Mock Executions, Sensory Deprivation: How Torture Derailed a Guantánamo Prosecution

To watch the full interview on Democracy Now!, visit Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Couch's friend died copiloting the second plane to hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Soon after, Couch became one of the first military prosecutors assigned to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay to prosecute men alleged to have carried out the terrorist plot. But Couch would ultimately refuse to prosecute one detaineeMohamedou Ould Slahi. Why? Couch says he concluded Slahi's treatment amounted to illegal torture. The case would change Couch's life and put him at the center of a national debate around torture, interrogations and ethics. His story is featured in the new book, "Terror CourtsRough Justice at Guantánamo Bay," by Wall Street Journal reporter Jess Bravin.

LT. COL. STUART COUCH: "And so, over the subsequent eight or nine months, it became clear that this information—that what had been done to Slahi amounted to torture. Specifically, he had been subjected to a mock execution. He had sensory deprivation. He had environmental manipulation; that is, you know, cell is too cold, or the cell is too hot. He, at one point, was taken off of the island and driven around in a boat to make him believe that he was being transferred to a foreign country for interrogation. He was presented with a ruse that the United States had taken custody of his mother and his brother and that they were being brought to Guantánamo. It was on a letter with fake letterhead from the State Department, I believe it was. And in the letter, there was a discussion that his mother would be the only female detainee held at Guantánamo and concerns for her safety."

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