Interrogators, some of whom smelled of alcohol, also threatened to beat him with a hammer, baseball bats, sticks and leather belts, Khan said. The US government cleared the notes for release last month through a formal review process. CIA officials have said they believed Khan repeatedly lied to them during interrogations.
The year-old Khan, a Pakistani citizen who attended high school in Maryland, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in to conspiracy, material support, murder and spying charges. In exchange for serving as a government witness, Khan will be sentenced to up to 19 years in prison, with the term beginning on the date of his guilty plea. That money was later used to carry out the truck bombing of a Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 11 people and wounded at least 80 others.
In the interviews with his lawyers, Khan described a carnival-like atmosphere of abuse when he arrived at the CIA detention facility. He said that he experienced excruciating pain when hung naked from poles and that guards repeatedly held his head under ice water. Years before the report was released, Khan complained to his lawyers that he had been subjected to forced rectal feedings.
Senate investigators found internal CIA documents confirming that Khan had received involuntary rectal feeding and rectal hydration. The CIA maintains that rectal feedings were necessary after Khan went on a hunger strike and pulled out a feeding tube that had been inserted through his nose. Senate investigators said Khan was cooperative and did not remove the feeding tube. Khan told his lawyers that some of the worst torture occurred in a May interrogation session, when guards stripped him naked, hung him from a wooden beam for three days and provided him with water but no food.
The only time he was removed from the beam was on the afternoon of the first day, when interrogators shackled him, placed a hood over his head and lowered him into a tub of ice water. Khan was again hung on the pole hooded and naked. Every two to three hours, interrogators hurled ice water on his body and set up a fan to blow air on him, depriving him of sleep, he said.
