Mohammed al-Asad
Mohammed al-Asad is a citizen of Yemen who was secretly held in the CIA's archipelago of black sites for several months.[1][2][3] Al-Asad, who owned a business in Indonesia, was captured in Jordan while visiting his wife's family, in 2003. He describes several weeks of torture by Jordanian officials, who then transferred him ot the CIA. Al-Asad was never told why he being held. Unlike other captives, al-Asad doesn't describe being tortured in CIA custody, he said he was never even interrogated.
Al-Asad had American human rights lawyers, who worked with him, to try to help him learn why he was held in secret extrajudicial detention, and who tried to help him win some compensation.[1] They were unsuccessful.
On December 9, 2014, the United States Senate Intelligence Committee published an unclassified summary on the CIA's use of torture.[1] It was the Intelligence Committee's conclusion that the CIA held at least 26 innocent individuals. Al-Asad's lawyer, Meg Satterthwaite, noted that Al-Asad was not one of the 26 men the Senate reported identified as innocent, even though the CIA eventually released him without bothering to interrogate him.
Life
Al-Asad left Yemen, and moved to Tanzania, where he opened a successful import-export business.[2] By 2003 his business had taken him to Indonesia. He returned to the Middle East to visit his wife's family, and take her funds for a medical procedure.[1] It was on this trip that Al-Asad was captured.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Scott Shane (2014-12-12). "Amid Details on Torture, Data on 26 Who Were Held in Error". New York Times. p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/us/politics/amid-details-on-torture-data-on-26-held-in-error-.html?emc=edit_th_20141213&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=8280832&_r=0. Retrieved 2014-12-13. "The C.I.A. told the Senate in its formal response that the real number of wrongful detentions was “far fewer” than 26 but did not offer a number. Human rights advocates who have tracked the C.I.A. program believe that considerably more than 26 were wrongfully detained. Another Yemeni client of Ms. Satterthwaite, for instance, Mohammed al-Asad, was left out of the Senate’s count, even though he languished for months in C.I.A. prisons without being questioned, was sent home to Yemen and was never charged with a terrorism-related crime."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Mohammed al-Asad v. Djibouti: Seeking Justice for a Victim of Extraordinary Rendition". Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20141213174534/http://chrgj.org/mohammed-al-asad-v-djibouti-seeking-justice-for-a-victim-of-extraordinary-rendition/. "Mohammed al-Asad’s life as he knew it fell apart in 2003, when he was kidnapped from his family home, secretly detained in a foreign country, and abused for over one year. Mohammed was a victim of the U.S. extraordinary rendition and secret detention program. He was never charged with a terrorism-related crime. Along with myriad others, he has effectively been denied access to U.S. courts, which have repeatedly declined to hear cases of rendition victims, invoking the state secrets doctrine."
- ↑ Meg Satterthwaite (2013-11-02). "African Commission Emerges as New Forum in Quest for Justice for Rendition Victims". Just Security. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20140702002221/http://justsecurity.org/2843/african-commission-al-asad-djibouti/. Retrieved 2014-12-13. "The case, argued by Meg Satterthwaite of the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law and Judy Oder of INTERIGHTS, seeks relief for the secret detention, ill-treatment, and refoulement of an ordinary Yemeni man who was caught up in the CIA’s rendition, detention, and interrogation program from late 2003 to mid-2005. The case is the first in the African human rights system, and the latest in a trend of international cases to confront U.S. partner states for their role in implementing the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and secret detention program. Mohammed Al-Asad’s case has the potential to open a new avenue for justice and accountability for individuals who were rendered and detained by African states."
