WASHINGTON, Dec 10: Top al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists, arrested and held in Pakistan post 9/11, were jointed interrogated by Pakistani officials and CIA agents before being handed over to the US intelligence agency, a Senate report has said.
The report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on CIA’s detention and interrogation program, indicates that CIA worked closely with Pakistani authorities in framing the strategy for interrogation and determining the importance of the detainee.
The terrorists were subjected to sleep deprivation, but not to any enhanced interrogation techniques, it said.
The report, running into more than 525 pages, indicates that for high value targets Pakistan was often the first point of interrogation.
This is because, a large number of top terrorist post 9/11 were arrested from Pakistan
“KSM (Khalid Sheikh Muhammad) was held in Pakistani custody from the time of his capture on March 1, 2003 to March (redacted) 2003, and was interrogated by CIA officers and Pakistani officials,” the report said.
According to the records while in Pakistani custody, KSM was subjected to some “sleep deprivation, but there are no indications of other coercive interrogation techniques being used.”
In a raid in March 2002, Abu Zubaydah was arrested by Pakistani government authorities in collaboration with the CIA.
“At that time, Abu Zubaydah was assessed by CIA officers in ALEC Station, the office within the CIA with specific responsibility for al-Qaida, to possess detailed knowledge of al-Qaida terrorist attack plans,” the report said.
Ridha al-Najjar, along with Hassan Muhammad Abu Bakr and a number of other individuals, was arrested in Karachi after raids conducted by Pakistani authorities in late May 2002.
Al-Najjar was identified by the CIA as a former bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and was rendered with Abu Bakr to CIA custody to a country (redacted) detention facility in June, 2002.
According to the report, while targeting another terrorist Hassan Ghul, Pakistani officials unexpectedly captured bin al-Shibh during raids in Pakistan on September 11, 2002.
Al-Shibh was rendered to a foreign government, and five months later was transferred to the CIA.
The report said less than two hours after KSM’s capture, the chief of interrogations sent an email to CIA Headquarters with the subject line, “Let’s roll with the new guy.”
The email requested permission to “press [KSM] for threat info right away.”
“KSM was subjected to facial and abdominal slaps, the facial grab, stress positions, standing sleep deprivation (with his hand at or above head level), nudity and water dousing.” (PTI)
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