Lakhdar Boumediene: I Was Tortured At Guantanamo

Lakhdar Boumediene was an aid worker for the Red Crescent when he was swept up in a 2001 raid by Bosnian police and then transferred to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, accused of plotting to attack a U.S. embassy.

Seven and a half years later, his nightmare his over. The charges against him have been dropped, and in May he was transferred to France as a free citizen, though he has been staying at a military clinic there for physical and psychological observation.

In a series of recent interviews, including one published today by ABC News, Boumediene says he was tortured at Guantanamo.

"I don't think. I am sure," he said, lifting his arms to show the scars.

Boumediene says he was physically abused at the U.S. prison, deprived of sleep for 16 days at a time, and then force-fed through a tube in his right nostril after he initiated a hunger strike.

In his interview with ABC, Boumediene thought he would be fine once the Americans took over.

"I thought America, the big country, they have CIA, FBI. Maybe one week, two weeks, they know I am innocent. I can go back to my home, to my home," he said. "I give you 2 years, no problem, but not 7 years."

He added that he held no grudges against any Americans except for former President Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and three other officials from their administration.

"I just, I cry," he told ABC News. "Just I cry, because I don't know my daughters."

The full article is worth a read -- more here from the Washington Post.

Watch his interview:

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Green-sky]

05:36 PM on 06/10/2009

I very strongly hope that Boumediene will file a complaint against the US government to receive an indemnity for the 7 years he spent in Guantanamo. His case is a case study of the wrongdoings committed in the name of the "war on terror".

[anniegirl9]

11:49 PM on 06/08/2009

Does anyone else see the sad irony in the US now trying to intervine with N. Korea to have the two US journalists released on "humanitarian grounds?" At least N. Korea made the pretence of a trial.

[Jonahson]

11:55 PM on 06/08/2009

How do you tell NK that they are being unfair as compared to US justice? Come to think of it, US is armed to the teeth with nuclear arsenal so how do you tell people what they are doing is against World security. Nuclear weapons in whatever form is wicked. History shows that civilians will be the brunt of these weapons of destruction. Weapons of mass destruction do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians.

[ruralwannabe]

10:06 AM on 06/09/2009

anniegirl, while i'm a big fan of sad irony (especially in relation to our unwarranted attack on Iraq) in this case, there is not even a glimmer of similarity. N Korea has NEVER experienced an attack, by us or anyone. They are just taking swings at the air, but oops, there's two lives they've landed a hard right on their chins. I wonder if we will have to choose between starting WWIII or saving the lives of two innocents. No good choices there. Keep thinking,

[Jonahson]

11:29 PM on 06/08/2009

If perpetuators of torture and abuse can get away with it without any punishment and these perpetuators committed these offences in the US then what is US justice system all about?
Does it mean that those in power can be above the US Laws or does it mean that the US laws are above human rights and fairness. Where is the line drawn?
At the end me think everyone of these despicable acts will be swept under the excuse that those who carried out these injustice wrongly translated the orders from Cheney or Bush

[HyperInfluential]

12:31 AM on 06/09/2009

No, we're not doing things that way anymore. This is the Macaca Era. Stuff doesn't get swept away anymore; the Internet remembers everything. The pictures they don't want us to see? One click away. The memos that authorized the behavior in the pictures? Another click. It's all right there for everyone to see, and it's inevitable that it will coalesce into an unstoppable juggernaut of justice.

[time4change2009]

11:02 PM on 06/08/2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWUiKMX4QAY

[Chip W]

10:49 PM on 06/08/2009

There's a view that those held in Guantanamo, or other prisons, are the worst of the worst. They're the enemy, and are guilty by virtue of being captured and locked up.
Do those with this view question the actual guilt or innocence of individual detainees? Those who are innocent, what are they - collateral damage?

[HyperInfluential]

12:33 AM on 06/09/2009

Basically, yes. The Founders, with their ideal that it was better for some criminals to go free than for any innocent person to ever suffer imprisonment, must be rolling in their graves.

[TheLearnedEnglishDog]

08:51 AM on 06/09/2009

Authoritarians worry far more about a single guilty person escaping punishment than about unjustly punishing the innocent. For the rest of us its the other way around.

[Princeton]

10:48 PM on 06/08/2009

Mr. Lakhdar, I am truly sorry for you being abused in such a horrible way. Please use the U.S. legal system to get justice for yourself and your family.

[underoath]

10:33 PM on 06/08/2009

Here it is all layed out and explained www.torturingdemocracy.com

[time4change2009]

10:55 PM on 06/08/2009

Its www.torturingdemocracy.org

[BrianMac]

10:29 PM on 06/08/2009

One thing the 'wingers keep coming back in regards to treating prisoners of war like US citizens by giving them the same protections under the law is that they are not US citizens and are not entitled to those protections. What's the argument in favor of giving them the same judicial process guaranteed to US citizens? We need a cogent, articulate retort/defense in this regard. I've heard it touched on before but don't remember the exact language or constitutional source.

