come back to my head
with new questions: IS he the same brother?!! Didn’t he die? Didn’t they kill him? Or this is
another brother different than the first one? Who is the second one? And who will be the third one?
Will it be me?”
Every aspect of the detainees’ lives was controlled and set up to ensure “learned
helplessness.” The humiliation and psychosis – although not as physically violent as some tactics
described above, -- was an important part of this regime. And the effect of the detainees was potent:
“This feeling of horror (extreme horror) could get a little bit lighter once the torture is over, but it
will never end or go away from the brain, heart, body, and the soul of the person who received the
torture.” 186
B.

Nudity and Humiliation

The fact that Mr. Abu Zubaydah is
naked in every single drawing demonstrates
the CIA and FBI use of nudity in and of itself
as part of the system of torture. Every detail
of these drawings by Mr. Abu Zubaydah
conveys an important piece of information
about what was done to the prisoners and the
way in which humiliation was a key part of
the torture regime.
Constant forced nudity is no
exception, although for some it may be
overshadowed by the more violent tactics. It
is a torture tactic hiding in plain sight in these
drawings. Mr. Abu Zubaydah himself noted
this: in his explanation accompanying
Drawing #13 – depicting him in a stress
position being doused with cold water – he
described the physical torture and
emphasized it occurred “while completely
naked of course.” 187 (emphasis added).

186
187

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #33.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #13.

Mr.
Mr. Abu
Abu Zubaydah
Zubaydah fully
fully displays
displays the
the
prisoner’s
In
soner's genitals
genitals in
in only
only two
two drawings.
drawings. In
Drawing
awing #7,
#7, the
the prisoner
prisoner is
is urinating
urinating on
on himself,
himself, as
as
his: face
face reflects
reflects his
his anguish.
anguish. Mr.
Mr. Abu
Abu Zubaydah’s
Zubaydah 's
descriptions
~criptions suggest
suggest the
the detainee’s
detainee's anguish
anguish derives
derives
nott just
just from
from the
the physical
physical pain
pain of
of stress
stress positions,
positions,
also from
from the
the humiliation
humiliation of
of the
the nudity
nudity and
and
butt also
mal torture,
torture, and
and likely
likely even
even from
from urinating
urinating on
on
sexual
as well.
well.
nself as
himself
Indeed, Mr.
Mr. Abu
Abu Zubaydah
Zubaydah appears
appears to
to
Indeed,
pict urinating
urinating on
on himself
himself in
in only
only certain
certain
depict
1wings, including
including in
in Drawing
Drawing #32.
#32. Therein,
Therein, the
the
drawings,
is bent
bent over
over aa table,
table, feet
feet chained
chained to
to the
the
tainee is
detainee
,or and
and hands
hands chained
chained to
to the
the table.
table. While
While one
one
floor
ard directs
directs and
and makes
makes threats
threats to
to rape
rape the
the
guard
tainee, two
two others
others strike
strike the
the detainee
detainee with
with large
large
detainee,
cks on
on his
his back
back and
and hands
hands to
to the
the point
point that
that he
he
sticks
nates on
on the
the floor.
floor.
urinates

/)u.ttoct:.

Htt

/1ND

RAPE T~REJ\TS

A detainee’s bodily fluids
were used in other ways to
humiliate. In Drawing #35, a guard
demands the detainee choose: a
Quran will be put into a bucket of
menstrual blood or the detainee’s
own feces.

THREAfTO UESECP-ATi
i' HOLY QURAN ~.

- ---·- - - ·

; : . "'
.·

:::

-~~,'

Moreover, in all other
drawings where the prisoner’s
(;~ .
genitals could have been visible,
Mr. Abu Zubaydah strategically
placed a hand, a stream of water,
waterboard table straps, or even a
fig leaf. Mr. Abu Zubaydah
acknowledges the fig leaves in the
TDil- 35
explanation
accompanying
Drawing #25: “Because at the FBI and CIA, they didn’t give me a fig (berry) leaf to cover the
genitals (naked area), in the drawing I had to cover my genitals with a drawing of a leaf instead of
painting myself totally naked.” 188 (emphasis added). This drawing also contains a fig leaf,
accompanied by the explanation: ”NOTE: the fig leaf that covers the genitals in the drawing is an
extra, does not represent the ugly truth of what occurred.” 189
Drawing #37 combines
elements of physical and sexual
torture in the depiction of
mutilation of the detainee’s
genitals. Although the drawing is
titled “Threat to Impair Sex
Organs,” the drawing makes it clear
actual impairment occurred. As the
detainee is strapped down to a table,
arm shackled over his head, two
plain-clothes guards have their
hands near his bloody penis. Mr.
Abu Zubaydah included a zoomedin drawing to depict exactly what
the guards were doing: taking to his
penis, drawing blood, with an
alarming, red speech graphic,
noting how this made the detainee
scream in pain.

188
189

.. '
~

~l( {;JJ~

iiii<

..-c

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #25.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #25.

In the explanation accompanying this drawing, Mr. Abu Zubaydah again addresses the
humiliation associated with the depiction of genitalia: “This drawing is self-explanatory, so I don’t
need to further describe. But maybe I should apologize for revealing the private parts/genitals in
the drawing. This is because I need to show the ugly truth and the dirty reality which happened to
the detainees.” 190 (emphasis added).
The
constant
nudity
clearly
demonstrates that humiliation was a major
element in the CIA’s torture regime. This
intention is demonstrated in the drawings of
the cavity searches, mock/simulated rapes,
and actual rapes. Although the full extent of
emotional trauma caused by these acts will be
discussed in depth in Section II, some
elements of these photos and explanations
also demonstrate the specific intent to
humiliate. Drawing #9 (left) depicts the “rape
threats,” where the act is simulated by
pressing a stick in a circular motion near the
detainee’s rear. A portion of the
accompanying explanation emphasizes how
humiliating this act was for the prisoner, and
“the feelings [he] suffers, such as fear, pain,
and embarrassment.” 191 Mr. Abu Zubaydah
uses similar language throughout his
explanation for a different drawing with
several depictions of cavity searches and
actual rapes that prisoners such as he endured.

190
191

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #37.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #9.

Use of Religion

THREAT
TO
ILi ATE.

RE-UGIOt-l

"~~

f3LA$pHEN')'

The CIA’s use of forced constant nudity emphasizes another one of the more subtle ways
that they would torture the prisoner; they tortured them not just as men, but as Muslim men. For
example, in the left-hand side drawing in Drawing #38, depicting Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s first day,
he shows guards shaving his hair and beard. In the right-hand drawing, depicting him clean-shaven,
he yells out “Don’t shave off my beard, it is a ‘religious matter.’” 192 A non-depicted guard replies,
“If your ‘God’ came, certainly would shave his public hair HHHH.” 193 Mr. Abu Zubaydah aptly
titled this drawing, “Threat to Humiliate Religion and Blasphemy.”
The guards also weaponized cleanliness for their torture regime. Being in close proximity
to one’s own excrement is horrifying for any individual for any period of time. It is particularly
harmful to a practicing Muslim because cleanliness an extremely important tenet of Islam; being
in constant close proximity to human waste has religious implications for daily prayer and ritual
purifications. Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts a prisoner urinating on himself and lying in his own
excrement, and describes other similar conditions, in many of the drawings and descriptions. 194

192

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #38.
Id.
194
See, e.g., Appendix, infra, at Drawings #12, 15, 28, 32, 36, 38.
193

TD#39

~
.'
~

THR.t=AT TO
.... ~
KICI< \-\O\.)' QU~
~
;
DUR\N.G -fC.E -AT GUA~T~WJ\W\O It is evident from Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings that the CIA was purposeful in its attempt
to weaponize his religion through torture. This is poignantly demonstrated by Drawing 39 and
Drawing 35; in both drawings, “guards at the CIA, FBI, and/or GMTO” 195 would make direct
threats to the Quran. For example, Mr. Abu Zubaydah described how desecration of his Quran
would often be a direct consequence of a Forcible Cell Extraction (FCE). During an FCE, guards
would “storm[] the detainee” or would “spray a substance or gas on the face of the detainee.” 196 If
the detainee did not put away his Quran, “[u]sually they would kick the Quran when they entered
or they would step [on] it or push it back using their feet. They would push it near the bathroom
(toilet).” 197
As explained above, Mr. Abu Zubaydah was also extremely uncomfortable with nudity in
front of others. 198 While this was part of the humiliation element of the torture campaign, the FBI
and CIA also used constant nudity to offend the prisoner’s religious values. They are deeply held
beliefs, and Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings and descriptions reflect how the FBI and CIA
weaponized the prisoners’ values to psychologically torture them. In a drawing description, Mr.
Abu Zubaydah explained that “it is forbidden in the religion of Islam to be naked even in front of

195

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #39.
Id.
197
Id.
198
See e.g., Appendix, infra, at Drawing #28 (“NOTE: the fig leaf that covers the genitals in the drawing is an extra, does not
represent the ugly truth of what occurred.”).
196

your brother or father (of course you can do this with wife)” 199 (emphasis added). Mr. Abu
Zubaydah’s main interrogator Dr. Mitchell himself admitted he had personal knowledge that
Muslim men are sensitive with respect to nudity. 200
Moreover, Mitchell's testimony reveals that a member of the team was an Islam expert or
scholar. While part of this individual’s job included giving the prisoner fatwa, it is evident from
that this person also appeared to inform interrogators like Mitchell about Islam. 201 The prisoners
remained for many months unaware of prayer times and the direction of Mecca.
D.

