For First Time in Public, a Detainee Describes Torture at C.I.A. Black Sites

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — A suburban Baltimore precocious schoolhouse postgraduate turned Al Qaeda courier, speaking to a subject assemblage for the archetypal time, gave a elaborate relationship connected Thursday of the brutal forced feedings, crude waterboarding and different carnal and intersexual maltreatment helium endured during his 2003 to 2006 detention successful the C.I.A.’s overseas situation network.

Soon aft his seizure successful Pakistan successful March 2003, Mr. Khan said, helium cooperated with his captors, telling them everything helium knew, with the anticipation of release. “Instead, the much I cooperated, the much I was tortured,” helium said.

The melodramatic accounting capped a time successful which 8 U.S. subject officers were selected to service connected a jury, which volition deliberate Friday connected his authoritative condemnation successful the scope of 25 to 40 years, starting from his guilty plea successful February 2012.

Jurors were told that successful 2012 Mr. Khan pleaded blameworthy to coercion charges, including execution successful usurpation of the instrumentality of war, for delivering $50,000 of Al Qaeda wealth from Pakistan to an Al Qaeda affiliate successful aboriginal 2003. The wealth was utilized successful a deadly bombing of a Marriott edifice successful August 2003, portion Mr. Khan was a captive of the C.I.A. He has said helium did not cognize however the wealth would beryllium used.

He besides admitted to plotting a fig of different crimes with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, notably by wearing a termination vest successful a failed effort successful 2002 to assassinate the president of Pakistan astatine the time, Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. state successful the warfare connected terrorism.

Sentencing was delayed for astir a decennary to springiness Mr. Khan clip and accidental to cooperate with national and subject prosecutors, truthful acold down the scenes, successful national and subject coercion cases. In the intervening years, prosecutors and defence lawyers clashed successful tribunal filings implicit who would beryllium called to attest astir Mr. Khan’s maltreatment successful C.I.A. custody, and how.

In tribunal connected Thursday, Mr. Khan work from a cautiously worded 39-page relationship that did not place C.I.A. agents oregon the countries and overseas quality agencies that had a relation successful his concealed detention astatine achromatic sites — accusation that is protected astatine the nationalist information court. He expressed remorse for hurting radical done his clasp of extremist Islam and Al Qaeda, but besides recovered a mode astir a labyrinth of U.S. quality classifications to recognize a decade-long ambition to archer the satellite what U.S. agents had done to him.

“To those who tortured me, I forgive you,” helium said, noting that portion helium was successful custody helium had rejected Al Qaeda, terrorism, “violence and hatred.”

“I anticipation successful the time of judgement that Allah volition bash the aforesaid for you and for me. I inquire forgiveness from those whom I person wronged and I person hurt.”

It was an affectional time for Mr. Khan. His father, Ali, and a sister, some U.S. citizens, sat down the tribunal successful a gallery, seeing him successful idiosyncratic for the archetypal clip since helium near the United States and joined Al Qaeda aft the Sept. 11 attacks. They were 50 feet from him and did not look to admit the present balding middle-age antheral with a grey goatee erstwhile helium archetypal entered the court.

After galore minutes helium caught their eyes, past waved. His begetter looked startled. Mr. Khan craned his cervix often during the proceedings to spot his household — and astatine 1 constituent formed a bosom with his hands.

He juxtaposed his remarks of contrition with antecedently unheard details of what happened to him astatine the hands of the United States, the state his parents and siblings adopted by becoming citizens adjacent arsenic helium did not.

His begetter wept done agelong stretches of the descriptions, astatine times hiding his caput successful his hands, portion his sister, besides tearful, tried to comfortableness him. The assemblage of Marine, Navy and Army officers watched and listened soberly, but displayed nary emotion.

He received beatings portion nude and spent agelong stretches successful chains — astatine times shackled to a partition and crouching “like a dog,” helium said, oregon with his arms extended precocious supra his caput and chained to a beam wrong his cell. He was kept successful acheronian and dragged, hooded and shackled, his caput slamming into floors, walls and stairs arsenic helium was moved betwixt cells.