[HyperInfluential]

10:44 PM on 06/08/2009

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain rights, and one of them is the right to not be tortured and/or raped.

Basically I try to explain to them that it doesn't matter who the ACCUSED is, WE always act the same way, because it's the right way to act. It doesn't matter what the accused has done, the system remains the same. That way we are fair, just, and humane no matter what. If we start changing the rights of the accused based on where they come from or the severity of their crimes, that dishonors us and opens the system up for corruption.

[offred]

09:34 PM on 06/08/2009

I think Cheney should be sued and forced to pay Boumedienne a $500 million lump sum settlement. That's chump change, considering all the war profits Cheney made from Halliburton and KBR.

[warlover]

09:01 PM on 06/08/2009

Republicans say waterboarding is not torture because democracies can not torture.

[gladys46]

09:12 PM on 06/08/2009

Ch eney expects sane american people to believe that America can tor ture by degrees as if human beings all the same tolerance levels !!!

[gladys46]

09:13 PM on 06/08/2009

"all HAVE the same ..."

[kimleehan]

09:17 PM on 06/08/2009

So what would the Republicans say if they found out the two girls in North Korea admitted to being spys after they were waterboarded,? Waterboarding works.

[gladys46]

09:31 PM on 06/08/2009

The journalist tried & convicted in Iran has made no mention of being waterboarded!! Those was most probably trumped up charges, however, since Iran "suspected" this journalist of wrongdoing in their country, they're justice system did not appear to have composed such inhumane interrogation memos to justify to r ture !!!

[jamilk99]

08:48 PM on 06/08/2009

But how dare other countries (i.e., Iran) arrest American citizens for 2 months because they suspect them of being spies.

[gladys46]

08:52 PM on 06/08/2009

2 months huh ... they were at least given a trial, sentenced, sentence vacated & released !

Who is civilized & who is not !!!

[marco01]

08:57 PM on 06/08/2009

It was no doubt a show trial. I would hardly classify the NK regime as "civilized."

[alumtrix]

08:29 PM on 06/08/2009

Very few people admit guilt regardless of how much evidence is pointing at them. There was a plot to blow up the English and US embassies. A group of men were arrested for suspicion of being behind the plot. The embassies were never blown up. Sounds like mission accomplished to me.

And did he really have to use the "helping out orphans" via the Red Crescent livelihood as who he really is? I don't know. Sounds a little hoaky to me.

[HyperInfluential]

09:00 PM on 06/08/2009

The Red Crescent confirmed his story, that's why he was freed. Obviously, aid workers are going to be in the thick of battle areas. Giving aid to the wounded, unhomed, and newly orphaned children. If you sweep through and round up everyone who's not a native of the area, of course you're going to catch aid workers along with fighters. What part of this seems in any way implausible to you?

[soapington]

09:13 PM on 06/08/2009

Never trust an innocent man, that’s what I say! I have much more faith in the integrity of the people who locked him away for seven years, uncharged and untried.

[kimleehan]

10:11 PM on 06/08/2009

A great republican once said "Nothing can be more abhorrant to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular, this is really the test of civilization.

[Jonahson]

08:14 PM on 06/08/2009

What about those still imprisoned? How many of them share his predicament? This is way past injustice. This is gonna be part of US history.

[HyperInfluential]

09:01 PM on 06/08/2009

The only question is, what will we tell the grandchildren? "I marched for prosecution and wouldn't let up until we got justice"?? Or, "Oh, there was nothing I could do, the fix was in, the rich bought their way out of justice"?

[kimleehan]

08:03 PM on 06/08/2009

How many characteristics can you identify
http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm

[freddiefreeloader]

08:15 PM on 06/08/2009

Wow scary The Republican party has all of those characteristics.

[gladys46]

08:23 PM on 06/08/2009

"A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred." Nelson Mandela

[warlover]

08:24 PM on 06/08/2009

I can identify ten characteristics maybe more.

[wyldthings]

07:31 PM on 06/08/2009

And there are thousands of daughters that won't see their Father or Mother because this man supported the terrorists on September 11th. I bet half on this post would free Charles Manson because he wasn't at the scene.

[valkyrie607]

08:04 PM on 06/08/2009

Dude, if you can't be bothered to get the elemental facts correct, then I'm just going to flag until you're gone. Boumedienne was INNOCENT.

Do you get it? He is not and never was a terrorist. He worked for the RED CRESCENT. (Like the Red Cross, only Muslim, but you knew that already because you graduated high school and know how to read, right?) INNOCENT. A Republican judge, appointed by Bush 1, ruled that the government had NO CASE against him and made them let him go. He is INNOCENT. And he was tortured by YOUR GOVERNMENT.

[valkyrie607]

08:11 PM on 06/08/2009

Oh and while I'm at it, no righteous anger on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who won't see their sons, daughters, or parents on account of OUR GOVERNMENT'S panicky and vengeful response to 9/11?

Or are people only human if they're American?

[GunneraGirl]

09:51 PM on 06/08/2009

or the Bosnians he was helping.