Presence of Women

Another crucial detail of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s drawings is the depiction of women. Clearly
emphasized in the drawings and their descriptions, the FBI and CIA used women strategically to
cause severe humiliation during these interrogation sessions. It was the ultimate insult to Mr. Abu
Zubaydah and prisoners like him to exacerbate the ultimate injury they already faced with aroundthe-clock torture.
The inclusion of women in these drawings may seem like a subtle detail, also subject to
being overshadowed by more gruesome depictions. But Mr. Abu Zubaydah purposely included
them in the drawings—just as the CIA purposefully included them on Abu Zubaydah’s
interrogation teams. For example, in the drawing below, a prisoner is being subjected to rectal
hydration and feeding. In the right-hand corner of the top drawing—an almost inconspicuous detail
in this gruesome scene—there is clearly a woman. She appears to be holding his foot, but in his
description, Mr. Abu Zubaydah emphasizes that some of the females were “laughing and
commenting on the operation with inappropriate or sexual comments.”

199

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #21.
Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31586.
201
Id.
200

In Drawing #25, a few guards
and another man observe as a woman
in a yellow top points at a bloody Mr.
Abu Zubaydah. Another woman is
unmistakably present in Drawing
#26. The drawing at the bottom of
#26 shows one of the many
waterboarding sessions that Mr. Abu
Zubaydah and others endured. The
prisoner is strapped down to the
board, while a bottle of water is
poured over his covered face to
simulate the feeling of drowning.
Two fully covered guards watch over
him.
In
this
depiction
of
waterboarding,
he
clearly
emphasizes a provocatively dressed
red haired woman standing over him.
In the accompanying description, he
writes: “[e]ven when they were
waterboarding (torture), and the
detainee is completely naked, they
sometimes
bring
a
female
interrogator to ask questions or to
just
write
the
answers
202
(responses).”
Nudity in front of others was per se discomforting for the prisoners, but the FBI and CIA
exploited the presence of women to cause even greater embarrassment. In his explanation to
Drawing #21, Mr. Abu Zubaydah expressed “embarrassment of his nakedness, in front of guards
and the cameras [but] the embarrassment will increase when you notice one of the investigators or
the guards dressed in black is a female who is watching him when he is cleaning, ease himself in
a bucket in front of her or sleeps naked on the ground. He can hardly cover his genitals in front of
her.” 203
Mr. Abu Zubaydah even describes two separate instances in which bringing in women lead
him to scream at his interrogators. In the explanation accompanying Drawing #25, he described
an incident where female interrogators were brought in while he was naked and he “screamed at
them that day, saying, ‘If you don’t want to respect me, respect this (female) interrogator...respect
her feminism. Don’t be animals.” 204 In the explanation for Drawing #26, he described a similar
incident where once a female interrogator was brought in, he “covered [his] genitals with [his]
hand and [] was screaming and cursing at them for their lack of morals and their behavior.” 205 Mr.
202

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #26.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #21.
204
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #25.
203
205

Abu Zubaydah emphasized he was upset out of “respect [for] her feminism” and because a
woman’s presence while he was nude was “inappropriate.” 206 Dr. James Mitchell expressed a
different view of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s aversion to nudity in front of women. When asked whether
a religious scholar who briefed agents on Islam at CIA sites explained to Mitchell the “relationship
between men and women in the Islam faith,” Mitchell testified that he did not require an expert
because he already “knew how chauvinistic they were.” 207
The CIA’s weaponization of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s traditional, deeply rooted religious
values surrounding relations with women is one of the most significant undertones of his drawings.
It is evident that the interrogators were using these women for this specific purpose; when his
interrogators “would bring in a woman suddenly, if the detainee starts moving his hands
spontaneously to cover his genitals, they’ll beat him...while she kept watching.” That is precisely
the message Mr. Abu Zubaydah is sending by highlighting the presence of women while he was
naked and tortured; he wrote “they beat me painfully...punches, slaps, and more slamming in to
[sic] the wall only for me to talk to a female interrogator while I am in this condition (naked)”
(emphasis added). 208
The presence of women was not used only for the detainee’s humiliation; women were also
used in conjunction with disrespect to a detainee’s religion. In Drawing #35, a guard forces a
strapped-down prisoner to choose: “Choose! Will we put the Qur’an into the bucket of shit, or into
this menstrual blood bucket.” 209 The anguish is clear on the detainee’s face, as he appears to be
reaching forward towards the holy book. While watching the Quran be placed in one’s own feces
is certainly offensive, there is a certain additional element of humiliation associated with the threat
of female menstrual blood.

206
207

Mitchell Transcripts, supra note 54, at 31586.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #26.
209
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #35.
208

THREl1TTO 1)ESEC~ATi

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rr HOLY QURAN)) .

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TDil-35
This is not the only drawing depicting the torture aimed at offending detainee’s religious
values using extreme uncleanliness. Cleanliness is extremely important in Islam, especially in
relation to prayer. Before praying, a practicing Muslim will perform a sort of cleaning ritual,
involving washing the hands, mouth, nose, face, arms, hair, ears, and feet. This is called “wudu,”
and certain things can break the state of cleanliness attained by wudu, such as defecating, urinating,
farting, and sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse requires a full wash and performance of the
ritual ablution afterwards.
Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts the prisoner urinating on himself in Drawing #7; Drawing #12;
and Drawing #32. In Drawing #12, he depicts himself shackled to a chair inside of a cage, being
sprayed by hose, in a room with a boombox and air conditioner blasting. He is noticeably urinating
on himself, noting he is “unable to urinate but on himself (as much as he’s trying to hold it, it will
come out forcefully). Or it will come out as soon as they pour [sic] a very cold water on him,

because he will find himself not
only, he cannot control his
urinating, or what its worst. Not
only because of the cold
temperature of water, and
weather, but of the force of
pressure of the water (too).” He
even
described
detainees
wearing diapers when they were
transferred between locations. 210
In Drawing #29, Mr.
Abu Zubaydah depicts both
rectal hydration and rectal
feeding; in the accompanying
explanation he describes the
later consequences of the
torture: “After the end of
horrible feeding operation, in 15
or 30 minutes, the prisoner starts
feeling a severe ache in his
stomach...like his intestines are
being shredded. This is followed
by severe and uncontrollable
diarrhea.” 211 If there was any
doubt that this the consequence
the FBI and CIA guards sought,
Mr. Abu Zubaydah went on to write: “The guards and the interrogators took advantage of the
circumstances and started asking questions while he is asking to go to the restroom. Of course this
is prohibited, so he begs for them to bring a bucket and allow him to defecate in it, but they refused,
and he was forced to defecate on himself.” 212
E.

Rape Threats

210

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #22.
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #29.
212
Id.
211

Drawing #9 below, titled “Rape
Threats,” is one of Mr. Abu Zubaydah’s
earlier drawings, the first depiction of rape
threats and mock or simulated rape. The
drawing has two parts; the top drawing
shows one of the prisoners, head shaved,
fully shackled and on all fours, being held by
three guards. Two guards are in the front,
restraining him by his head and shoulders.
The third guard is crouched by the prisoner’s
rear, holding his lower back with one hand
and pressing a stick near his anus with the
other. The bottom drawing provides a closeup of the prisoner’s rear and demonstrates
how the stick would be pressed in circular
motions near his anus. The back of this
drawing below has written on it:
“(Mock)/(simulated) Rape.”
The explanation that accompanies
Drawing #32 describes just how brutal the
process was: “[d]uring the threatening, they
were trying to show that it is not just (cursing
or a scream of an angry man using harmful
words), instead with calmness or with
screaming, they were threatening him with
rape one or all the family females (wife,
sister, daughter), even the mother.” 213 In the
drawing, the prisoner is bent over and hand
shackled to a table while two guards beat his
buttocks and hands with sticks, while another man threatens him, depicted by speech bubbles. The
speech bubble to the right shows one of the prisoners being raped by a blunt object, while the
middle bubble shows him being raped by another man. This rape threat has three arrows pointing
to the speech bubble to the left, which shows an elderly woman, a young woman, and a young girl.
Mr. Abu Zubaydah writes:
The interrogation starts by cursing and screaming then hitting the prisoner with a stick on
his rear/behind (sometimes they would hit his hands or feet). Then the interrogator started
threatening to put the stick in the rectums of the prisoner until it bleeds. Then the
interrogator threatened to rape him or his wife or his daughter (if he had a wife or daughter)
– no matter how young she is; or rape his mother- no matter how old she is. 214

213
214

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #32.
Id.

