Monday, June 27, 2005

Club Gitmo Prisoner Torture Witnessed By Politicians

US military guards are taking extraordinary new measures to make terrorist detainees confess at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
Interrogrators at the base are spending hours reading Harry Potter books to the inmates in an effort to crack them. The bizarre punishment was revealed yesterday by US politicians who toured the prison compound and reported conditions there have improved. The politicians witnessed interrogations, inspected cells and ate the same lunch of chicken with orange sauce, rice and okra given to detainees. They watched interrogators grilling three individual terror suspects including one session where a female interrogator took the unusual approach to wear down a detainee – reading a Harry Potter book aloud for hours. The detainee turned his back and put his hands over his ears.
In another session, they quizzed a man who defence officials said was a Saudi national and admitted al-Qaeda member who was picked up in Afghanistan and knew nine of the September 11 hijackers. UN investigators have cited "persistent and credible" reports of "serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees". But the politicians reported None of the interrogators touched detainees, backing White House claims they are well treated.