Gul Rahman (Pashto: ګل رحمان; died November 20, 2002) was an Afghan man, suspected by the United States of being a militant, who was a victim of torture. He died in a secret CIA prison, or black site, located in northern Kabul, Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit.[1][2] He had been captured October 29, 2002.[3][4]
His name was kept secret by the United States for more than seven years, although his death was announced. In 2010 the Associated Press reported that before his death he was left half-stripped and chained against a concrete wall on a night when the temperature was close to freezing.[3] The United States government did not notify his family (wife and four daughters) of his death, according to the report.[3]
U.S. officials claim Rahman was "violently uncooperative" while in custody at the Salt Pit, the CIA code name for an abandoned brick factory that had been turned into a CIA black site or covert interrogation center,[5] including threatening to kill his guards – who responded by beating him.[5] Rahman was also subjected to "48 hours of sleep deprivation, auditory overload, total darkness, isolation, a cold shower and rough treatment". Gul Rahman reportedly died on November 20, 2002, after being stripped naked from the waist down and shackled to a cold cement wall in the Salt Pit, where temperatures were approximately 36 °F (2 °C).[4]
This technique of shackling is known as "short-chaining." The detainee is shackled "in a short chain position, which prevents prisoners from standing upright." A CIA pathologist reported that Rahman likely froze to death.[6]
His death prompted an internal CIA review and the development of improved guidance.[5] No one was ever charged in his death.
Rescue of Hamid Karzai
Redacted version of the CIA investigation of Rahman's death, released June 2016 (.pdf file)
According to Gul's brother, Habib Rahman, Gul Rahman was involved in a 1994 rescue of Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Karzai had been imprisoned by the government forces, and Rahman was working for Hekmatyar, whose forces fired rockets at the building while Rahman entered and freed Karzai. Rahman took him to a safe house in Kabul.[2]
Senate Intelligence Committee's report of CIA torture
On October 13, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit [7] on behalf of Rahman's estate and two other former detainees against two psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who they maintain were responsible for designing the protocols that resulted in Rahman's death and the torture of the other two plaintiffs.[8] The ACLU case is the first lawsuit brought against significant individuals identified in the Senate report since it was published.[9] On July 28, 2017, U.S. District Judge Justin Lowe Quackenbush denied both parties motions for summary judgment, noted that the defendants are indemnified by the United States government, and encouraged the attorneys to reach a settlement before trial.[10]
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Roller, Emma; Nelson, Rebecca (December 10, 2014). "What CIA Interrogators Did To 17 Detainees Without Approval". National Journal. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2014. Cited by the Senate report as the only detainee who died from the CIA's interrogation, Rahman was subjected to "'48 hours of sleep deprivation, auditory overload, total darkness, isolation, a cold shower, and rough treatment'" during his time at the Cobalt detention site. One night in November 2002, he was "shackled to the wall of his cell," resting on the bare concrete floor. Wearing only a sweatshirt and naked from the waist down, he was found dead—likely of hypothermia—the next day. Other factors in his death included "dehydration, lack of food, and immobility due to 'short chaining.'"
^"Salim v. Mitchell - Complaint". ACLU. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015. Lawsuit Against Psychologists Behind CIA Torture Program
