A FOIA lawsuit by the ACLU forced the government to disclose that the CIA had destroyed more than 90 tapes documenting the interrogation and possible torture. Now the Center for Constitutional Rights says that the government recently acknowledged the existence of tapes of at least one interrogation, that of Mohammed al Qahtani, who was suspected of being involved in the 9/11 attacks. The military commissions charges against him were dismissed without prejudice in May of last year. In January, prior to the inauguration, Susan J. Crawford, who at the time was in charge of deciding whether or not to bring charges against Gitmo detainees, refused to bring a new case against Qahtani because, according to the Washington Post, "[h]is treatment met the legal definition of torture."
Qahtani was the first detainee to be interrogated under Donald Rumsfeld's "aggressive interrogation" methods. The CCR claims that Qahtani was subjected to "systematic 20-hour interrogations, prolonged sleep deprivation, 160 days of severe isolation, forced nudity, sexual and religious humiliation." CCR lawyers have represented Qahtani since 2005.
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer has ordered the government to disclose the tapes. The Obama administration has, in the past, refused to disclose similar types of materials depicting the abuse of detainees, citing the potential effect on American troops stationed abroad.
-- A. Serwer
