Former U.S. Detainee Testifies of Torture

By DESMOND BUTLER / AP

In testimony by satellite link from Germany to a House of Representatives' panel, Murat Kurnaz recounted his five-year detention, alleging a wide range of torture and abuse.

Lawmakers at the hearing on Guantanamo abuses held by a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee called for further investigation into Kurnaz's case.

He said that in 2002 in Afghanistan, U.S. interrogators subjected him to beatings, electrical shocks and, on one occasion, a technique he said was referred to as "water treatment." He said his head was held under water in a bucket while he was punched in the stomach, forcing him to inhale. On another occasion, he was hung by his arms for five days, he said.

"The pain from this treatment was beyond belief," he said. "I know that others have died from this treatment."

Kurnaz claims he was also subject to repeated beatings at Guantanamo, as well as forced medication and sexual and religious abuse.

"I told my story over and over," he said. "My name over and over."

Asked about Kurnaz's testimony, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack repeated official U.S. denials of torture by American interrogators. "I can't put it any more plainly than the president of the United States has put it, and he says the United States does not torture," McCormack said.

Kurnaz also alleges abuse by German interrogators. Early this year, German prosecutors closed an investigation for a second time into his allegations that two German special forces soldiers mistreated him in Afghanistan.

Kurnaz traveled in October 2001 to Pakistan and was detained by police there. He believes he was the victim of someone seeking a U.S. bounty for al-Qaida members.

He was freed from Guantanamo in 2006 after a personal plea from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Documents released last year offer some evidence that U.S. authorities held Kurnaz long after they had determined he was innocent of terrorist involvement.

According to the documents, a German intelligence officer reported on Sept. 26, 2002, that the "USA considers Murat Kurnaz's innocence to be proven" and that he would be released in six weeks to eight weeks.

Declassified documents and court records cite reports from military investigators indicating no evidence had been found linking Kurnaz to the al-Qaida network or the Taliban, Islamic militants who once governed Afghanistan.

Kurnaz denied ever having had connections to terrorists and said he has never sympathized with al-Qaida.

"When the terrorists attacked New York on 9-11, I was horrified by their actions," he said. "I blame Osama bin Laden for having lost five years of my life."

A U.S. military tribunal ruled that Kurnaz was an enemy combatant, based on allegations that he was associated in Pakistan with a suicide bomber and a religious group, some of whose members are hostile to the United States.

Kurnaz says the accusation that he had associated with a suicide bomber was fabricated. The man the United States was referring to is still living in Germany, according to Kurnaz and his lawyers.