PARIS, June 8 (UPI) -- A freed former Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, terror detainee says he has no doubts he was tortured by U.S. interrogators during his seven-plus years there.
In an interview with ABC News Monday in France, Lakhdar Boumediene, a 43 year-old Algerian, said he doesn't "think" he was tortured, "I'm sure," he said.
Boumediene, who worked for the Red Crescent, was handed over to the U.S. government by Bosnian authorities in 2002 after being cleared on charges of conspiring to blow up the U.S. and British Embassies in Sarajevo. He told ABC he thought he would be released quickly because the Bosnian courts found the allegations had no merit, but instead he was held seven years without being charged.
He told the U.S. broadcaster he endured harsh treatment for the entire time he was held, saying he was shackled, kept awake for 16 days straight and physically abused repeatedly.
Boumediene's suit against the United States resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision last year finding terror detainees had the right to challenge their incarcerations. A subsequent court ruling freed Boumediene after determining the Bush administration could not back up its assertions he was a terrorist.
