DOJ says Guantanamo detainee can testify about his CIA torture

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a letter to the Supreme Court last week that a Guantanamo Bay detainee will be allowed to testify about the alleged torture he experienced.

Acting Solicitor General Brian Fletcher wrote in a letter to the Supreme Court on Friday that Abu Zubaydah would be permitted to tell authorities in Poland about his alleged torture.

In his letter, Fletcher wrote that the Defense Department “has informed this Office that under the circumstances presented here it would allow Abu Zubaydah, upon his request, to use such a process to send a declaration that could be transmitted to Polish prosecutors.”

As CBS News reported, Polish prosecutors are investigating the alleged torture that Zubaydah experienced while detained at the CIA “black site” reportedly operated in Poland in the early 2000s. The U.S. had previously denied a request from Polish prosecutors for Zubaydah’s testimony in 2015.

Zubaydah is the first detainee subjected to the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” methods following 9/11, according to CBS. He is seeking testimony from former CIA-contractors James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen who designed the interrogation program.

Fletcher added that Zubaydah’s declaration would go through a security review that “would not prevent him from describing his treatment while in CIA custody, but it could result in the redaction of information that could prejudice the security of the United States.”

Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan in 2002, with the U.S. government alleging that he was a senior al Qaeda operative who helped to plan the 9/11 attack. Senate probes have found these claims to be unfounded. He was held at various CIA sites around the world, spending 10 months at a site in Poland beginning in 2002.

Zubaydah requested that Mitchell and Jessen be compelled to provide evidence for use in a Polish criminal probe after a 2014 Senate investigation unveiled more information on that secret operations. Earlier this month, the Biden administration argued that state secrets privilege should block Zubyadah’s request.