The
interrogators
quickly
moved from verbal threats of others to
more physical threats of actual rape.
“They used to drop the prisoner on the
ground, and hold him in a way, as if
actually someone will (sodomize)
him . . . . Whenever the detainee resists,
the other guards would place him back
in the proper way to (do sodomy).” 215
The threats would escalate quickly, Mr.
Abu Zubaydah explains: “they start
using dirty sexual words describing
(beauty, size, or softness) of his
(behind). Then, they start (the disgrace)
using their hands or some (sticks) in the
sensitive areas or around the anus . . .
Then they will use a stick at the size of
“male penis.” 216
Although the guards would start
with other objects, and “(of course, the
/)u.ttoct- f{tt
prisoner does not see what is happening
/fNO
behind him), but after [the guards] feel
/rAPE TttREJ\TS
that he knew or felt that they are using a
‘stick,’ they used to say loudly we will
put this big stick or a bigger one in your
(anus) to perforate it (until they bring us
a condom then we ‘all’ do it).” 217 While Drawing #32 focuses mostly on threat of rape, it is the
first drawing and explanation where Mr. Abu Zubaydah states that one of the prisoner’s was
sodomized, not just threatened with it. Actual rape would often follow the threats “to prove to him
that they are serious in doing this rape, and not just words.” 218 His interrogators desired to
thoroughly humiliate the prisoners by adding insult to the already horrific injury of rape threats
and rape itself. Mr. Abu Zubaydah wrote that the interrogators “used to say loudly (I will not dirty
my penis with your feces), or they say (we don’t have a condom), or they say (you may have sexual
diseases).” 219

215

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #9.
Id.
217
Id.
218
Id.
219
Id.
216

Penetration: Rectal Feeding/Hydration, Cavity Search & Rape

These drawings truly demonstrate that there was no line that the CIA was unwilling to cross
when it came to the torture of the prisoners. While threats of rape to both self and others is
traumatic in and of itself, Mr. Abu Zubaydah makes it clear that his interrogators actually
penetrated prisoners like him in various ways.
G.

Forced or Rectal Feeding/Hydration

Mr. Abu Zubaydah depicts the forced feeding process n Drawing #30 and 31. Again, he
makes sure to include American flags in both, watching over the torture process. In the bottom left
corner, he depicts the chair “specialized” for force feeding detainees: straps on the arms and bottom
of the chair to hold down a detainee’s wrists and ankles. Another strap going along the top of the
chair was used to keep his head in place. The central drawing of #31, it shows the detainee strapped
down to this chain, while a tube of fluid is stuck up his nose, and two guards hold his head in place.
Even when the forced feeding was completed, the prisoner would “remain[] tied up in this way for
a long period of time.” 220 He also specified “th[is[ precise method was used in Guantanamo.” 221
Mr. Abu Zubaydah described the process more in depth in his description to Drawing #30:
They were tying the prisoner in a tilted chair (his hands behind his back); the guards further
restrained him with their hands as they put a shirt (straight jacket. . .) on the prisoner. This
shirt has a heavier cloth and inside it there are metal plates, thin but strong, organized
vertically in the shirt. The metal plates forced the prisoner to stay from the neck down while
he was secured to the chair specialized for this operation (depicted in Drawing 3qD). Then
they start inserting plastic hose in the prisoner’s nose in a harsh way; it is very clear it was
purposely severe. The prisoner felt the cutting and then immediate bleeding from the nose.
They keep inserting the hose until it reached their desired level (the throat or esophagus or
the stomach...I don’t know how deep). Then, as usual, the thick liquid starts flowing. The
operation would be complete in a short or long time, but the prisoner remained tied up in
this way for hours after it was completed. 222

220

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #31.
Id.
222
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #30.
221

In Drawing
In
Drawing #29,
#29, Mr.
Mr. Abu
Abu Zubaydah
Zubaydah

R_EC.TAL HYDRA1roN

shows
shows aa prisoner
prisoner being
being rectally
rectally hydrated
hydrated and
and
fed. In
fed.
In the
the top
top part
part of
of #29,
#29, three
three guards
guards hold
hold
him down
down while
two others
others have
have inserted
inserted the
the
him
while two
tube
tube into
into his
his anus
anus for
for rectal
rectal hydration.
hydration. To
To the
the
far
woman appears
far right,
right, aa woman
appears to
to watch
watch over
over the
the
process. The
The bottom
bottom depiction
depiction shows
shows rectal
rectal
process.
feeding using
using aa mixture
mixture of
of beans,
beans, hummus,
hummus,
feeding
and
and water.
water.

P,.ECTAL fEeDlNG

These
of
These acts
acts only
only scratch
scratch the
the surface
surface of
the
the penetrative
penetrative sexual
sexual abuse
abuse inflicted
inflicted on
on the
the
prisoners.
prisoners. Drawing
Drawing #27
#27 is
is perhaps
perhaps the
the most
most
powerfully
powerfully disturbing
disturbing and
and shocking
shocking drawing
drawing
of
of such
such horrors,
horrors, with
with three
three distinct
distinct parts.
parts. The
The
top
top drawing
drawing is
is titled
titled “Cavity
"Cavity Search.”
Search." It
It shows
shows
aa hooded
hooded and
and shackled
shackled prisoner
prisoner being
being bent
bent
over
over and
and held
held down
down by
by three
three interrogators;
interrogators; one
one
is
is in
in the
the front,
front, holding
holding his
his arms
arms the
the second
second

•c

v ,t

dl'C h

pushes
pushes his
his back
back down
down keeping
keeping him
him bent
bent over,
over,
and
and the
the third
third is
is in
in aa bizarre
bizarre position,
position,
crouching
crouching down
down near
near his
his crotch
crotch and
and holding
holding
onto
onto one
one of
of his
his legs.
legs. Near
Near his
his rear,
rear, there
there is
is aa
man
man in
in aa military
military uniform
uniform performing
perfonning the
the
cavity
cavity search,
search, while
while aa woman
woman holding
holding aa
paper
paper and
and pointing
pointing at
at his
his anus
anus observes.
observes. The
The
drawing
drawing and
and its
its accompanying
accompanying description
description
emphasize
emphasize how
how the
the interrogators
interrogators performed
performed
these
these searches
searches in
in such
such aa way
way as
as to
to maximize
maximize
the
the prisoner’s
prisoner's humiliation.
humiliation. One
One way
way they
they
would
would do
do this
this was
was with
with the
the level
level of
of force
force
used.
used. Mr.
Mr. Abu
Abu Zubaydah
Zubaydah notes
notes that
that some
some
searches
searches carried
carried out
out “in
"in aa fast
fast and
and painful,
painful ,
223
223
humiliating
humiliating way.”
way. "

223

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #27.

Another way the CIA and FBI would achieve this was by purposefully involving women
during these cavity searches. At the top of Drawing #27, Mr. Abu Zubaydah makes it abundantly
clear a woman is present while someone is performing the cavity search – an already distressing
procedure for the prisoners. His explanation for this drawing again suggests that women were used
purposefully, especially for the cavity searches. 224 Although this top drawing appears to depict a
cavity search, evidenced also by the title, Mr. Abu Zubaydah explains that searches and mock or
simulated rapes were not mutually exclusive; “[s]ometimes the cavity search was actually a
mock/simulated rape . . . performed with a finger.” 225
The middle part of the Drawing #27 shows a naked prisoner, held down by four guards
beneath an American flag; a guard’s arm approaches the detainee’s rear with a blunt stick. The
prisoner is dehooded, which “they used to do . . . so he can see.” 226 He is also unshackled, giving
him more room to clearly flail, his face twisted and spitting in pain. But Mr. Abu Zubaydah stressed
that if the prisoner attempted to resist, he would be “slammed to the ground and the search was
performed more violently and in a more intentional way.” 227 Throughout, the guards “would point
and laugh to each other;” “[t]he laughter of the guards was intentional – for humiliation and
disgracing.” 228
Lastly, the bottom of Drawing #27 shows a numbered progression of these sexually abusive
interrogation sessions, which correspond to a numbered description. The drawing marked number
1 is paired with the title “Body Cavity Search!!! or Rape Threats,” and depicts an interrogator with
his finger and the same blunt stick in the prisoner’s face, with a speech bubble depicting sodomy.
The drawing marked number 2 is paired with the title “Simulated Rape,” and depicts a similar act
as the rape threats or mock/simulated rape acts in Drawing #9. This drawing depicts a prisoner
bent over, with one hand holding his knee while another pair of hands holds his lower back and
rubs the stick in a circular motion near his anus.
The drawing marked number 3 is paired with the title “Raped with stick,” and depicts the
final step of the interrogators’ process: the sodomy of a prisoner. Again, he is bent over, with one
hand holding his knee while another guard presses down on his back. Beneath another American
flag, another hand sodomizes the prisoner with a stick.
Symbolized by the American flags, Mr. Abu Zubaydah makes clear he and his brothers
were sodomized and raped in this country’s name. One of the biggest takeaways from these
drawings is not merely that the CIA and FBI brutally tortured individuals—rather, under their
regime of torture, prisoners were repeatedly and violently sexually tortured, with the purpose to
inflict the maximum humiliation possible: The interrogators brought in women to watch or assist
with cavity searches or simulated rape’’ they threatened to rape the prisoners’ female family
members; they laughed in the prisoners’ faces while they sodomized them with various objects.
The torture agents of the U.S. government committed against these prisoners is
unspeakable. Accordingly, Mr. Abu Zubaydah posed the ultimate question to his interrogator:
“[E]ven if I were truly the person you were looking for and you tortured me in his place, is it your
224

