A/HRC/13/42*
page 155
Conditions and treatment
Upon his arrest in Mogadishu, he was beaten by four men, resulting in broken fingers and
teeth. Afterwards, he was forcibly taken to a hospital, then blindfolded and taken to the airport,
where he was flown to Nairobi.
In Nairobi, he was held in a room with no bed and tiny windows. He was interrogated by the
police and taken to the hospital. There, he was visited by officers who identified themselves as
belonging to the FBI. After eight days in Nairobi, he was taken to an airport with the same
CIA agents who had taken him from Mogadishu. They tied his hands and legs, blindfolded
him, and beat him on his ears. He was flown to Bosaso, Somalia, where he was taken to a
boarding house and forced to sit on the floor, surrounded by four armed soldiers.
The following day, he was flown to Djibouti. On the flight, he was blindfolded, his feet were
shackled and he was chained to the floor of the plane. He was not allowed to sleep, and he was
hit on his ears every time he started to sleep. He was kept in a building at the airport. Some
people held them while another man cut his clothes off and raped him. Afterwards, he was put
in a diaper, hooded, cuffed, shackled and put on another plane to Kabul, Afghanistan. Upon
landing, he was taken to the Prison of Darkness. At the prison, he heard strange voices in
several languages, including Kiswahili and Somali, saying things such as “there is no God, no
God, no God.” He was taken to an interrogation room, where his entire body was shaved by
the interrogators in an aggressive and humiliating manner. He was kept in a stress position,
chained to a wall, in a tiny, dark room in solitary confinement. Freezing water was poured on
him; he was often forcibly naked, beaten and raped with foreign objects. He was kept in
solitary confinement for two months, in complete darkness and with very loud music playing
constantly. The interrogators would hang him from the ceiling in the “strapado” position, so
that only his toes touched the floor. The guards were Afghans. He was fed only every two
days, and was given pills on a regular basis. He was approached by some people carrying
ICRC badges who asked for his personal information, including his mother’s address, but he
refused to give them the information since he believed they were CIA agents.
Around September 2004, he was taken to the “Salt pit”, an underground prison run by the FBI.
There was constant light, and the Afghan guards would sometimes urinate on the detainees’
food. He had no contact with his family, and he was visited several times by two FBI agents.
After 14 months, FBI officers came to the prison, took his photograph, shackled him with
fiberglass cuffs and blindfolded him. He was taken by helicopter and upon arrival in Bagram,
he was chained and handcuffed, and his eyes were covered with glasses. He was also made to
stand in a box and the rules were extremely strict. After bathing in the open, he was
blindfolded and taken to an interrogation room. The interrogators were US officials. After he
refused to answer their answers, he was slapped by one of the interrogators and dragged down
the staircase to a wooden cage, where he was forced to stay for approximately one week. He
was then transferred to another cage, where his blindfold was finally removed. He was first
able to see other detainees, but the cages were later sealed so that the detainees could not see
any other people. He was constantly harassed by the soldiers guarding the prison and bright
lights were constantly kept on. The common practice was for the guards to use teargas on all
detainees if one of them caused a problem. Mr. Abdallah suffered from acute headaches but
was not taken to see a psychiatrist, like other detainees. During his detention in Bagram, he did
not have contact with his family. Women and children, as young as twelve were also detained
there.
In November 2008, he was flown to Dar es Salaam and held for interrogation overnight.
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