Muhammad Assad

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Mohammed Assad is a citizen of Yemen who, according to Amnesty International, was was subjected to extraordinary rendition by the CIA, and held in the CIA's network of black sites -- secret interrogation centers.^[1][2][3] Assad had been living and working in Tanzania. Amnesty International reports he was captured on December 26, 2003, and held by CIA until May 2005.

Asad says that the only thing he was asked about during his interrogation was the Al-Haramain Foundation, which the Bush administration has listed as a charity tied to terrorism.^[1] His interrogators believed he had worked for Al-Haramain.

In May of 2005, Muhammad Assad, and two other Yemenis, Salah Ali and Muhammad Bashmilah, were transferred to Yemeni custody.^[1]

In November of 2005 Anne FitzGerald a policy researcher for Amnesty International, spoke about interviews she conducted with the three men.^[1] She said that she found the men's accounts credible, because their accounts of CIA custody were consistent, even though they had never been detained together, either in their US custody, or in Yemeni custody. According to Fitzergerald, the three describe being held in solitary confinement, isolated from all contact with the outside world, under conditions Amnesty International described as "sensory deprivation".

According to the Washington Post, as of November 2005, all three men remained in Yemeni custody.^[1] Muhammad Assad was held in a "security prison at Al Ghaydah".

The Washington Post contacted the CIA, and reported that CIA officials declined to refute or confirm the Amnesty International account.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Josh White. "Prisoner Accounts Suggest Detention At Secret Facilities: Rights Group Draws Link to the CIA", Washington Post, November 7, 2005, p. A11. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
2. ^ ""Disappearance", Secret detention and Arbitrary detention: CASE SHEET of Muhammad Abdullah Salah al-Assad", Amnesty International, November 7, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
3. ^ "Secret Detention in CIA "Black Sites"", Amnesty International, November 7, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.