The first-ever photograph of a prisoner at a CIA black site has been released through an unclassified U.S. military court filing.
A photo of Ammar al-Baluchi, one of the men accused by the U.S. government of orchestrating the 9/11 terror attacks, has been made public. Al-Baluchi was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2003 and was secretly transferred among five CIA black sites between 2003 and 2006.
Since being moved between these black sites, al-Baluchi has been held at Guantánamo Bay without a conviction. The Guardian obtained the photo from al-Baluchi’s attorneys shortly before the military court filing was released.
In the photo, al-Baluchi appears extremely malnourished, and it is believed he was located at the CIA’s black site in Bucharest, Romania, known as Location No 7 or Detention Site Black.
The image was included on page 7 of documents related to al-Baluchi’s trial by the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
For years, defense lawyers in the Guantánamo cases have described disturbing government photos of prisoners held by the CIA in secret overseas prisons. These photos were classified, and the public was not permitted to see them until now.
The released photo, first published by The Guardian, shows al-Baluchi’s gaunt, malnourished naked body circa 2004 at an overseas prison. This image emerged through a classification review process at the military commissions, the war court at Guantánamo Bay.
While photos have previously leaked showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners after the 9/11 attacks, such as at the Army-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004, none have emerged from CIA black sites. In 2005, CIA leadership destroyed videotapes of interrogations at a black site in Thailand to ensure they were never seen.