London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 02, 2026

Drawings by Guantanamo Bay prisoner expose brutality of US ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’

Drawings by Guantanamo Bay prisoner expose brutality of US ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’

A Guantanamo Bay prisoner has revealed in detail the abuse and torture he said he suffered at the hands of US security forces at the infamous prison.
Abu Zubaydah, a stateless Palestinian who was detained by US forces in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in 2002, produced drawings of brutal treatment during his imprisonment and interrogation at various US “black sites” and Guantanamo Bay.

They were drawn from memory in his cell and sent to one of his lawyers, Professor Mark Denbeaux.

Denbeaux has co-authored a report based on Abu Zubaydah’s account titled “American Torturers: FBI and CIA Abuses at Dark Sites and Guantanamo,” a summary of which was published in the Guardian newspaper on Thursday, which offered an unprecedented insight into what the CIA calls its “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

His graphic drawings depict in detail various torture methods used by the CIA against him and other detainees, while also highlighting the “complicity” of FBI agents in the abuse and mistreatment of detainees, the report said.

Abu Zubaydah was the first detainee in the post-Sept. 11 terrorist attacks era to be experimented on using the EITs, which include slaps and punches to the body, waterboarding, direction of high-pressure cold water at the genitals and 24-hour use of loudspeakers and cold air while chained to a cell wall.

Following his capture by US forces, he was moved from Pakistan to a black site in Thailand, and over the course of four years suffered abuse and torture at CIA black sites in Afghanistan, Lithuania, Poland and Morocco before being transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

The CIA and FBI have acknowledged Abu Zubaydah was not a member of Al-Qaeda as initially suspected and that his case was one of “mistaken identity,” but he has been imprisoned without charge or trial ever since.

His treatment has been criticized by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention as having “no lawful basis.” The withdrawing of his freedoms constituted a “crime against humanity” and the UK was “jointly responsible for the torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of Mr. Zubaydah,” the group added.

“Not only are these drawings a powerful testament to what the CIA and FBI did in the wake of 9/11, they are the only evidence now,” the Center for Policy and Research report authors Denbeaux and Jess Ghannam said.

“The CIA destroyed the only video evidence of detainee torture, and ‘justice’ moves at a glacial pace in the Guantanamo Bay, Military Commission courtroom, 19 years have been wasted while Mr. Abu Zubaydah and many other GTMO prisoners have neither been charged with a crime, nor allowed to testify,” they added.

Meanwhile, Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner and outreach director at London-based advocacy group for War on Terror victims CAGE, said Abu Zubaydah’s drawings will be key in highlighting what has gone on at Guantanamo Bay.

“They call him the ‘forever prisoner’ because, despite facing no charge or trial in 21 years, they fear to release Abu Zubaydah not because of what he did but what was done to him,” he said.

“In truth, it will be forever be remembered that the US’ 21st-century medieval torture program was invented against a stateless Palestinian and it was his case that caused the United Nations to finally describe Guantanamo as a ‘crime against humanity.’

“Abu Zubaydah is innocent according to the law so he must be released, and when he’s free, his iconic self-portraits of CIA torture featured in the report will have done their job.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
Sainsbury Agrees to Sell Argos in £120 Million Deal to Private Consortium
High Court Clears Way for Construction of Chinese Embassy at Royal Mint Court
UK Fuel Prices Climb to Multi-Month Highs as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Disrupt Oil Supplies
Severe Summer Drought and Record Heat Put UK Harvests at Risk
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Faces Labour Backbench Opposition Over Potential Support for New North Sea Oil and Gas Drilling
Bank of England Warns Inflation Will Stay Above 3% as Middle East Energy Shock Prolongs Cost-of-Living Pressures
Andy Burnham has Announces Plans to Redistribute Income Tax Revenue to English Mayors
Early-Release Scheme Faces Fresh Scrutiny as Reoffending and Prison Recalls Rise
Police Phone Checks Followed Report on Murder of MI5 Agent Inside Sinn Féin
Archbishop of Canterbury Reaffirms £100 Million Reparative Justice Fund During Ghana Visit
Charities Allege French Police Used Tear Gas Against Channel Migrants
Norwegian Teenager Convicted Over Iran-Linked Murder Plot in Britain
Christian Organisations File Charity Complaints Against Amnesty International UK
Ofgem Tightens Grid Connection Rules for New Data Centres
FTSE 100 Reaches Record High Despite Global Technology Sell-Off
Millions of UK Households Urged to Check Eligibility for Winter Energy Discount
Labour Restores Parliamentary Whips to Diane Abbott and Joani Reid
UK Supreme Court to Hear Challenge Over Palestine Action Ban
UK Commits More Than £8.4 Billion to Dreadnought Nuclear Submarine Programme
England Declares Severe Drought as Wildfire Burns Near Sizewell Nuclear Site
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at 3.75% as Middle East Tensions Fuel Inflation Risks
Drought Status Extended Across All of Wales as Heat and Dry Weather Deepen Environmental Strain
Record-Low Danube Exposes Probable Mammoth Remains in Bulgaria
UK Business Confidence Climbs to Four-Month High
Greater Manchester Gains Expanded Powers Under Regional Funding Reforms
UK Supreme Court to Hear Appeal Over Palestine Action Terror Ban
Shell's Quarterly Profit Doubles to Nearly $10 Billion on Higher Energy Prices
UK Government Removes VAT From Household Electricity Bills
Exceptional Drought Grips Half of England as Wildfire Threatens Sizewell
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at 3.75% as Inflation Risks Persist
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
The chief executive of the popular gaming company laid off many employees and his pay rose to 38 million dollars
UK Employment Holds Steady as Wage Growth Remains Moderate
England to Introduce Artificial Intelligence into Secondary School Curriculum
Wales Launches £1.2 Billion Industrial Regeneration Programme
High Court Upholds UK Digital Surveillance Framework
Northern Ireland Reaches Budget Agreement on Infrastructure and Public Sector Pay
Home Office Expands Digital Border Checks Nationwide
UK Approves Major North Sea Wind and Carbon Capture Project
The World's Most Terrifying Smartphone: Recording, Documenting, and Reporting to the Regime
Scotland Approves Major Renewable Energy Expansion
UK and United States Sign AI and Semiconductor Cooperation Pact
UK Treasury Tightens Fiscal Controls After Gilt Market Volatility
Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at 4.5%
UK Unveils £10 Billion NHS Funding Overhaul and Workforce Reform
The AI User Nightmare: Private Claude Conversations Leaked to the Internet
UK: Former Football Association Leaders Call for World Cup Boycott Over FIFA Privatization Plan
Forbidden Love: China severs millions from their virtual partners
×