Аммар аль-Балучи: Пленник Гуантанамо и жертва пыток.

Prisoner at Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Ammar al Baluchi or Amar al Balochi (عمار البلوشي ʿAmmār Al Balūshī; born Ali Abdul Aziz Ali on 29 August 1977) is a Pakistani citizen who has been in American custody at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006. the series of criminal charges against him include: "facilitating the 9/11 attackers, acting as a courier for Osama bin Laden and plotting to crash a plane packed with explosives into the U. S. consulate in Karachi." He is a nephew of the Pakistani terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who served as a senior official of al Qaeda between the late 1980s and early 2000s; and a cousin of the Pakistani terrorist Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who played a key role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Philippine Airlines Flight 434 bombing, and the high profile Bojinka plot. American authorities have stated that Baluchi was a "key lieutenant" of Mohammed during al Qaeda's preparation for the 9/11 attacks, Siddiqui's family has denied that she was ever married to Baluchi, but the marriage has been attested by Pakistani and American intelligence personnel, Mohammed, and Siddiqui herself. After being arrested in Karachi, Baluch was transferred to Afghanistan and detained at the Salt Pit, a now defunct CIA black site near Bagram Airfield. It has been reported that he was tortured extensively, being used as a "training prop" to teach enhanced interrogation techniques to new agents; trainees took turns shoving his head into a wall in sessions that lasted for hours, inflicting considerable levels of brain damage. He was also doused with icy water and kept in stress positions, though these techniques ultimately failed to contribute to the acquisition of any useful intelligence. In 2018, the United Nations released a public announcement stating that Baluchi's ongoing captivity "breaches human rights law" and called on American authorities to immediately end his arbitrary detention.

Siddiqui was arrested 29 April 2003 in Karachi along with al Attash. Baluchi had a copy of a letter to Osama bin Laden from Saudi scholars in his pocket, a computer disk containing a draft of a letter to bin Laden, two images of the September 11 attacks, and a perfume bottle containing low concentration cyanide used to bleach and perfume clothes. On 7 November 2003, a detainee was interrogated and said that Mohamed Atta and Ramzi bin al Shibh spoke briefly in August 2000 about a "Losh" who had asked Atta if he could travel to the United States to help with any potential plots, having already asked Mohammed three months earlier. Authorities allege this is a reference to Baluchi. While in CIA custody, Baluchi served as a "training prop" to teach torture techniques to trainee CIA interrogators. One torture technique, known as "walling", was often practiced on Baluchi. In it, trainees would line up and take turns "shoving" a naked and tied up Baluchi head first into a plywood wall behind him, with sessions typically lasting for a few hours each. One of the instructors identified the goal being to "bounce" Baluchi's head off the wall. Analysis carried out by a neuropsychologist in 2018 found "abnormalities indicating moderate to severe brain damage" consistent with traumatic brain injury in Baluchi's brain. In addition, the inspector general said that interrogators in the black site also carried out torture that went beyond the CIA's guidelines, including dousing him with ice water and forcing him to kneel backwards with a stick behind his knees in a stress position. Baluchi was kept in CIA custody until 6 September 2006, when he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba. Al Baluchi's attorney James G. Connell, III visited him there in August 2013 under an order issued by the military commission. After 20 years, he is stuck in a state of legal limbo, yet to face trial. No journalist was able to talk to him since his detention due to strict restrictions imposed by the US government. Declassified CIA documents reveal CIA had been using Baluchi as a human experiment for interrogators learning torture techniques. He was subjected to water dousing, cramped confinement, sleep deprivation, put in stress positions and walling. Medical professionals examining Baluchi reported serious consequences like brain damage, traumatic brain injury and Post traumatic stress disorder as a result of torture.

US District Court Justice Joyce Hens Green ruled that the Combatant Status Review Tribunals were unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the Department of Defense scheduled Tribunals for the 14 high value captives who were transferred from covert CIA custody, on 6 September 2006, for early winter of 2007. The Summary of Evidence memo for Baluchi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal was drafted on 8 February 2007. Baluchi cooperated with his tribunal. Although he was not able to call Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Saifullah Paracha or Ramzi bin al Shibh to testify about his lack of connection to al Qaeda, he was permitted to have his legal representative field statements they had made. He chose to put forward the statements by Mohammed and bin al Shibh as evidence, but not the statement by Paracha. Baluchi requested statements be garnered from Modern Electronics Corporation personnel, including Samir Sharin, Mohammed Mayer, Asraf Mayer, Ammar al Tesqui and Sayed Tesqui that would testify he had no connections to militant forces, and that his employee records would show that he left several days before the attacks because his work permit had expired when MEC closed its Dubai branch. Although judges Peter Brownback and Keith J. Allred had ruled two months earlier that only "illegal enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.

In February 2008, Baluchi was committed to a joint trial, charged with conspiracy, attacking civilians and civilian objects, causing serious bodily injury, murder, destruction of property, hijacking, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. Al Baluchi, Walid Bin Attash, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed chose to serve as their own attorney. They requested laptops, and internet access, in order to prepare their defences. In October 2008, Ralph Kohlmann ruled that the men be provided with the computers, but not the internet access. Al Baluchi's request said he was a Microsoft Certified software engineer. On 8 December 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after mental competency hearings for Hawsawi and bin al Shibh. Mohammed said, "We want everyone to plead together."

On 22 January 2009, United States President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13492, ordering a halt to the Guantanamo military commission as part of the overall closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. On 21 April 2009, United States Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell cited "Ali Abd al Azeez Ali" as an example of the kind of captive United States President Barack Obama might free in the United States when he closes the camp in January 2010, because he didn't know what else to do with him.

In October 2011, in an operation called the "baseline review," the prison seized all legal materials belonging to "high value detainees," starting with Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. The prison also announced that it would change its previous policy and begin reviewing legal mail for its content. In response, the Chief Defense Counsel (United States) ordered the attorneys under his supervision to stop sending privileged communications to Guantanamo prisoners. Under the Chief Defense Counsel (United States) policy, Al Baluchi could not receive mail from his attorneys until November 2013. On 4 April 2012, the Department of Defense referred Guantanamo military commission charges against al Baluchi and four other men for participation in the conspiracy leading up to the September 11 attacks. On 5 May 2012, Military Judge James Pohl arraigned al Baluchi, and appointed attorneys to represent him.

During a preliminary hearing, held on 17 September 2019, the prosecution released a transcript from a conversation al Baluchi had with another captive, when they were in two nearby recreation yards. Al Baluchi has complained that the United States has provided more information to the filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal about al Baluchi's treatment in CIA custody than it has to Baluchi's own attorneys.

The CIA acknowledged that the character Ammar is based on al Baluchi. In the film, CIA interrogator Dan Fuller and other characters repeatedly describe Ammar as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew. Fuller also references the arrest of Ammar and describes his role as the financial facilitator in the 9/11 attacks. "The first 25 minutes of the movie are largely taken up with torture: Ammar is strung up, beaten, water boarded and kept awake for 96 hours straight."