Id.
Id.
226
Id.
227
Id.
228
See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #27.
225

right or are your morals/religion or your countries laws permit you to threaten to rape his mother,
wife or daughter to seek revenge from him?” 229

229

See Appendix, infra, at Drawing #32.

CONCLUSION

Not only are these drawings a powerful testament to what the CIA and FBI did in the wake
of 9/11, they are the only evidence now. The CIA destroyed the only video evidence of detainee
torture, and “justice” moves at a glacial pace in the Guantanamo Bay, Military Commission
courtroom; 19 years have been wasted while Mr. Abu Zubaydah and many other GTMO prisoners
have neither been charged with a crime, nor allowed to testify. The recent drawings by Mr. Abu
Zubaydah pull together the many elements of torture that were used simultaneously and
sequentially against the detainees. These acts are horrible and evil in and of themselves. Perhaps
even worse is how the CIA devised a way to inflict severe physical trauma while simultaneously
exposing the detainee to psychological trauma as well.

XI.

APPENDIX – THE TORTURE DRAWINGS

Drawing #1: The Casket Box ...................................................................................................................... 63
Drawing #2.................................................................................................................................................. 65
Drawing #3: Suspension ............................................................................................................................. 67
Drawing #4: Waterboarding Board ............................................................................................................. 69
Drawing #5: Walling................................................................................................................................... 70
Drawing #6.................................................................................................................................................. 72
Drawing #7: Suspension ............................................................................................................................. 74
Drawing #8: The Confinement Box ............................................................................................................ 76
Drawing #9: Threatening with Rape ........................................................................................................... 78
Drawing #10: The Vortex ........................................................................................................................... 80
Drawing #11: Extreme Cold ....................................................................................................................... 82
Drawing #12................................................................................................................................................ 84
Drawing #13................................................................................................................................................ 86
Drawing #14................................................................................................................................................ 88
Drawing #15: Drowning & Waterboarding ................................................................................................ 90
Drawing #16................................................................................................................................................ 92
Drawing #17: The Vertical Box .................................................................................................................. 93
Drawing #18................................................................................................................................................ 95
Drawing #19................................................................................................................................................ 97
Drawing #20: Waterboarding ..................................................................................................................... 99
Drawing #21.............................................................................................................................................. 100
Drawing #22: Transporting Prisoners ....................................................................................................... 102
Drawing #23.............................................................................................................................................. 103
Drawing #24.............................................................................................................................................. 104
Drawing #25.............................................................................................................................................. 105
Drawing #26.............................................................................................................................................. 107
Drawing #27: Cavity Search ..................................................................................................................... 109
Drawing #28.............................................................................................................................................. 111
Drawing #29: Rectal Rehydration/Rectal Feeding ................................................................................... 113
Drawing #30: The Force Feeding ............................................................................................................. 115
Drawing #31: The Force Feeding ............................................................................................................. 117
Drawing #32.............................................................................................................................................. 119
Drawing #33: Threat with a Power Drill .................................................................................................. 121
Drawing #34: Threats with a Power Drill ................................................................................................. 122
Drawing #35: Threat to Desecrate the Holy Quran .................................................................................. 124
Drawing #36: Stress Positions .................................................................................................................. 125
Drawing #37: Threat to Impair the Sex Organ/Genitals ........................................................................... 127
Drawing #38: Threat to Humiliate Religion and Blasphemy.................................................................... 128
Drawing #39: ............................................................................................................................................ 129
Drawing #40.............................................................................................................................................. 131

Drawing #1: The Casket Box

Drawing #1: The Casket Box (continued)
They routinely put the detainee in it in a vertical position and sometimes horizontally which would
actually become like he is in a coffin waiting for burial with his hands tied behind his back or in
the front.
The detainee is completely tied inside; his hands are cuffed with a very short chain in between,
and also tied are his feet. There is a chain connects the cuffs of his feet with those of his hands
causing the detainee to be unable to stand up but in a hunchback position.
During the torture period, this coffin was the actual prison where he lives, and from which he is
taken to be tortured with the other methods. They bring him back completely broken to this coffin
that has a bucket for fulfilling the need of nature (toilet), a small can of drinking water, and a can
of “Ensure”.
He is deprived of sleep because every 5 or 10 minutes they bang on the coffin strongly from the
outside with a stick or a metal object or something of the sort where the banging reverberates
loudly inside the coffin. Or they forcibly shake it until the detainee falls on the floor together with
his bucket to drown in his own soiling.

Drawing #2

Drawing #2 (continued)
Cuffing the detainee to the bars of the prison cell, although he is initially shackled with shackles
connecting the very short feet shackles to the also very short hand shackles through a short chain
in between. If he moves his hands his feet move and if he extends his legs his both hands move
which makes him to always be in crouched position. He remains as such for days or weeks on the
cement floor of the very cold prison cell.
He is ever deprived from sleeping, or, they allow him to sleep for minutes but he gets awakened
by very cold water suddenly thrown at him from a bucket to a degree he feels as if his heart is
about to stop or explode from the cold temperature or the cessation of breathing, or from the shock.
The two drawings on the bottom of the page are the methods of shackling during trips from a black
site to another, lasting sometimes to 30 hours, in the same shackling position even when changing
aircrafts or vehicle; but on the plane, add to this position another shackle that affixes you to the
floor. (Discharging bodily waste is in diapers)

Drawing #3: Suspension

Drawing #3: Suspension (continued)
This is another method of suspension for days or weeks without fulfilling the human nature need
(toilet use) except on himself in the standing position.
He would be standing on his whole feet sometimes—whole feet meaning the sole of his feet—or
on his toes on other times, based on the mood of the torturer or the person in charge of the torture
or interrogation.
They blow hard hits on his back and head.
They throw a bucket of very cold water on the detainee in the already very cold prison cell.

Drawing #4: Waterboarding Board
Abu Zubaydah © 2023

The waterboarding board is the same as the patient’s stretcher or gurney that has straps to restrains
the patient (in this case, the detainee) and has the two plastic pieces to firmly brace the head of the
patient (detainee) to always keep the head motionless.
The difference here is: the special bed used to transport the patient (detainee here) on which a
stretcher is placed, has a particular mechanism under the head of the detainee that is manually
controlled. It gets depressed few degrees to lower the bead of the detainee so the constantly flowing
water's entry through the cloth placed on the detainee's face would become more difficult; the more
degrees they depress, and eventually the detainee's head, the more and more difficult the situation
becomes. Even when they remove the cloth from the detainee's face, the return to normal breathing
is delayed due to the airways being filled with the trapped water. Then they repeat the same method
again and again ... and in every time, the detainee feels as if he bad actually died from drowning.

Drawing #5: Walling

100

Drawing #3: Walling (continued)
Powerfully and violently slamming the head against a cement wall, and repeating it until I fall.
Then they repeat the same with my back. Later, striking the head and back against a wooden wall
attached to the cement wall with the same force, violence, and repetition until falling and fainting.
The difference between the concrete and wooden wall is: the first causes the blood to immediately
gush from the head. Also, the bruises on the back and shoulders are clearly visible. But with the
wooden wall the blood doesn’t gush rapidly when pushed against it or when the head is slammed
against it causes the same pain and suffering but without a lot of clearly visible marks.
As the torturer or the interrogator speaks, the face slaps doesn’t stop.
After the daily and repeated beating, a severe headache overcomes and overwhelms my head,
which previously I only experienced with the first injury to my head in 1991 resulting a loss in
memory, in speech, and in the ability to read and write for a specific period of time but later
everything returned to almost normal level. However, after all this head beating they all came back
to me once more, including the stuttering. As a result, I suffered so far more than 200 fainting
cases without any torture or head beating.

