Oh, the torture!
Osama bin Laden’s former personal driver, held in Guantanamo Bay, claimed today that he was sexually humiliated by a touchy-feely female interrogator who groped him.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s lawyer says the terror cuddling should force a judge to throw out any statements made to authorities during his confinement.
VIDEO: Watch Gitmo Interrogation Techniques.
According to Hamdan, the woman put her hand on his thigh and behaved in an “improper” way that made him uncomfortable as a Muslim.
“She came very close with her whole body toward me,” he testified through an interpreter. “I couldn’t do anything.”
It was unclear if he was turned on by her advances.
Hamdan, a 37-year-old Yemeni, became visibly disturbed when his lawyer asked him about the female interrogator.
Like a child victim of sexual abuse, he refused to specifically enunciate where the woman touched him – instead he pointed to his waist.
“It’s difficult for me to say that,” said Hamdan. “A woman behaved in an improper way with a man, without me doing anything.”
He is scheduled to face trial next week by a US military tribunal on charges of conspiracy and providing support to terrorism. He faces up to life in prison.
Other male prisoners in Gitmo have described similarly provocative encounters with female interrogators at the military prison.
In 2005, the FBI complained about such tactics, including a case when a woman grabbed a detainee’s genitals.
In Islam such contact between an unmarried man and woman is considered haraam – extremely forbidden.
Prosecutors scoffed at Hamdan’s allegation and challenged his credibility – arguing that he has lied to his captors about the details of his capture.
Hamdan was nabbed at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001 and is accused of helping his boss, terror mastermind bin Laden, escape just after the US invasion.
In his testimony today, Hamdan also said interrogators frequently woke him up on nights before they questioned him and used medical treatment as a reward for his cooperation.
“When I felt sick, I called the interrogators directly,” he said, adding that his calls for medical attention were otherwise ignored for days.
Hamdan is one of 20 detainees facing charges at Guantanamo, where the United States holds roughly 265 men for links to al Qaeda or the Taliban. With Post Wire Services