The British government has paid “substantial” compensation to a man who was tortured by the CIA and held without trial for nearly 20 years at Guantanamo Bay, the BBC can reveal.
Abu Zubaydah was the first person to be subjected to CIA “enhanced interrogation” techniques after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He is said to be a senior member of Al Qaeda. The U.S. government later withdrew the accusation.
Despite knowing that Zubaydah had been subjected to extreme abuse, MI5 and MI6 passed questions to the CIA for use during the CIA’s interrogation of Zubaydah.
He launched a legal claim against the UK, arguing that British intelligence services were “complicit” in his torture.
The case has now reached a financial settlement.
Professor Helen Duffy, Zubaydah’s international legal adviser, said: “Reparations are important, they are important, but they are not enough.”
She urged the UK and other governments to “share responsibility for his continued torture and unlawful detention” to secure his release.
“These violations of his rights are not historic but ongoing.”
WARNING: The following section contains some illustrations that may be disturbing
Helen Duffy, one of Zubaydach’s legal representatives, pressed for her client’s release [BBC]
The Foreign Office, which oversees MI6, said it did not comment on intelligence matters.
Duffy said the exact amount Zubaydah would receive could not be disclosed publicly for legal reasons. However, this is a “huge amount of money” and payments are ongoing.
She added that he was currently unable to access the money himself.
Dominic Grieve, who is chairing the parliamentary inquiry examining Zubaydah’s case, said the financial settlement was a “highly unusual” situation but that what happened to Zubaydah was “clearly” wrong.
Zubaydah’s own paintings show the torture he endured [Abu Zubaydah]
Zubaydah, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia, has been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006 without any charges or convictions.
He is one of 15 prisoners still behind bars despite multiple verdicts and official reports detailing the abuse he suffered.
He is widely known as “The Eternal Prisoner”.
Zubaydah was first captured by the United States in Pakistan in 2002 and subsequently held by the CIA for four years in a series of “black sites” in six countries, including Lithuania and Poland.
“Black sites” are secret detention facilities around the world located outside the U.S. legal system. Zubaydah was the first to be detained.
After first detaining Zubaydah, CIA officials concluded that he should be incommunicado for life.
Inside MI6 sources reveal the agency believes 98 per cent of US special forces soldiers would “break” if they were treated the way he was treated. Still, it was four years before British intelligence sought any assurances about his treatment in custody.
Abu Zubaydah regarded as ‘guinea pig’ for controversial US interrogation techniques [BBC]
Zubaydah’s arrest was hailed as the largest in the so-called war on terror.
President George W. Bush personally publicized the capture, claiming he was a senior al-Qaeda operative who “plotted murder.” Those claims were later retracted by the U.S. government, which no longer claimed he was a member of Al Qaeda.
He has been described as a “guinea pig” for the controversial interrogation techniques used by the CIA after 9/11.
According to a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, Zubaydah was regularly subjected to treatment that would be considered torture by British standards, including being waterboarded 83 times (to simulate drowning), being locked in a coffin-shaped box, and being physically assaulted.
Duffy said British intelligence “created a market” for such torture by asking him specific questions.
The Senate report was highly critical of Zubaydah’s treatment, as was a 2018 report by the UK Parliament’s intelligence and security committee.
Zubaydah simulated drowning many times [Abu Zubaydah]
The parliamentary committee also criticized the conduct of MI5 and MI6 in relation to alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and raised questions about whether he could make similar legal claims.
Neither the government nor Mohammed’s lawyers commented when asked by the BBC whether the case had been brought or settled.
Grieve said the UK had evidence that “Americans are behaving in a way that should cause us real concern”.
He continued: “We should have raised this issue with the United States and stopped cooperating if necessary, but we have been unable to do that for a considerable period of time.”
Duffy said Zubaydah longed to be free and build a new life.
“My hope is that paying a substantial sum will allow him to do that and support himself while he is out in the world.”
But she stressed it would be up to the United States and allies to secure his release.
