Mohamed Farag Bashmilah

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Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah is a citizen of Yemen who is reported to have been a subject of the United States' controversial extraordinary rendition program.^[1]^[2] The American Civil Liberties Union states that he was apprehended by American agents, in Jordan, where he was: "...beaten, stripped, dressed in a diaper, shackled, blindfolded, hooded, strapped in an airplane." They report that Bashmillah was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Bagram Theater detention facility, and the CIA network of black sites.

Main article: Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

They report that he was repatriated to Yemen in May 2005, where he underwent a further nine months of detention. Bashmilah's case had been uncovered by Amnesty International in early 2005, and they were the only organization to have access to him in prison in Yemen, where they first visited him in June of 2005, and on other occasions throughout his incarceration there. His story was first made public by Amnesty in August 2005, and a full report was issued in November 2005.^[3]

Amnesty International also interviewed and reported on the cases of two other Yemenis, Salah Nasir Salim ‘Ali and Muhammad Abdullah Salah al-Assad, who were held in the CIA black site with Bashmilah and who were returned with him to Yemen in May 2005. The three are notable because they were the first to describe CIA black site detention in detail.^[4] Although the CIA's network of black sites is estimated to have held 150 captives, most of their identities remain unknown.

Bashmilah was added to a civil action the ACLU is aiding, under the United States' Alien Torts Statute.^[1]

1 Capture
2 American custody
3 Release
4 References

[edit] Capture

Bashimilah travelled to from Indonesia to Jordan with his wife in October 2003 and was arrested on October 21, 2003 after telling Jordanian officials that in 2000 he had been to Afghanistan. Bashimilah was subsequently beaten and threatened by the General Intelligence Department until he finally agreed several days later to sign a confession without ever reading it. On the morning of October 26 he was transferred to the CIA, which chained and hooded him, and then flew him to Kabul, Afghanistan.^[5]

[edit] American custody

In Bagram Bashmilah was locked in a 6.5 by 10 foot cell without windows or heat. During his first month of captivity his legs were shackled, he was subjected to loud music all day and night, and he was made to raise his hand every half hour. This routine continued minus the music for another two months, by which time Bashmilah attempted suicide several times. He was regularly interrogated.^[5]

In late April, estimated April 24, 2004, Bashmilah was examined by a doctor, moved with other prisoners to an airport, and flown to an unknown location, where he received another medical examination and placed naked in a new cell, where he endured constant white noise. Roughly around September 2004 the CIA decided that Bashmilah was not a member of al-Qaeda and he was given better living conditions, including a new cell, weekly shower, and books to read. His interrogations stopped and he spoke with psychiatrists.^[5]

[edit] Release

Bashmilah was released on May 5, 2005 into Yemeni custody after being flown from the unknown location for 6 to 7 hours. He remained in prison in Yemen until he was released on March 27, 2006.^[1] In December 2007 he granted an interview with Salon. ^[5] His first English broadcast interview was in June 2006, for the BBC Newsnight program.