Before the C.I.A. moved him from 1 situation to another, helium said, a medic inserted an enema and past enactment him successful a diaper held successful spot by duct portion truthful helium would not request a bath interruption during flights. Guards moving him would hood him, speech from the clip helium had his look duct taped.

While held successful a Muslim country, helium said, his captors allowed him to pray. But astatine times the Americans did not.

Earlier accounts released by his lawyers said helium was truthful slumber deprived for a clip that helium began to hallucinate. He described the experience: images of a cattle and a elephantine lizard advancing connected him wrong a compartment portion helium was chained to a beam supra his head. He tried to footwear them distant but mislaid his balance, causing his chains to jerk him.

Mr. Khan gained attraction with the merchandise of a 2014 survey of the C.I.A. programme by the Senate Intelligence Committee that said, aft helium refused to eat, his captors “infused” a puree of his luncheon done his anus. The C.I.A. called it rectal refeeding. Mr. Khan called it rape.

The C.I.A. pumped h2o up the rectum of prisoners who would not travel a bid to drink. Mr. Khan said this was done to him with “green plot hoses. They connected 1 extremity to the faucet, enactment the different successful my rectum and they turned connected the water.” He said helium mislaid power of his bowels aft those episodes and, to this day, has hemorrhoids.

He spoke astir failed and sadistic responses to his hunger strikes and different acts of rebellion. Medics would astir insert a feeding conduit up his chemoreceptor and down the backmost of his throat. He would effort to wound it disconnected and, successful astatine slightest 1 instance, helium said, a C.I.A. serviceman utilized a plunger to unit nutrient wrong his stomach, a method that caused tummy cramps and diarrhea.

The quality bureau declined Thursday to remark connected the descriptions offered successful the proceeding but noted that the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation programme ended successful 2009.

Lawyers sought support to bring Mr. Khan’s woman and daughter, who was calved aft his capture, to the court, but the commandant of the military’s Southern Command, which oversees situation operations, opposed their attendance. Like Mr. Khan, who acquired imperishable nonmigratory presumption arsenic a lad successful the United States but ne'er became a U.S. citizen, his woman and girl are citizens of Pakistan.

Mr. Khan began by telling the assemblage that helium was calved successful Saudi Arabia and was raised successful Pakistan, the youngest lad of 8 siblings, until his begetter acquired a state presumption successful Maryland and moved the household to the United States erstwhile helium was 16. He went connected to postgraduate from a precocious schoolhouse successful suburban Baltimore and was moving for a telecommunications contractor that managed the Pentagon telephone strategy astatine the clip of the Sept. 11 attacks.

He described the attacks and the decease of his parent months earlier successful 2001 arsenic a turning constituent successful his life.

Until then, helium said, helium had straddled 2 worlds: his accepted Pakistani household beingness and that of an American teen who “smoked weed occasionally and had my stock of girlfriends,” some of which helium hid from his mother. After she died, helium said, helium was drawn to practicing Islam.

He rejected the mentation that Muslims had carried retired the attack, “thinking that this was conscionable different mode the beingness was kicking maine portion I was down, making maine question my religion successful Islam.”

During a household travel to Pakistan successful 2002 — successful which some helium and his sister recovered spouses successful arranged marriages — helium encountered relatives, cousins and an uncle who had successful earlier years joined the jihad successful Afghanistan and had ties to Al Qaeda.

“I was mislaid and vulnerable, and they went aft me,” helium said, including by showing him “propaganda videos” astir the detention cognition astatine Guantánamo, the basal wherever helium would beryllium transferred for proceedings successful 2006.

“I went willingly to Al Qaeda,” helium said. “I was stupid, truthful incredibly stupid. But they promised to relieve my symptom and purify my sins. They promised to redeem me, and I believed them.”