Drawing #6

Drawing #6 (continued)
Sitting fully naked on a chair and completely shackled in a very cold temperature and totally sleepdeprived for weeks without moving even one step to use toilet.
Under the chair a bucket is placed for the purpose of discharging bodily waste that they replace
only when full. My position and movement never changes to the point that I almost explode from
pain in the back, neck, joints, and in the muscles of thighs and hips.
The head is always covered with a black bag except during the long and continuous interrogation.
Sometimes they abruptly throw a bucket of a very cold water on the face and/or body of the
detainee.

Drawing #7: Suspension

Drawing #7: Suspension (continued)
Suspension for days and/or weeks. There is no rest even for a few seconds and no opportunity to
fulfill a nature need (toilet) except while in the suspended -position. No matter how he tries to
suppress the natural waste discharge function fur hours or days, it comes out from him
uncontrollably and he remains as such fur days with no cleaning, aside from the severe back and
shoulders’ pain. Regarding the wrists, in the first hours or the first day he would feel them severing
from the rest of his body and associated with a constant pain.
While in this disgraceful condition, they start hitting him hard with their hands (concentrated
punches) on the abdomen, chest and back, along with slaps on the face.
Sometimes they pull the chain or the two chains that are shackling his hands to the ceiling, raising
the body of the detainee so he stands on the tip of his toes and so he stays as such for long hours.
From time to time, they throw very cold water on him in a very cold atmosphere.

Drawing #8: The Confinement Box

Drawing #8: The Confinement Box (continued)
The box is small and can barely fit a medium size dog, so how can it fit an adult man even if he is
slim? I was not slim in the beginning despite losing too much weight and blood due to my injury.
They would shove me inside with difficulty and they dose the door. A few minutes later, I feel I
am about to explode from the tightness, the bondage of my extremities with my organs, difficulties
in breathing and from my head twisting. No matter how I try, I am staying in it for long hours.
Sometimes I faint inside due to the severity of the tightness and pain. I think so, because I would
afterward find myself stretched on the floor outside the box or thrown inside the big box (the
coffin) next to the; for self-relief bucket.
They would insert me in this small box after or before the waterboarding board or the suspension.
And the detainee is completely shackled with the same short shackles.

Drawing #9: Threatening with Rape

Drawing #9: Threatening with Rape (continued)
This drawing shows “the threatening with rape” (literally) against the detainee. Usually they do it
after (the threatening with rape) verbally to prove to him that they are serious in doing this rape,
and not just words. During the threatening, they were trying to show that it is not just (cursing or
a scream of an angry man using harmful words), instead with calmness or with screaming, they
were threatening him with raping one or all the family females (wife, sister, daughter), even the
mother.
Then, they start threatening with rape (literally). They used to drop the prisoner on the ground, and
hold him in a way, as if actually someone will (sodomize) him, and they start using dirty sexual
words describing (beauty, size, or softness) of his (behind). Then, they start (the disgrace) using
their hands or some (sticks) in the sensitive areas or around the anus. Whenever the detainee resists,
the other guards would place him back in the proper way to (do sodomy).
Then, they will use a stick at the size of “male penis” (of course the prisoner does not see what is
happening behind him), but after they feel that he knew or felt that they are using a “stick”, they
used to say loudly (I will not dirty my penis with your feces), or they say (we don’t have a condom),
or they say (you may have sexual diseases). So, we will put this big stick or a bigger one in your
(anus) to perforate it (until they bring us a condom then we “all” do it). You can picture the feelings
the prisoner suffers, such as, fear, pain, and embarrassment….etc.

Drawing #10: The Vortex

Drawing #10: The Vortex (continued)
This drawing shows The Vortex—the vortex of conciseness, pain, stress, hunger, and cold, etc.,
where they place (the detainee) in it during (24) hours every day of the intense torture, which
continues for long weeks or months; as soon as they start at a certain hour, (which is 3:00 here)
day or night, it does not matter because (the detainee) does not know night or day, for months
(before and after the start). I started in it for example, and it was on the right side because we write
from right to left. So, they use a specific torture method (in this case) hitting with a stick in a very
cold weather, so the pain will be doubled, and they focus on the hitting till the prisoner almost pass
out, (or even pass out for real). They wake him up roughly, then they start focusing on another
torture method for an hour, (here it is an hour as an example, usually they focus on finishing this
method no matter how long it takes). Then, the next hour (or the next time) they use a third method
and so on until they finish all of their methods. Then, they start again with the first method for a
second time, third time, and so on, for the whole day just like we said and for the whole torture
duration as long as it takes. (There are two types of torture (focused) like this one), or (continuous
type, for months or years such as (extreme cold and a very loud sound), very limited food, tying
the feet with a very short chain, continuous threatening with going back to the focused torture in
any moment.

Drawing #11: Extreme Cold

Drawing #11: Extreme Cold (continued)
Using a very cold water in very cold weather (by using a very strong AC, to a degree that all of
the investigators were using cloths specialized for the North Pole, as well as the guards with the
black cloths were wearing the extreme cold cloths under the black attire. On top of this cold, they
also used or turned on a very strong (fan), then they start pouring very cold water on the detainee’s
head, (that has been already shaved), for a long time until he falls down (and because he is tied up
with a chain or two that make him (hang). The hands’ joint pain and the pain of blood blockage
force the prisoner to stand again, and they will continue pouring cold water on his head. Then,
another guard comes with a water hose, and starts shooting very cold water on his back, belly,
behind, and genitals, focusing on an area or moving around (they used to focus) on the head from
the top, and/or under the genitals. (The pain of cooling the testicles is like someone holding them
and squeezing them hardly and repeatedly). They used this method for hours (before) the
interrogation and hours after it (The AC and the fan does not stop during the interrogation … but
the very loud music or the very annoying sound stops during the interrogation then it comes back
after and for the whole day and the whole duration of the continuous or focused torture.

Drawing #12

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Drawing #12 (continued)
In a big cage with dimensions approximately 6.55 ft. (2 meters x 2 x 2), sometimes (or a little
bigger), they used to put the detainee totally naked; tied to a chair (completely), and his hands
behand his back, or tied to the floor of metal or a very cold wooden floor cage in a very cold
weather (as the detainee feeling to the freezing point). He’s unable to urinate but on himself (as
much as he’s trying to hold it, it will come out forcefully). Or it will come out as soon as they poor
a very cold water on him, because he will find himself not only he cannot control his urinating, or
what its worst. Not only because of the cold temperature of water, and weather, but of the force of
pressure of the water (too). Focusing the water to the (head), (penis), (abdominal), wounds and
injuries, if the detainee is wounded.
- Beside the extreme cold there was (the very loud noise whether in a continuous loud music, or
an apparatus blowing a strong noise, like plane, or a ship engine, or something of that sort.
- That type of torturing will be used sometimes for hours, or stopping a detainee from sleeping for
weeks, if his head tilted sideways off of drowsiness, or for (a second) of sleep, they’ll start that
method, the detainee starts showing signs of fright and panic off of (falling asleep even for a
second). Because they will do that method for an (hour), or (½ hour) every time.

Drawing #13

000
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Drawing #13 (continued)
This is one of the methods to hang a detainee for hours, days, or weeks (as the investigators sees).
Sometimes they’ll hang him like that (to the cell bars) for hours, then bring him down on the
ground or a on a chair and the rough investigation starts.
Sometimes they would leave him restrained like this for whole days, no rest not even for one
second (no sleep, or food, but force him to drink very cold water, in a very cold weather, and
urinate himself on the floor. Then they will bring him down to investigate on the chair or on a very
cold floor, while completely naked of course.
Sometimes they would hanged him as such for long weeks, and won’t bring him down not even
for a second, rather the investigation will be done as he’s hanged.
Every time he fell asleep for a little, with a very cold water they pour at him, and all of a sudden
from a bucket (two buckets or three buckets every time).
Even if he wasn’t drowsy, or lean his head off of sleepiness they will pour a very cold water on
him no matter what, from behind and all of a sudden, so he start screaming for a very long time
from hallucinating or cry like a wounded animal or a terrified baby.

Drawing #14

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Drawing #14 (continued)
This is one of the methods (hanging the prisoners) while torturing them: In a very, very cold
weather, and the detainee absolutely completely naked and hanged from the roof with a chain, and
for very long hours, long days or weeks and (and his feet are tied to the floor too).
Urinate on himself, no sleep not even for one second (even if they were not trying to stop him from
sleeping) because he can’t sleep for a second, once he falls asleep and falls down, his hands will
be tightened off of his falling body weight , then he’ll correct it). But they are usually around him
with a stick (they are carrying sticks), they use it to beat him up during the investigation and asking
him about things, once he denies then they’ll beat him up on the head, back, buttocks (rear-end)
or calves.
Sometimes they focus on one area they only hit/strike on this area. After the investigators leave,
the guards will stay with the stick. Once he tilts his head they will strike him a very hard one or
multiple once (randomly), (as they please), or what the investigators specify to them.

