{"id":11952,"date":"2017-12-01T15:05:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T15:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reprieve.org.uk\/?post_type=update&p=11952"},"modified":"2020-05-29T15:20:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T15:20:14","slug":"interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/","title":{"rendered":"“The interrogator put his gun on my forehead” – Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Towfiq Bihani has been held at Guant\u00e1namo Bay since early 2003. He has never been charged with a crime. Towfiq has been \u2018prepared for release\u2019 twice \u2013 coming \u2013 coming agonizingly close to leaving the prison , and seeing his beloved family again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Towfiq grew up in Saudi Arabia in a big family and has 11 brothers and sisters. A keen poet and fan of European football, Towfiq has made it his mission in Guantanamo to learn English and Spanish. He\u2019s a prolific writer of poetry in English and Arabic. You can read two of his poems here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Towfiq has been through an ordeal that most of us can\u2019t imagine. Like many others, he was captured in Pakistan by bounty hunters in late 2001, and sold to US forces in Afghanistan. He was held in solitary confinement for five months before being transferred to CIA custody around October 2002. Years later, the US Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture confirmed that he was subjected to appalling torture. He was one of only 39 people subjected to the CIA\u2019s notorious \u201cenhanced interrogation techniques\u201d, including in ways that were not authorized by CIA headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was handcuffed behind and they put a hood on my head so that I could not see anything. When I entered the interrogation room, the American guards pushed me down to the ground… They started to cut my clothing with scissors. They undressed me completely and I was nude. I was afraid and because the guards were aiming their weapons towards me. The interrogator put his personal gun on my forehead threatening to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very dark prison. They put me into a cell and kept me…tied to the wall for almost ten days. I had no idea whether it was day or night.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After months of torture, US authorities transferred Towfiq to Guant\u00e1namo in early 2003.<\/p>\n

Towfiq is officially cleared for release, meaning that the US authorities have conducted a review and determined that he poses no threat. He\u2019s been told at least twice to prepare his things to leave; once, he was even led out to the plane .. Each time, he was told there was a mistake. He is still held in indefinite detention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was handcuffed behind and they put a hood on my head so that I could not see anything. When I entered the interrogation room, the American guards pushed me down to the ground”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"The interrogator put his gun on my forehead" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The interrogator put his gun on my forehead" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI was handcuffed behind and they put a hood on my head so that I could not see anything. When I entered the interrogation room, the American guards pushed me down to the ground"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reprieve\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReprieveHQ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@reprieve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@reprieve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"“The interrogator put his gun on my forehead” – Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Update\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"The interrogator put his gun on my forehead\\\" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/01\\\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“The interrogator put his gun on my forehead” – Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reprieve - fighting for human rights around the world\",\"description\":\"Reprieve is a legal action non-governmental organisation (NGO). We are investigators, lawyers and campaigners fighting for justice. We defend people who are facing human rights abuses, often at the hands of powerful governments.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Reprieve: Delivering justice and saving lives across the world\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Reprieve: Delivering justice and saving lives across the world\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ReprieveHQ\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/reprieve\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/@reprievehq\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/967614\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reprieve.org\\\/uk\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The interrogator put his gun on my forehead\" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The interrogator put his gun on my forehead\" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo","og_description":"\u201cI was handcuffed behind and they put a hood on my head so that I could not see anything. When I entered the interrogation room, the American guards pushed me down to the ground\"","og_url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/","og_site_name":"Reprieve","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReprieveHQ\/","article_published_time":"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@reprieve","twitter_site":"@reprieve","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"“The interrogator put his gun on my forehead” – Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo","datePublished":"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/"},"wordCount":388,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Update"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/","url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/","name":"\"The interrogator put his gun on my forehead\" - Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-01T15:05:37+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-29T15:20:14+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2017\/12\/01\/interrogator-put-gun-forehead-towfiq-described-torture-guantanamo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“The interrogator put his gun on my forehead” – Towfiq described his torture in Guant\u00e1namo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/","name":"Reprieve - fighting for human rights around the world","description":"Reprieve is a legal action non-governmental organisation (NGO). We are investigators, lawyers and campaigners fighting for justice. We defend people who are facing human rights abuses, often at the hands of powerful governments.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Reprieve: Delivering justice and saving lives across the world","url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/Reprieve_MetaImage_Logo.jpg","width":1000,"height":500,"caption":"Reprieve: Delivering justice and saving lives across the world"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReprieveHQ\/","https:\/\/x.com\/reprieve","https:\/\/instagram.com\/@reprievehq","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/967614"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/author\/"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Reprieve","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16976,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11952\/revisions\/16976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}