鈥楾he Darkness Comes鈥�: CIA Torture Victims Describe How the Mental Scars Never Go Away
The New York Times is publishing a devastating expos茅 on the lasting psychological effects of U.S. government torture on men who once were held in CIA-run secret overseas prisons or at Guantanamo Bay.
Two psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, were independent contractors for the CIA and designed and helped implement the torture program. They are now defendants in an 老澳门开奖结果 lawsuit on behalf of three of those victims. Two of them were interview for the Times series 鈥� the third was tortured to death.
The psychologists based the torture program on junk science claiming that abusing prisoners until they reached a state of 鈥渓earned helplessness鈥� would lead to accurate intelligence. Since the program was ended, there has been no meaningful accountability for its perpetrators nor redress for its victims.
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One of the stories the Times series is that of our client Mohamed Ahmed Ben-Soud. In 2003, he was kidnapped in his country of Libya and unlawfully rendered to the Salt Pit, a secret CIA prison, which he and other detainees call 鈥淭he Darkness.鈥�
There, Ben Soud was subjected to some of the worst tortures of the Mitchell-Jessen devised program. He was 鈥渇orced onto a plastic tarp while naked, his hands shackled above his head,鈥� while CIA officials 鈥減oured buckets of ice water on him as others lifted the tarp鈥檚 corners, sending water splashing over him and causing a choking or drowning sensation.鈥� He was locked inside coffin-sized boxes, some even smaller; slammed repeatedly against a wall; and chained to the ceiling by his arms for days. Rock music blasted deafeningly throughout the pitch black dungeon where he was held and tortured and abused for a year.
Unsurprisingly, Ben-Soud has not recovered from the trauma of his time in 鈥淭he Darkness.鈥� Today, he lives 鈥渋n constant fear of tomorrow.鈥� And, when his children ask why he loses his temper so suddenly, he told the Times, he is at a loss for words: 鈥淗ow can you explain such things to children?鈥�
Another 老澳门开奖结果 client, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, was the subject of the . After his abduction by the CIA and the Kenyan government, Salim too was sent to 鈥淭he Darkness鈥� and brutally tortured.
He was held in solitary confinement in a room so dark 鈥渉e could not see the shackles on his arms or the walls of his cell.鈥� He was hung from the ceiling by his arms, slammed into a wall, doused in ice-cold water and wrapped in a tarp, repeatedly beaten, and stuffed inside a 鈥渃offin-like box.鈥�
Eight years after his release, Salim remains deeply traumatized. He has been diagnosed with lasting psychological injuries from his torture, including severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He experiences frequent nightmares and terrifying flashbacks, frequent spells of dizziness and confusion, and major depression.
鈥淢any times now I feel like I have something heavy inside my body,鈥� Salim told The Times. 鈥淪ometimes I walk, and I walk, and I forget, I forget everything, I forget prison, The Darkness, everything. But it is always there. The Darkness comes.鈥�
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While many think of torture as only physical violence, the effects of which end after the wounds are treated, the Times series is a reminder that the long-lasting mental trauma associated with torture can be even worse. In the case of U.S. torture, these traumas have been exacerbated by a complete lack of redress for victims.
As the Times editorial board in a commentary on the series, 鈥淭he question now is whether anyone will be held to account for the damage wrought by one of the most depraved periods in American history.鈥� President Obama鈥檚 stance on torture accountability has been to move on from the Bush administration鈥檚 atrocities. However, Salim, Ben-Soud, and others 鈥� haunted every day by the traumas inflicted on them 鈥� are unable to move on.
Unlike other lawsuits seeking accountability for CIA torture, the judge in our case against the psychologists is allowing the litigation to move forward, which the editorial noted could present 鈥渢he first-ever opportunity for the justice system to reckon directly with the brutal legacy of the government鈥檚 torture policies.鈥�
With another ruling Friday a lawsuit by tortured inmates of Iraq鈥檚 Abu Ghraib prison against a U.S. military contractor, some measure of justice is getting closer for at least some victims of U.S. torture.
Accountability is critical not just for survivors, victims, and their families. It is also critical for all of us who value living in a nation of laws, one strong enough to acknowledge wrongdoing and make amends.
Only by fully reckoning with the past can our clients, the hundreds of others just like them, and our country finally move on with confidence that it will never happen again. And leading up to an election in which torture is being floated as an official policy option, it鈥檚 as necessary as ever.
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Free Speech
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National Security
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VirginiaDec 2024
National Security
Trabelsi v. Crawford, et al. 鈥� Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted ManTrabelsi v. Crawford, et al. 鈥� Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Detention and Inhumane Treatment of Acquitted Man
Our client, Nizar Trabelsi, is in the United States against his will. The federal government brought him here from Belgium more than a decade ago and charged him with terrorism-related crimes. At trial, the government鈥檚 case failed: a federal jury found Mr. Trabelsi not guilty. But instead of allowing Mr. Trabelsi to return to Belgium after his acquittal, the United States placed him in highly restrictive immigration detention and began an ongoing effort to force him to Tunisia, where he was born and where he will very likely be tortured. Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 detention violates the Constitution, immigration law, and the extradition treaty between the United States and Belgium. Through this lawsuit, he seeks to return to Belgium, and he demands an immediate improvement of his detention conditions. -
Press ReleaseDec 2024
National Security
Immigrants' Rights
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