Date

Nov 15, 2002

Description

This cable is the first one of 12 listed in footnotes 336 and 337 on page 67 of the Senate Intelligence Committee torture report, declassified in 2014, as documenting Nashiri's detention and interrogation. The declassified CIA Inspector General report on torture set the likely date for this document as November 15, 2002, since that was Day One of Nashiri's detention at the Thailand black site commanded by Gina Haspel, and "aggressive" interrogation had started "immediately" on his arrival. As chief of base, Haspel was responsible for all communications with headquarters, including this cable back to CIA's ALEC Station describing the interrogation of Nashiri. CIA contract psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen led the torture session starting at 0415 hours by placing Nashiri against "the walling board," and telling him "they wanted to know who, what, when where and how ongoing operations would take place, and would stop at nothing to get it." When Nashiri began to describe the earlier Hormuz plots instead of current threat information he did not have, Mitchell and Jessen threw him to the floor and the "security team" ripped off his clothes, shaved his head "while subject moaned and wailed," and locked him in the confinement box at 0445 hours. According to former CIA lawyer John Rizzo, a prisoner could stand in this "large" box roughly the size of a coffin, while the "small" box reserved for shorter stays was only big enough to "curl up" in. The cable below established that Nashiri stayed in the confinement box for over 12 hours, until 1703.

Document published in following posting(s):

Gina Haspel CIA Torture Cables Declassified

Aug 10, 2018