Drawing #15: Drowning & Waterboarding

Drawing #15: Drowning & Waterboarding (continued)
There are two methods of torture, (above) is a (drowning) method with water (water boarding).
Water boarding is not only using a water and a board. In this type they put him in a wooden coffin
for a long time, until he urinates on himself. Long (remaining) stay, as his hands are behind his
back, he’s restrained (or in the front).
If he was restrained from the front, he will stay like this for days. They ask him and leave him
drowned in his waste the drawing (below).
If it was behind his back, he will know what they will do from an experience of what they did
previously. Whereas they converse with him from a small hatch on the top of the (coffin), asking
him of things that as soon as he denies or swears that he doesn’t know it, another person starts
strongly pouring very cold water, from another small hatch. Because the coffin is made of (wood
the water would leak but slowly.
During this time the investigator asks him and threatens him, then leaves him, until the water
reaches his nose, mouth, and then he starts to move strongly with distress while coughing off of
drowning. Then, the investigator will come over again and the other person stops pouring water.
The water will leak from the box, but the cycle repeats again, and he’ll stay terrified of drowning
all day.

, ,-------

....
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0

They used to restrain the detainee in a method, in which he can’t stand straight, and can’t sit for
long days, (so how about laying on the ground). That is a dream, or a big hope that he didn’t get
in that room (cell), which filled with filth and his waste which is normal to do it on himself. Filled
with insects, large black cockroaches, or red in very big numbers (intentional of course), or other
scary looking insects, that are capable of stinging.
If the detainee knows what it is (harmful) or (just a scary look), but everyone knows the (scorpion),
and it appears all of a sudden (one or two). Then it disappears or the detainee can’t see it anymore,
the detainee will remain (terrified), from any movement, (or a sting) under his bare feet. Not to
mention, the backache, and limbs (very extreme) pain, his head hurts from lack of sleep, food, and
extreme cold weather (or the multiple vomiting), which may be caused by the cold, or the foul
odors around him.

. 1

Drawing #17: The Vertical Box (continued)
Usually after using different torture methods, they throw the prisoner inside a big box (like a casket
but in vertical position and not horizontal) while the prisoner is completely shackled (his hands
and feet are tied together), there is a short chain between the hands and the feet which forces the
prisoner to stay permanently bent no matter how he tries to be straight. Inside the vertical casket,
there was a bucket to be used as a toilet with a bottle of water and an Ensure packet on it ( this is
all his food and drink for a whole day) or may be more, and if the prisoner tried to sleep because
of fatigue, stress and psychological and physical pressure practiced on him during the torture
before he is placed in the casket, he will discover that he cannot have any opportunity to sleep or
rest, and after every few minutes, they will start to strongly bang on the casket many times to make
sure he cannot sleep even for one second, this is done in addition to the surprises and the pounding
inside the casket.
After one or two hours, they will move the whole casket (they almost turn it upside-down), so the
prisoner will turn upside-down and the human waste bucket will fall on him even though he did
not drink the water or “the Ensure” because it is contaminated with the urine. So, no food for him
all day.

Drawing #18

Drawing #18 (continued)
Sometimes they would use a towel wrapped with a plastic tape (Duct Tape) which they place
around the prisoner’s neck and they hit him against the cement or the timber wall, but in some
cases they would suddenly enter the prisoner’s cell and start to hit him against the wall without
any towel or even gloves and they deliberately hit him strongly on the back of his head and back
for many times and continue for a long time until he passes out, then they awake him with cold
water and continue the beating even if he does not pass out, they will start to slap his face while
they were asking him questions and verbally cursing him with obscene language and continue to
beat him strongly on his head, back and buttocks until he collapses on the ground.
Sometimes they start to flog him on his feet or on the tips of his toes while they were screaming:
Are trying to resist?

Drawing #19 (continued)
First note: Waterboarding is not the only way which they use in torture (to delude the prisoner that
they are drowning him) in a small water tub which is usually used in the bathrooms of homes.
They put the naked prisoner with his hands completely shackled behind his back, lay him down
and start investigating him while the cold water tap is flowing over his head until it is almost
drowning him and he cannot breath unless he pushes his arms behind his back so as to push his
body little bit higher to have his nose or his mouth or both of them outside the water level. The
prisoner will remain in this position for many hours while they are threatening him that they would
reopen the water tap until he is completely drowned but they do not do this and the prisoner will
continue to cough with each drop of water that goes in his respiratory tracts (mouth or nose). The
prisoner would stay scared and stressed until his hands which are tied behind his back get tired, so
his body and then his head would fall in the water and he continues to try to go back to his stressed
position while they are laughing and screaming at him, then they would move to another level after
many hours by pulling the prisoner’s feet outside the tub so his head would fall in the water and
he continues to gurgle until he is almost drowned so they leave his feet and the prisoner will try in
the last moments to get his head out of the water (he feels he is about to die) or they would directly
drown his head until he is almost dead, and then they would allow him to breath for a short time,
and after this they drown his head (from the front or the back) by their hands. (immediate death is
easier than the hard, slow and gradual one) This how the prisoner thinks and hopes.

Drawing #20: Waterboarding

This is another method of waterboarding (to delude the prisoner that they would drown him with
water), there are many ways and not only waterboarding.
This time they use the Terbal (TN: name of a fabric), a thick water-absorbing fabric which is used
in making tents.
They put the naked and shackled prisoner inside this Terbal, the guards would hold the edges of
the Terbal until the prisoner sinks in the vacuum which forms in the middle of the Terbal and they
start pouring the very cold water on his head in the cold weather and continue pouring until the
prisoner’s body and head is drowned, so the prisoner will try to get his head or nose and mouth at
least to breath and they start to control the concentration of water by moving the Terbal, so if they
want him to only breathe they would bend the Terbal a little so the prisoner can get his head of the
water to breathe so they will start their questions, if they are convinced of what he says, they would
bend the Terbal to cover him with water until he almost dies and that point they will bend the
Terbal to allow him to get his head and nose out of the water so he breathes like mad. This will
continue for many very tough and horrible hours. The prisoner sometimes loses control of urine
(or something worse than this) so he drowns in his urine which is mixed with water and he would
feel the taste of urine in his nose and mouth.

100

Drawing #21 (continued)
Before and after the intensive torture, the situation of the prisoner at the CIA and the FBI is also a
state of torture, only it was slow, persistent and annoying. This is one of its pictures; the severe
cold weather, the very high sounds and nakedness (and there are some other methods not drawn
here). If they want him to wash, they will tie his hands with a long chain, strip him of his clothing
and leave him washing himself in front of them and the cameras. (in the very cold water and cold
weather). The same thing happens when the prisoner wants to ease himself (in front of them and
the camera).
As for sleep, he is naked and laid down on the very cold ground without a mattress or a cover (of
course the pillow was a very big dream that has never been realized). They would let him sleep in
cold weather, hunger, the very loud sounds and embarrassment of his nakedness in front of the
guards and the cameras. He neither slept nor did not sleep (this in addition to fear, nightmares of
what they have done or will do to him).
The embarrassment will increase when you notice that one of the investigators or the guards
dressed in black is a female who is watching him when he is cleaning, ease himself in a bucket in
front of her or sleeps naked on the ground. He can hardly cover his genitals in front of her and the
male guards because it is forbidden in the religion of Islam to be naked even in front of your brother
or father (of course you can do this only with your wife).

101

Drawing #22: Transporting Prisoners

This is the method of collectively transferring the prisoners from a nearby place to another (nearby)
one. Sometimes this is done individually when they transfer for a long distance from one country
or prison to another, but when they transfer the prisoners from department to another while, they
would be naked with their hands tied behind their backs or in the front with a short chain
connecting the hand shackles with that of the feet, so the prisoner would remain bending all the
time and walk like a guerrilla, and they tie all the prisoners in one chain (like slaves or animals)
with their heads covered with hoods and they control their movements to the left or right by a
strike or a violent action on the head, the back or the buttock.
The operation of transfer takes several hours in the very cold weather in a standing or walking
position. The use of bathroom is not available and the prisoner has to be patient.
And as for the long transfer, it usually takes no less than 24 to 32 hours from the car to an airplane
and then to an airplane and so forth and he is not allowed to use the bathroom, therefore they put
diapers like those for children on them but with a very large size.

