A/HRC/13/42*
page 159
Conditions and treatment
From the USA to Jordan - He was put on a private plane and chained and shackled. He arrived
in Jordan blindfolded and said he was repeatedly hit on the back of his head by Jordanian
guards.
In transit from Jordan to the Syrian Arab Republic - He was blindfolded and “bundled” into a
van and driven fast over bad roads. From time-to-time he was struck by one of the guards.
In Far Falestin detention centre, the Syrian Arab Republic - He was kept in a tiny cell, roughly
seven feet high by six feet long by three feet wide. The cell contained only two thin blankets
and a “humidity isolator” as well as two bottles, “one for water and one for urine”. There was
an opening in the middle of the ceiling, roughly one foot by two feet. There was no light in the
cell at all, except what filtered through from the opening in the ceiling. He recalled two or
three times when cats urinated through that opening. The cell was damp and very cold in
winter and stifling in summer. He was known to guards only by his cell number: two. The first
and official recognition of his detention occurred about three weeks after his deportation to
Syria (end of October 2002) with a consular visit by Canadian authorities. He received
approximately half a dozen consular visits while in detention but was not allowed to receive
visits from anyone other than consular officials.
Treatment during interrogations at Far Falestin detention centre On 8 October 2002, Mr. Arar was taken for questioning from around 8:00 pm to midnight. He
was questioned by a man named “George”, who Mr. Arar later discovered was George
Salloum, the head of interrogation at Far Falestin. There was no physical violence during this
interrogation, but there were ominous threats. If he was slow to answer, “George” said that he
would use “the chair” which Mr. Arar did not understand, but assumed to be a form of torture.
On 9 October 2002, he was called up for interrogation which lasted roughly 10 hours. When
“George” arrived, he immediately started hitting him. The chair on which Mr. Arar was sitting
was taken away, so that he was now on the floor. Mr. Arar interpreted it as a form of
humiliation - lowering the status of the detainee in respect of the interrogators. “George”
brought with him into the room a black cable, which might have been a shredded electrical
cable. It was about two feet long. It was probably made of rubber, but was not hollow.
Mr. Arar says that as soon as he saw the cable he started to cry. George told Mr. Arar to open
his right hand. George then raised the cable high and brought it down hard. He stood up and
started jumping, but was forced back down and the process was repeated with his left hand.
Again Mr. Arar jumped up. No question had yet been asked. From then on, Mr. Arar was
forced to stand near the door, and the questions began. The constant theme was “you are a
liar”. He was given breaks and put in another room where he could hear other people
screaming. Sometimes he was blindfolded and left to stand in the hallway for an hour or more
listening to the screams of women being beaten and the cries of the babies that some of the
women had with them in the detention centre. When he was brought back into the
interrogation room, he would be beaten about the upper body and asked more questions.
Mostly, he was asked about his relations with various people. On 11 October 2002, this was
the most intensive interrogation as he was questioned for sixteen to eighteen hours, with great
physical and psychological abuse. Mr. Arar was beaten with the black cable on numerous
occasions throughout the day, and threatened with electric shocks, “the chair” and “the tire”.
The pattern was for Mr. Arar to receive three or four lashes with the cable, then to be
questioned, and then for the beating to begin again. After a while, he became so weak that he
was disoriented. Mr. Arar remembers wetting himself twice during this questioning. He had to
wear the same clothes for the next two and a half months. He was humiliated. After these three
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