MalayMail-Dec 27
A Malaysian detainee recently repatriated from the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba has revealed harrowing sketches illustrating the torture he endured during CIA interrogations. The drawings, created over the last five years, document the brutal treatment he faced while in US custody, according to a report published today in Free Malaysia Today. Mohamad Farik Amin, one of two Malaysians held at the controversial facility, produced the sketches at the suggestion of his US-appointed lawyer, Christine Funk. The visual depictions were submitted as evidence to the US military court as part of his and fellow Malaysian Nazir Lep’s mitigation plea for leniency in sentencing. Now declassified, these exhibits were submitted to the court as part of Farik’s mitigation plea for a lesser punishment. Under military court rules, a jury may consider the “nature and length of pretrial detention” when determining the appropriate punishment or recommending clemency. In January, Farik, 49, and Nazir, 48, were sentenced to 23 years in prison for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people. Both pleaded guilty under a pre-trial agreement reached with prosecutors, which would allow their repatriation to a third country and release after five years. The two men admitted to conspiring with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, the mastermind of the bombings. They also provided testimonies for use in Hambali’s trial, scheduled for March next year. According to the declassified documents, both detainees informed the court of inhumane and cruel methods employed by CIA agents while held in solitary confinement in a secret prison in Afghanistan for three-and-a-half years following their 2003 arrest in Thailand. During the trial, as his sketches were shown on-screen, Farik described how the torture started shortly after his arrest in Bangkok. He shared that he was denied the ability to shower or brush his teeth for months. “I was held nude and handcuffed with my legs chained to the floor for months. I could not move around in the cell. I soiled myself while in this position. The only noise I could hear was white noise buzzing all the time, 24/7,” Farik said in response to a question from Funk, according to court notes. Read more at
