Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Palestinian Ministry of Health: Two were martyred in Israeli shelling that targeted a besieged house in the town of Qabatiya in Jenin
At least 68 dead in migrant shipwreck off Yemen: IOM
Trump: We want to feed the people in Gaza, we do not want them to starve.
US President Donald Trump: We will impose sanctions on Russia if it does not end the war on Ukraine.
Israeli media: Polls show that 52% oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while only 29% support him.
Israeli media: 32% of Americans still support "Israel's" war on Hamas, while 60% oppose it.
Israeli media: Core US support for "Israel" hits its lowest, while support for Palestine reaches its highest levels.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent reports martyrs, injuries in Israeli bombardment of home in Heker al-Jame area in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Al-Quds Governorate: Today, the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque began in a public and dangerous manner, and we warn of a religious war in the region
The Ministry of Health in Gaza: This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 175, including 93 children

Guantanamo Bay detainee sustained brain damage after serving as CIA live prop

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen Net
  • 15 Mar 2022 12:33
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

Excessive torture included waterboarding, walling, sexual humiliation, beating, and sleep deprivation.

  • x
  • Members of the World Can't Wait perform a live waterboarding demonstration to urge prosecution of US, 2009, in New York (TRT World)
    Members of the World Can't-Wait perform a live waterboarding demonstration in New York. 

Ammar Al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, is a 44-year-old Pakistani citizen born in Kuwait who is currently detained by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. 

The military prison in Cuba -- created after the September 2001 attacks to house detainees in the US so-called "war on terror"-- is still operating despite international and local calls to close it.

A group of UN experts has repeatedly urged Washington to finally close the site of "unrelenting human rights violations".

Al-Baluchi is one of five detainees facing the death penalty on suspicion of conspiring in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

For years, Al-Baluchi was subjected to excessive torture at the hands of CIA interrogators who used him as a live prop, a training tool for employees learning the agency's cruel and illegal practices.

Al-Baluchi suffered from brain damage after being exploited as a live prop for trainee interrogators at a secret CIA black site in Afghanistan for years, newly declassified documents revealed.

The 2008 report, which was declassified during his lawyers' attempt to obtain an independent medical examination, detailed how the now-44-year-old detainee was subjected to walling, a CIA-approved "enhanced interrogation technique."

During the practice, Al-Baluchi was slammed into a wall, doused with water, and slapped multiple times in the face and stomach. For nearly an hour, he was also forced to lean at an angle against a wall using only his forehead and to kneel backward to an extreme degree.

According to one interrogator, the goal was to "bounce" the detainee off the wall.

Related News

'We scratch until we bleed': Scabies consumes Palestinian detainees

'I practically felt like an animal', relays migrant US handed to CECOT

Al-Baluchi was "naked for the proceedings," the report unmasked.

It is worth mentioning that the CIA's so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," many of which are now considered torture, were approved by the Pentagon and developed by so-called "psychologists" James Mitchell and John Jessen, who were paid $81 million for their efforts to invent and put the tactics into widespread use.

Rectal feeding, hanging by handcuffs, and waterboarding were listed among the abuse tactics adopted.

“In the case of ‘walling’ in particular the [Office of the Inspector General] had difficulty determining whether the session was designed to elicit information from Ammar or to ensure that all interrogator trainees received their certification,” the report added.

It also stated that the CIA's logic for justifying the detention was "fuzzy and circular," and that the abuse provided no useful intelligence.

As Al-Baluchi and others await lengthy pre-trial hearings, questions about the legal admissibility of testimony obtained by the US following acts of torture have arisen.

A group of UN experts has lately described the Guantanamo Bay prison which is run by the US Navy, first opened to detainees on January 10, 2002, as a site of "unparalleled notoriety" and a "stain" on Washington's stated commitment to the rule of law.

Once holding nearly 800 people seized around the world and transported to the Cuba facility, today the Guantanamo jail holds around 39 men, some of them from the very first months after it opened.

A number of those remaining were subjected to torture by CIA interrogators in the first years of the post-9/11 detention program.

Experts pointed out that between 2002 and 2021, nine detainees died in custody -- seven of them reportedly from suicide. None of the torturers or supervisors have yet been charged.

Read more: Lithuania pays Guantanamo ‘forever prisoner’ Abu Zubaydah over CIA torture
  • CIA
  • Guantanamo Bay
  • walling
  • torture
  • US
  • Ammar al-Baluchi
  • Water boarding

Most Read

A rescued crew member from the ETERNITY C vessel in a video released by the Yemeni Armed Forces on July 28, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen Navy reveals fate of targeted Eternity C ship crew

  • Politics
  • 28 Jul 2025
An Israeli tank explodes following an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, Occupied Palestine, undated (Al-Qassam Military Media)

Al-Qassam strikes Israeli vehicles in Gaza, inflicts casualties

  • Politics
  • 30 Jul 2025
UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

UAE lodges complaint against Israeli ambassador over 'misbehavior'

  • Politics
  • 1 Aug 2025
Protesters chant anti-Israeli slogans as they carry a banner that reads:" Freedom for Palestine, Alliance stop the war," during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, outside the Israeli embassy, in Athens, Monday, June 9, 2025 (AP)

Athens mayor slams Israeli ambassador over Gaza war, graffiti claim

  • Politics
  • 3 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, takes part in a parade as he celebrates a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli regime in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, January 19, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Al-Qassam: We’ll allow aid to Israeli captives if Gaza siege ends

Freed Lebanese freedom fighter Georges Abdallah during an interview on Al Mayadeen, which aired on Sunday, August 3, 2025 (Al Mayadeen screengrab)
Politics

Exclusive: Resistance key to building state, Georges Abdallah says

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres gives a statement about the situation in Gaza at UN headquarters, Friday, June 27, 2025 (AP)
Politics

UN warns Gaza faces water crisis, looming famine under Israeli siege

Israeli soldiers drive their armored personnel carrier along the Gaza Strip, in southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, July 30, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ex-Israeli general says Gaza starvation campaign isolated 'Israel'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS