A Guantanamo detainee has sued the United States and Britain over the torture of detainees in so-called “black sites”.
A Palestinian man who has been held without trial at Guantanamo Bay for 19 years has sued the US, British and five other governments over his role in the CIA’s plan to detain and torture “terrorism” suspects in so-called “black sites” prisons.
The Guardian reports that the unusual complaint was filed by Zina al-Abedin Mohammed Hussein, known as Abu Zubaydah, to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Abu Zubeida has been imprisoned for 19 years without trial.
The working group is part of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and has the authority to deal with complaints about arbitrary detention. This working group can express its opinion after the investigation and demand compensation, but does not have the power to punish countries that do not follow its views.
Abu Zubaida is a 50-year-old Palestinian citizen who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested in 2002 and handed over to the CIA. He was initially described as an al-Qaeda leader, but the CIA concluded in 2006 that he was not even a member of the terrorist organization. However, Abu Zubaida has since been detained at Guantanamo Bay without any prospect of release.
In a complaint to the UN working group on Friday, he said he had been arbitrarily detained and tortured in CIA prisons in Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania and Afghanistan. Abu Zubeida has also prosecuted the British government on charges of collaborating with the United States to detain, participate in interrogations and obtain information that London knows was obtained through torture.
This is the first time that the governments of the United States, Britain, Afghanistan, Morocco and Thailand have been sued for their role in the CIA’s torture and detention program.
“After 19 years of arbitrary detention, the only way to compensate Abu Zabidah is to release him from prison,” said Helen Duffy, Abu Zaidah’s lawyer.