Report on Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (Boumediene)

In July 2006, The New York Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) published its Report on Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. This report is based on accounts drawn directly from habeas counsels’ unclassified notes reflecting prisoner statements made to counsel during in-person interviews conducted at Guantánamo beginning in the Fall of 2004. Some information for that report was taken also from public sources compiled in Cecili Thompson Williams & Kristine A. Huskey, Detention, Interrogation, and Torture at Guantánamo Bay: Materials and Case Files, a report published by the law firm of Shearman and Sterling LLP in October 2005. The testimony by or about Mr. Lakhdar Boumediene in the CCR report can be found below.

(CCR39) Lakhdar Boumediene was deprived of sleep for 13 days during an intense interrogation period in early 2002 (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 18).

(CCR40) Mr. Boumediene reported that on one occasion, he was choked by a Jordanian interrogator who then threatened to send Mr. Boumediene to Jordan where they could “make [him] talk.” (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 19).

(CCR41) Lakhdar Boumediene described several occasions in early 2002 when guards returned him to his cell following interrogation, grabbed him under his armpits, lifted him up, and threw him to his cage floor repeatedly while his wrists were shackled to his waist and his feet were shackled to an anchor in the floor of his cage. Mr. Boumediene also stated that on one occasion, a soldier pushed him to the ground, put his knee behind Mr. Boumediene’s knee, and ground Mr. Boumediene’s knee into the floor. He now has a scar he attributes to that beating (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 20).

(CCR42) Mr. Boumediene relayed that for an extended period, every time he made a request, for example, for medication, he was told to ask his interrogator. Interrogators controlled his access to medical treatment, and access to that treatment was granted or denied based on the interrogator’s assessment of his level of cooperation (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 23).

(CCR43) On one occasion, Mr. Boumediene complained of stomach pain while being interrogated. Medical personnel entered the interrogation room, examined Mr. Boumediene, and “cleared” him for “interrogation and all other detainee things.” (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 23).

(CCR44) Mr. Boumediene reported that his interrogators threatened to send him to an American prison where he would be raped; they also threatened to shave his beard and apply lipstick to him (Center for Constitutional Rights 2006, 25).

Melissa Hoffer (not dated) Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Lakhdar Boumediene.

Stephen Oleskey (2005) Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Lakhdar Boumediene.

Mark Falkoff (not dated) Unclassified Attorney Notes Regarding Othman Abulraheem Mohammad.

Chronological Medical Record for Lakhdar Boumediene (Feb. 20, 2003), Bates No. OLE 00826 (released as a result of FOIA litigation by Boumediene petitioners, Oleskey v. U.S. Dept. of Defense, U.S. Dept. of Justice, No. 05-10739 (D. Mass 2005)).