WASHINGTON, 4 January 2007 — FBI agents at Guantanamo saw a military interrogator squat over the Qur’an in order to anger a prisoner and observed a detainee whose head was wrapped in duct tape, according to recently released FBI documents from a 2004 internal inquiry.
The documents stemmed from a survey of nearly 500 FBI employees who were asked if they saw any aggressive interview techniques, interrogations or mistreatment of prisoners at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. More than 25 incidents were reported.
The 244 pages of documents were released on the FBI’s website and were turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of its lawsuit.
“The FBI believes this or substantially similar information has already been released in this litigation,” the agency said.
In one incident in October of 2002, a detainee was put in a plywood hut, where interrogators yelled and screamed at him, according to the documents. One military interrogator squatted over the Qur’an which “incensed” the prisoner, the document said.
The Pentagon has said the population of the prison now stands at approximately 395 inmates. Most were captured during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Another day, an FBI employee was taken to an interrogation room and saw a detainee with a full beard whose head was wrapped in duct tape.
In another incident, a civilian contractor asked an FBI special agent to see a detainee who was gagged with duct tape that covered much of his head. The contractor said the prisoner had been reciting the Qur’an nonstop, according to the documents.
