A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) “black site” detainee was used as a training prop to teach interrogators torture techniques, a newly declassified US government report revealed.
The shocking report stated that Ammar al-Baluchi — a CIA detainee in Afghanistan — was repeatedly slammed against a wall by trainees so they could receive certification.
The report, consisting of several documents, dates back to 2008 and said Mr Baluchi’s head was injured as a result of repeatedly using him as a living prop by slamming him against a plywood wall, leaving him with brain damage.
The documents, that reveal the details of torture faced by the 44-year-old detainee, were newly declassified on 10 March as part of a court filing by his lawyers aimed at getting him an independent medical examination.
Mr Baluchi, a Kuwaiti citizen, is one of the five defendants before a military tribunal on Guantánamo Bay and is charged with participating in the plot over the 9/11 attacks.
According to the report, the CIA used a technique called “walling.”
“The interrogators would grab the ends of the towel in front of and below the detainee’s face and shove [Mr Baluchi] backwards into the wall, never letting go of the towel,” it said.
The aim was to “bounce” Mr Baluchi off the wall. The report also noted that Baluchi was “naked for the proceedings”.
It revealed that “typically a session did not last for more than two hours at a time.”
One former trainer told investigators that all the interrogation students lined up to “wall” Mr Baluchi “so that [the instructor] could certify them on their ability to use the technique.”
“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 read.
The report concluded that since interrogators lined up to “wall” Mr Baluchi, “certification [of trainees] was key.”
