Detainees
Egypt’s Political Prisoners Recount Horrific Conditions
For a time, Mr. Abd El Fattah shared a prison complex with a former presidential candidate, 71-year-old Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who suffers from conditions the United Nations has called life-threatening, including angina, prostate disease and kidney stones. He has received almost no medical attention apart from basic tests, the U.N. said. But the authorities […]
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Biden Appeared to Overstate the Role of Al Qaeda’s Leader
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — In announcing last week that the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, President Biden described the long-sought terrorist as “a mastermind” behind the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000. Mr. Biden also said that al-Zawahri was “deeply involved in the planning” […]
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ISIS Fighters’ Children Are Growing Up in a Desert Camp. What Will They Become?
AL HOL, Syria — Viewed from a helicopter, this enormous camp that holds the wives and children of dead or captured Islamic State fighters was a sea of white tents against the desolate landscape of drought-stricken northeastern Syria. From the ground, the human dimension of this tragedy came into focus. As a convoy of armored […]
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Russia Hints at Linking Griner’s Case to Fate of ‘Merchant of Death’
WASHINGTON — She is an American professional basketball star, accused of carrying hashish oil in her luggage. He is a notorious Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to people who said they planned to kill Americans. And the Kremlin appears interested […]
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U.S. Repatriates Afghan Whose Guantánamo Detention Was Unlawful
The United States on Friday complied with a federal court order and released a former Afghan militiaman from detention in Guantánamo Bay, in a case that reflects the changing political realities of Afghanistan. Assadullah Haroon Gul, who is in his 40s, was held for 15 years at the military prison under the name Haroon al-Afghani […]
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A Trove of Guantánamo Photos
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Like so many articles, our project in Sunday’s newspaper on the once-secret Pentagon photos from the earliest days of U.S. detention operations here, in 2002, started out with a tip. Somewhere […]
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Gina Haspel Observed Waterboarding at C.I.A. Black Site, Psychologist Testifies
WASHINGTON — During Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing to become director of the C.I.A. in 2018, Senator Dianne Feinstein asked her if she had overseen the interrogations of a Saudi prisoner, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, which included the use of a waterboard. Ms. Haspel declined to answer, saying it was part of her classified career. While there […]
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C.I.A. Captive Was Too Small for Waterboard, Interrogator Testifies
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The psychologist who for the C.I.A. waterboarded a prisoner accused of plotting the U.S.S. Cole bombing testified this week that the Saudi man broke quickly and became so compliant that he would crawl into a cramped crate even before guards ordered him inside. The psychologist, James E. Mitchell, also told a […]
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War Crimes Hearing Revisits U.S. Soldiers’ Abuse of Detainees
At one point, a military prosecutor suggested that Mr. Corsetti was lying to get even with the Army, which court-martialed and then acquitted him in 2006. “I love my country, sir,” Mr. Corsetti told a defense lawyer. “I would never do that.” Mr. Darbi, who was held at Guantánamo Bay for 15 years, will not […]
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