"In the End I Would Have Confessed to Anything"

THE TORTURE IN EGYPT: "In the End I Would Have Confessed to Anything"

Courtesy Of: Der Spiegel Online
March 19, 2007
Spiegel

Abu Omar was tortured in Egypt for months. He has finally been released after four years, a broken man.

"After I rejected their offer to work as an informer for them, I was treated like dirt in the prison in Egypt. In the first few months I was locked in a solitary cell and had no contact with lawyers or my family. I was totally shut off from the outside world. Every couple of days I got taken to be interrogated. Egypt's government did what it always does: carry out Washington's orders. The dirty work to get me to talk was to be done here. That's why they tortured me, hooked up electric wires to my genitals, hung me on the wall in a solitary cell for days, subjected me to unbearably loud music through headphones."

"In the first 14 months I would have confessed to anything they wanted to hear -- but I knew nothing about any plans for attacks in Italy or anywhere else. During every interrogation they showed me photos of suspects I didn't know. Several times one of the men in uniform told me I was in a place no one knew and where no one could help me. I kept having to sign documents after the interrogations. I read the first ones, they confirmed that I had not been tortured. Afterwards I just signed everything they put in front of me. I didn't care. I had already tried twice to kill myself. Both times they found me too soon. I didn't want to carry on living in this hell."

At this point, from February 2003 to April 2004, no one knew where Abu Omar was. The Americans even told their colleagues in the Italian secret service that he had probably escaped to Albania or to a combat zone. Only when Abu Omar was suddenly released in April 2004 did the investigation start. He rang his wife Nabila in Milan, where authorities had bugged his phone. When his wife informed journalists that her husband was in Egypt, the police arrested Abu Omar again.

"After I was arrested for the second time they started off by punishing me for having talked. They beat me up several times. There were more electric shocks, but they didn't want to find anything out any more. They said they already knew everything about me but the Americans wanted me to remain in custody. I was told to keep quiet and not say anything to any lawyers, otherwise the torture would continue."

"Afterwards they put a sort of mattress in my cell on which they tortured me. The mattress was wet and attached to a transformer. They laid me down on it and strapped me to it, then they turned up the electricity."

"The interrogations usually went on for several hours, from eleven in the morning until the evening and then from nine in the evening into the early morning. Before the questioning they usually undressed me. Sometimes the interrogators also played with my genitals. Once they threatened to rape me. I screamed until I lost consciousness. I can't say if they really raped me."

"In between they took me back to my cell. I never really knew if it was day or night because the cell was underground and there was no window."

"Sometimes they took me into a room during the day and I had to sit there all day with my eyes blindfolded. It must have been right next to the rooms where other prisoners were being tortured, I could hear them scream and whimper for mercy."

"There were several occasions when Egyptian interrogators offered me a deal. I would get $2 million and an American passport but in return I would have to say nothing about the kidnapping. I didn't trust the offer, since it came from the secret service that had kidnapped me. I didn't believe they would release me. I expected to stay in jail for the rest of my life. Conditions improved a little. My wife was allowed to visit me. But I got in trouble again when I sent a message to prosecutors in Milan via my wife. They played loud music at me for days. I'm virtually deaf in one ear because it was so loud."

There was still no official comment on Abu Omar's whereabouts from the authorities. Egyptian courts kept ruling that he should be released. But according to his lawyer, after each such ruling the interior minister would issue a decree that the imam be kept in jail. There are no documents recording this decision. On February 11, 2007 Abu Omar was released, completely unexpectedly.

"I'm a broken man. I suffer from severe back pain and can hardly move. My joints have stiffened because I was tied up for so long. My kidneys are so damaged that I can scarcely hold my water. I am 46 years old and feel like a pensioner who hasn't got many more years to live. Freedom is a relative thing in Egypt, especially for someone like me, an Islamist and CIA victim. I am not allowed to speak to the press. And I don't have a passport, I'm under house arrest. Every step I take is monitored."

Abu Omar now lives with his wife Nabila and son Mohammed in a small apartment in Alexandria.