Ex-CIA Detainees Revealed 4 Unreported Methods of Torture

Two former detainees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have described previously unreported methods of torture by the US agency, including threats to use an electric chair and being hung by body parts, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

"The two men, Ridha al-Najjar, 51, and Lotfi al-Arabi El Gherissi, 52, independently recounted being… threatened with an electric chair, subjected to various forms of water torture and being chained by their arms to the ceilings of their cells for long periods," the report stated on Monday.

According to the rights group, both men explained that US interrogators showed them an electric chair and threatened to use it on them. Al-Najjar described forms of water torture, including water dousing while being placed on a board, the report said.

The former detainees also said they were chained to a rod in the ceilings of their cells as US interrogators repeatedly beat them during and after the hangings, according to the report.

Al-Najjar added he was food deprived and never had access to toilet facilities, the report said.

Human Rights Watch noted that based on a US Senate Summary — a 499 page summary of a 6,700 page report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee in December 2014 — the CIA identified al-Najjar as a bodyguard of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

El Gherissi was accused of being a member of al-Qaeda or of having connections to terrorism, the report added.

At present, both men live with their families in Tunisia and are dependent upon them for assistance, the report concluded.