Posted on 10/22/2005 10:46:03 PM PDT by FairOpinion
An alleged member of Al-Qaeda, charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush, claims Saudi Arabian interrogators used torture techniques, including chaining, beating and whipping, to make him talk.
Ahmed Abu Ali, an American citizen, said he was beaten and whipped shortly after being detained in Medina, Saudi Arabia during his first days of a 20 month captivity.
The 24-year old suspected terrorist and assassin testified about his ordeal in a court hearing in Washington, DC being held to examine Abu Ali's confessions and whether they will be admitted into evidence during an upcoming trial. His lawyers claimed their client was beated until he would sign the confessions including one that states Abu Ali was part of a plot to assassinate President George W. Bush. US government prosecutors are rebutting Abu Ali's allegations saying there is no evidence that the terrorist was beaten and tortured.
The suspected Al-Qaeda member was arrested on June 8, 2003, while attending classes on the Saudi university campus in Medina. According to his defense attorneys, Saudi officials took him to a jail where he was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded. Subsequently, he says, he was interrogated five separate times and was denied requests to contact his attorney, his parents or officials at the American Embassy.
"I thought the fact that I was an American would protect me," Abu Ali told the court. "They said the embassy is not there to help you, you have to help yourself."
Abu Ali conceded that he wasn't beaten or tortured during the first four interrogations on the day he was arrested. He testified that interrogators in the fifth session hit him and "they slapped me around." He claims the Saudis pulled his hair and beard and they punched him in his stomach.
On the second day of his detention by Saudi security officers, Abu Ali said when he would not provide them with information they punched him again then grabbed him by the handcuffs and chained him to the floor and began to whip him, yelling for him to "confess" in Arabic.
During his testimony Abu Ali said that eventually his captors tore the shirt off his back and whipped him. It was at this point that Abu Ali said he then told the Saudis he would cooperate and the beatings stopped.
US government officials said that the suspected terrorist was held by the Saudi anti-terrorism unit near Riyadh for 20 months before being turned over to US officials to stand trial on charges of plotting with Al-Qaeda to kill Bush. He is pleading not guilty to nine counts including charges that he conspired to kill the president and that he provided support and resources to Al-Qaeda. Information on the actual details of the terrorist plot were withhead from the unsealed indictment for security reasons.
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Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
Who knows what the truth is. I don't trust this guy, but I don't trust the Saudis either. It's a no win situation.
Ahmed Abu Ali...with that name, you are no American.
at least they didn't put panties on his head.
what did they do? what did they do? beheaded?
"I don't trust this guy, but I don't trust the Saudis either. It's a no win situation."
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They turned this terrorist over to us. So who are you going to believe, the terrorist?
We should learn interrogation techniques from the Saudis.
We read Harry Potter to the terrorists as part of our 'harsh' interrogation technique. (not a joke, seriously)
Enter into evidence a copy of the Al Qaeda manual that instructs terrorists to claim they were tortured regardless of how they are treated.
exactly
Dr. Sobel: You don't hear the word 'No' very often, do you?
Paul Vitti: I hear it all the time, only it's more like "No! Please! No! No!"
Hmmm...and we can tell them who dies at the end of "The Half-Blood Prince" before they read it! Then they'll SUFFER!
In the meantime, in US custody:
Task Force Tends to Detainees' Dietary Needs During Ramadan
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2005/20051021_3126.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – Members of Joint Task Force Guantanamo are ensuring detainees get special consideration for religious requirements of observing Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which began Oct. 4 and runs to Nov. 3 this year.
Most observant Muslims fast from sunup to sundown during Ramadan, and food-service officials at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are providing pre-dawn and midnight meals to help the detainees observe their customs during this holy period, the joint task force's food-service officer explained.
Breakfast, which might normally be served around 7 a.m., is now served at 4 a.m. "because obviously we want to make sure that they have plenty of time to eat before sunup," Navy Lt. Jonathan Sym said in a telephone interview from the island naval base.
He said a religious adviser also provides input as to what's appropriate to serve during Ramadan.
Detainees who choose not to fast still receive meals on the regular schedule. But, Sym said, most Guantanamo detainees are fasting during Ramadan, though many have chosen not to fast.
The extra early and late meals, generally consisting of dates, fruit and bread, mean the food service staff works nearly around the clock during Ramadan, Sym said. Contractors provide food service to detainees and servicemembers at Guantanamo Bay.
Who knows? Maybe the Saudis beat this guy until he would say anything to get them to stop. The US needs public relations victories and it isn't beyond the state dept. or pentagon to jerk our chains.
I don't believe anyone, and certainly not a prisoner who the Saudis beat until he "talked".
please, a name does not an american make, john walker.
Ramadan fasting is skipping lunch.
"Ramadan fasting is skipping lunch."
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Good point.
Oh, it's gone far beyond that.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421742/posts?page=43#43
This is why they are desperate the stop the formation of a new goverment in Iraq. Once the new goverment is in place they'll no longer have the US media blocking for them.
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