The first-ever photo of a prisoner at a CIA black site has been released in an unclassified U.S. military court filing.
A photo of Ammar al-Baluchi, one of several men at Guantánamo Bay who the U.S. government has accused of orchestrating the 9/11 terror attacks, has been released in a U.S. military court filing.
According to The Guardian, Baluchi was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2003 and was secretly taken to five CIA black sites between 2003 and 2006.
Since being shuffled to several black sites, Baluchi has been held at Guantánamo but has yet to be convicted of any crime.
The Guardian obtained the photo of the “war on terror” detainee from Baluchi’s attorneys hours before the military court filing was released.
In the photo, Baluchi looks extremely malnourished and was believed to be located at the CIA’s black site in Bucharest, Romania, which the US Government refers to as Location No 7 or Detention Site Black.
Baluchis’ photo was released on page 7 of documents related to Baluchi’s trial by the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Revealed: first picture of war on terror detainee in CIA black site https://t.co/nVdi2tCfyX
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 2, 2024
Per The New York Times:
For years, defense lawyers in the Guantánamo cases have spoken of reviewing disturbing government photos of the prisoners being held by the C.I.A. in the Bush administration’s secret overseas prison, the black sites. But they were marked classified, and the world was not allowed to see them. Until now.
Lawyers in the Sept. 11 case have released a single photo taken by the C.I.A. of one prisoner, Ammar al-Baluchi, showing his gaunt, malnourished naked body, circa 2004 at an overseas prison.
The lawyers said the photo, which was first published by the Guardian newspaper, emerged through a classification review process at the military commissions, the war court at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
ImageA naked man in handcuffs looks at the camera while standing in an empty room.While photos have leaked of U.S. troops abusing prisoners in the aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, including from the Army-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004, none have ever emerged from the C.I.A. black sites. In fact, in 2005 the agency’s leadership destroyed videotapes of interrogations at a black site in Thailand to make sure they were never seen.
Read the entire unclassified here: MILITARY COMMISSIONS TRIAL JUDICIARY
