Terror Suspect Alleges Torture in Egyptian Prison

washingtonpost.com ^ | Thursday, January 6, 2005 | Dana Priest and Dan Eggen

[crushelits]

Detainee Says U.S. Sent Him to Egypt Before Guantanamo

U.S. authorities in late 2001 forcibly transferred an Australian citizen to Egypt, where, he alleges, he was tortured for six months before being flown to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court papers made public yesterday in a petition seeking to halt U.S. plans to return him to Egypt.

Egyptian-born Mamdouh Habib, who was detained in Pakistan in October 2001 as a suspected al Qaeda trainer, alleges that while under Egyptian detention he was hung by his arms from hooks, repeatedly shocked, nearly drowned and brutally beaten, and he contends that U.S. and international law prohibit sending him back.

Habib's case is only the second to describe a secret practice called "rendition," under which the CIA has sent suspected terrorists to be interrogated in countries where torture has been well documented. It is unclear which U.S. agency transferred Habib to Egypt.

Habib's is the first case to challenge the legality of the practice and could have implications for U.S. plans to send large numbers of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other countries with poor human rights records.

[dagnabbit]

Egyptian man sent to Egypt. Whatever could be next?

[SweetPilotofCanuckistan]

Boohoo...

I love how the article starts off like it's a poor Australian...when it's really a terrorist masquerading as a human being from a civilized country.

[bahblahbah]

Heh, now I know why we support Egypt. We need to get international law changed so that we don't have to outsource our torture. Someone needs to organize a torturers union.

[Santana]

"before being flown to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,"

That was the U.S.'s biggest mistake. He should have been left in Pakistan with the Eqyptian interrogators.

[GSlob]

alleges that while under Egyptian detention he was hung by his arms from hooks
As Fujiwara Michinaga once said, "he ought to be uncommonly grateful". The manual clearly states: hang the perp from the hook BY THE RIB, or suspend him by the appendages, NOT BY HIS ARMS!!! Such leniency cannot be allowed to continue.