102

Drawing #23

flood

Most of the time at the FBI or the CIA when there was no certain investigation or torture, and also
during the transfer from one country to another, they used to put hoods on the head of the prisoner
or another place with a headphone under the hoods on the prisoner’s ears and attach it on his head
by a duct tape.
Sometimes these headphones happen to be just (ear muff) they strongly put inside the prisoner’s
ear so he cannot hear anything or see for many hours, days and sometimes for weeks as appropriate
to them.
Sometimes they would put a real headphone with extremely loud music.
The prisoners would stay like this, as we have mentioned, for many years, days or weeks until they
feel nauseous because of the pressure of sounds on their eardrum, nerves and spirit.

103

Drawing #24

With the CIA and FBI during the time of torture. The long sitting for continuous long weeks,
sitting on the chair and I am completely naked (definitely). Very hungry. I feel frozen from the
very cold weather. I almost get hallucinations because of the psychological and nerves and body
pressure. Additionally caused by the loud voices all the time except during interrogation period.
In addition to the sleep deprivation I feel that I’m really hallucinating. And then a woman
immediately came in wearing very light clothing (like it was summer). She sat next to me and there
were two men wearing very thick clothes (suitable for the North Pole)…!! I didn’t move at all, not
even to cover my genitals as it should be following the courtesy and religious beliefs, because
really in the beginning I thought it was a (hallucination). But when they talked to me and moved
me very hard, I paid attention and I moved involuntarily and I covered my genitalia completely, I
shouted to them (at least give me something to cover my genitalia in front of that
female…Animals. (Don’t you feel ashamed of yourselves?) They only gave me a bucket of very
cold water. And they poured it over my head. I couldn’t speak for a period of time due to the severe
shivering in my mouth and lips, and all over my body. She stayed sitting, looking, and staring
waiting for me to answer her first question which I don’t remember. She was waiting a half hour
without any answers, then she left and she was shaking of coldness and anger. I remember that
they threatened to discipline me…I told myself, “who will need this discipline?”)

104

Drawing #25

105

Drawing #25 (continued)
Because at the FBI and CIA, they didn’t give me a fig (berry) leaf to cover the genitals (naked
area), in the drawing I had to cover my genitals with a drawing of a leaf instead of painting myself
totally naked. I was chained and hanged so I couldn’t use my hands to cover my genitals in front
of the make guards. They then brought in female interrogators. I screamed at them that day, saying,
“If you don’t want to respect me, respect this (female) interrogator…respect her feminism. Don’t
be animals.”
They beat me hard until it felt as if my legs had fallen off; my genitals became more exposed rather
than dangle.
This drawing explains exactly the condition they put me in. The “fig leaf” in the drawing is an
extra of course, which is the only thing that is not accurately portrayed of what actually happened.
My thoughts while they were beating…they made me deal with her while I am naked, she is an
animal, just like them. I thought this because she agreed to come and do this inappropriate work
(inappropriate for her, me, and for them). So why should I care? Because she doesn’t deserve
respect or concern. However, I still have the respect for her feminism that our Islamic religion
orders…even with the female from the enemy’s side.
I kept refusing and they kept beating me, thinking that I’m arrogant to deal with a female
interrogator and for not respecting a woman, as they told me. On the contrary, I wasn’t being
disrespectful, I refused because I was respecting her feminism. Though, I didn’t respect her as a
person who agree to be part of this filthy work.

106

Drawing #26

107

Drawing #26 (continued)
After a rough round of slamming into the cement wall, then on a wooden wall, then drowning on
the waterboard and stuffed in a very narrow wooden box, then put in a vertical coffin, and
then…and then…etc.
They put me in front of a wall. I expected a new round of slamming on the wall but two individuals
came in, usually they are male interrogators, but one of them was a woman. I was completely
naked so I covered my genitals with my hand and I was screaming and cursing at them for their
lack of morals and their behavior.
But (Arabic saying- no life for wo you calling for), so they beat me painfully…punches, slaps, and
more slamming in to the wall only for me to talk to a female interrogator while I am in this
condition (naked).
Even when they were waterboarding (torture), and the detainee is completely naked, they
sometimes bring a female interrogator to ask questions or to just write the answers (responses).

108

109

Drawing #27: Cavity Search (continued)
The FBI and CIA would increasingly perform a cavity search through the anal opening. On
occasion they would insert a finger…before, during and after movement from one cell to another;
or from one prison to another; or from one country to another; or from one mode of transportation
to another. For example: they would perform a cavity search when I was transferred from a car to
plane (or vice-versa). Sometime it was in a fast and painful, humiliating way. Sometimes it was in
a very slow and more humiliating and painful way.
They used to do it while the detainees’ head was covered with a hood or without head cover so he
can see. The laughter of the guards was intentional- for humiliation and disgracing. They would
point and laugh to each other or to the detainee.
Sometimes they used to do it in front of female guards or female interrogators or women in charge
(supervisors or those with responsibility)
Sometimes the cavity search was actually a mock/simulated rape…performed with a finger.
Sometimes, something other than a finger was used…something plastic/wooden/metal but much
bigger in size than a finger. It was much more painful and disgracing.
When the detainee refused these procedures, they force it on him. The detainee was slammed to
the ground and the search was performed more violently and in a more intentional humiliating
way.

110

111

Drawing #28 (continued)
They used to force the detainee to stand next to the wall but not to lean on it or touch it, raising
both of his hands up high and not to bring them down (not for one second) or they will hit him
hard on the hand that comes down. They would force him to stand on his toes and not to bring
them down (or bring his body down for one second) or they will hit him violently on the foot that
comes down.
If his body leaned down, even a little (out of exhaustion or nerve or muscle tension), that was
caused by this posture (position) that they force him to be on for long hours. He wasn’t allowed to
urinate using a bathroom, instead he is forced to do it on himself. If he leaned down to relieve
himself, he took the chance of getting beaten on the back or buttocks.
So, if he completely collapsed of exhaustion and fell, they beat him with sticks until he brings
himself (or his hands) back up or stands on his toes once again.
Sometimes they would bring in a woman suddenly, if the detainee starts moving his hands
spontaneously to cover his genitals, they’ll beat him…while she kept watching.
The place, as usual, was always very cold…freezing. The sound was noisy…there was very loud
music and there was a machine that makes very loud sound. The noise made it so the detainee
couldn’t hear anyone else…or hear himself think. He couldn’t hear the loud screaming every time
they beat him, or even faint moaning and groaning.
NOTE: the fig leaf that covers the genitals in the drawing is an extra, does not represent the ugly
truth of what occurred.

112

Drawing #29: Rectal Rehydration/Rectal Feeding

113

Drawing #29: Rectal Rehydration/Rectal Feeding (continued)
The guards would lay the person (the prisoner) down on his face and belly (while he is naked);
one of the guards sits on the prisoner’s back while the other guards hold his arms and legs
(extremities), even his head, to stop his movement. Then a guard comes in, in his hands there is
something big, like a syringe connected to plastic hose. They would insert the end of it into the
prisoner’s rectum forcefully. Then the guard would push the syringe (plunger) forcefully; the
liquid/paste (the material inside the syringe) is pushed into the prisoner’s rectum through the hose.
The prisoner feels the force of the syringe’s contents (liquid) being forced in and can also feel the
coolness of the liquid/paste in his intestines. The force and strong pressure of the injection causes
strong and severe pain, more so than being hit on the belly from the outside. Each time the prisoner
raises his voice (shouting/screaming) from the pain being inflicted, the guards would push the
prisoners head forcefully downwards until it touched the (cold) floor.
They were doing this while shouting and cursing at the prisoner. There were people nearby (some
of them females) laughing and commenting on the operation and inappropriate or sexual
comments.
After the end of the horrible feeding operation, in 15 or 30 minutes, the prisoner starts feeling a
severe ache in his stomach…like his intestines are being shredded. This is followed by severe and
uncontrollable diarrhea. The guards and the interrogators took advantage of the circumstances and
started asking him questions while he is asking to go to the restroom. Of course this is prohibited,
so he begs for them to bring a bucket and allow him to defecate in it, but they refused and he was
forced to defecate on himself.

114

Drawing #30: The Force Feeding

115

Drawing #30: The Force Feeding (continued)
They were tying the prisoner in a tilted chair (his hands behind his back); the guards further
restrained him with their hands as they put a shirt (straight jacket/a crazy person suit- the shirt with
long sleeves that are connected in the back) on the prisoner. This shirt has a heavier cloth and
inside it there are metal plates, thin but strong, organized vertically in the shirt. The metal plates
forced the prisoner to stay from the neck down while he was secured to the chair specialized for
this operation (depicted in drawing 31 D). Then they start inserting plastic hose in the prisoner’s
nose in a harsh way; it is very clear it was purposely severe. The prisoner felt the cutting and then
immediate bleeding from the nose.
They keep inserting the hose until it reached their desired level (the throat or esophagus or the
stomach…I don’t know how deep). Then, as usual, the thick liquid starts flowing. The operation
would be complete in a short or long time, but the prisoner remained tied up in this way for hours
after it was completed.
*And like the rectal hydration/rectal feeding, they would sometimes perform this operation
unnecessarily (like even if the prisoner was eating, or even when his health was poor sue to not
eating). But without any notice, they would enter surprisingly and offer a water cup to the prisoner.
If the prisoner apologized or said that “I just drank and am not thirsty” they would still enter and
start to tie him down and prepare him for the nasal or rectal feeding. Regardless if the prisoner
tries to tell them that he is ready to eat or drink, they don’t want to stop and they start
shouting…”Don’t fight it.”

116

117

Drawing #31: The Force Feeding (continued)
This is the chair specialized for forced feeding; if this chair is not available they would use other
basic methods (depicted in drawing #30 A, B, and C) which are more annoying and painful; but
even feeding on this chair is very painful and annoying. Especially when he (the doctor or the
person who has been ordered to feed the prisoner by force…sometimes he is not a doctor)
purposely hurts the prisoner while inserting or extracting the hose quickly or when the guards
purposefully tie the prisoner in a harsh way- pushing on his head, arms (extremities), belly, and
chest; or when tying his hands behind his back (depicted in drawing 30 A). They tie it more tightly
than necessary until the prisoner screams in pain; regardless of the pain or screaming, they would
start inserting the hose in his nose.
The precise method (depicted in drawing 30 D), was used in Guantanamo.
After finishing the forced feeding, the prisoner remains tied up in this way for a long period of
time.

118

Drawing #32

u.tt

119

Drawing #32 (continued)
They used to hold the prisoner on a metal table with restraints with his upper body tilted (bent over
90 degrees) for extended hours or days; as forced to relieve or defecate on himself. (They forced
him to open his mouth and they would force feed him water or feed him liquids at any time they
deemed appropriate, trying to force it in before the prisoner goes unconscious.) The interrogation
starts by cursing and screaming then hitting the prisoner with a stick on his rear/behind (sometimes
they would hit his hands or feet). Then the interrogator started threatening to put the stick on the
rectum of the prisoner until it bleeds. Then the interrogator threatened to rape him or his wife or
his daughter (if he had a wife or daughter)- no matter how young she is; or rape his mother- no
matter how old she is.
Sometimes, I noticed that the interrogators (when he starts working) and thinks that the procedures
are not appropriate and against the law; or maybe he will be ashamed of the act in the future; or he
gets afraid that he will be punished for it, he would cover a part of his face with a (US flag
camouflage) handkerchief. He would wear black sunglasses over his eyes (in my mind, seemingly
looking like a traditional criminal (or one who would steal a car (car-jack) would wear it)…like in
the old movies. Does he try to hide behind the US flag? (Even the law in the US prohibits these
actions!!) I say that because the interrogators were not covering their faces, the opposite of the
guards who always cover their faces). Before I left the black sites with the CIA, I met with one of
those interrogators (who came this time without covering his face.) I recognized him from his body
shape, his movements, and his voice…I noticed these small things even through the sunglasses
and partial facial covering he would wear. I told him that I recognized him but he didn’t say
anything. Instead he looked a little embarrassed. During the conversation, he told me that now they
knew they crossed the line with me, especially because they knew that I was the wrong guy. So I
told him, even if I were truly the person you were looking for and you tortured me in his place, is
it your right or are your morals/religion or your country’s laws permit you to threaten to rape his
mother, wife or daughter to seek revenge from him? It is the same principle that is said and done
by someone who hates the (unjust) US foreign politics; so he takes revenge from the American
people (who not all agrees with these unjust politics)…both of these are wrong.

120

On page 68 of 499 and page 475 of 499 (and other pages) of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence (SSCI) Study on CIA Detention and Interrogation Program there are a few
expressions…cold…strong…official or legal, about torture (threat with a power drill) which the
reader could read and pass quickly without feeling how awful, horrible, and the power,
concentration “the sense of horroe” felt by the person who exposed this kind of torture (threat of
using the “power drill”).
This feeling of horror (extreme horror) could get a little bit lighter once the torture is over, but it
will never end or go away from the brain, heart, body, and the soul of the person who received the
torture.

121

Drawing #34: Threats with a Power Drill

122

Drawing #34: Threats with a Power Drill (continued)
I myself was hearing the sound of the (power drill) moving very powerfully and violently, and no
other sound could cover up its sound except the person who is receiving the torture (threat with a
power drill).
They were opening the door of my cell (which I stay locked behind 24 hours a day) only when the
interrogators/torturers entered. They opened the “”cell” door of the person that they will torture
with the (power drill), so I could hear the sound of the (power drill) and the sounds of shouting,
begging, and crying in “horror” of the brother who is receiving the torture. So if they turn off the
power drill after several hours, I could hear the sound of the tortured brother still shouting, begging,
and crying in (horror), then I hear the sound of (the person who is doing the torture) shouting and
threatening that he will use the power drill to drill the head and/or foot , and/or rear end, and/or
stomach of the brother who is exposed to torture.
When the power drill was stopped, the interrogator and/or person who is assigned to torture me
was starting to threaten that he would do all these types of torture using the power drill with me.
Then the power drill was started again and the brother started to shout, cry, and beg until his voice
suddenly stopped without prior signs. Then the sound of the power drill stopped.
At that time only, they closed my cell door!! Then, all the sounds which could be heard by the
human ears were stopped…(except the sound of my troubled breath).
But one sound was starting to shout and scream in my own head, in the shape of questions which
were pushing me to craziness: did they drill the brother’s head?!! Did they drill his stomach or his
foot or his rear end?!! Using the power drill?!!
All these questions kept going through my mind for days and months until another day when they
come back and use the same method: Threat with power drill. Then the same sounds of horror (the
external) come back, and craziness sounds come back to my head with new questions: IS he the
same brother?!! Didn’t he die? Didn’t they kill him? Or this is another brother different than the
first one? Who is the second one? And who will be the third one? Will it be me?

123

Drawing #35: Threat to Desecrate the Holy Quran

THREAfTO l)ESEC~AT£
Choo-:,e. l wi \\ w e.. ?u-t

r,.

HOLY QURAN }J .

- -- - - -- - ----- - -

-th~ Ourbn i"to -\-'ne
'ov.c.~e.t o~ Your S'ni-\-,
0"1" ,r--to -\-'ni s me'O-=,-\rv.o 1
\:,\cod

'o\AC. ¥-.e

TDft35

I think the dialogue/comment inside the drawing is enough.

124

Drawing #36: Stress Positions

125

Drawing #36: Stress Positions (continued)
This stress position used by the CIA was mentioned in the SSCI CIA Study on CIA Detention and
Interrogation Program (Torture Report). There are too many types of stress positions, used by the
FBI, in GTMO, and in countries which tortured the detainees on behalf of the CIA. One of them
is this method:
The first position: they handcuffed the detainee standing up (head covered), his hands behind his
back, and fixing his legs from his feet to his knees with iron bars which completely disallows him
from sitting; not even to bend his knees. He would stand like this for hours or days, urinating and
defecating on himself.
The second position: here the drawing doesn’t represent reality. The detainee stayed in this stress
position totally naked, shivering from the cold, embarrassed hungry, fearful, tired, angry, and
unable to sleep. I drew the shorts to over the private parts/genitals.

126

Drawing #37: Threat to Impair the Sex Organ/Genitals

fM?';'R)

( THREAfTo
SEX o~GAN .

This drawing is self-explanatory, so I don’t need to further describe. But maybe I should apologize
for revealing the private parts/genitals in the drawing. This is because I need to show the ugly truth
and the dirty reality which happened to the detainees.

127

Drawing #38: Threat to Humiliate Religion and Blasphemy

THREAT
TO
ILIATE

RE-UGIOM

I\N'>

BLASl>HE N\y

I think the dialogue/comment inside the drawing is enough.

128

129

Drawing #39: Threat to Kick the Holy Quran during Forcible Cell Extraction (FCE) at
Guantanamo (continued)
Threat to kick the Holy Quran during Forcible Cell Extraction (FCE) at GTMO:
When the guards at the CIA, FBI, and/or GMTO needed to storm the detainee’s cell, they brought
a special team consisting of several guards.
The FCE procedure: the guards suddenly opened the door and stormed the detainee (who could be
sleeping, standing, sitting, praying, or reading the Quran); they would violently lay him down on
the floor and tie his hands behind his back.
Sometimes they would suddenly open the bean hole and spray a substance or gas on the face of
the detainee. The gas would make the detainee tear-up.
Sometimes they would suddenly open the bean hole and start warning and threatening the detainee
to put away the Quran out of their path or they would kick it after quickly opening the cell door
and then storming the cell.
Usually, they would kick the Quran when they entered or they would step it or push it back using
their feet. They would push it near the bathroom (toilet).

130

Non-lethal Techniques

TD#40

131