Guantánamo prisoner sues Poland over CIA torture

Lawyers representing Guantánamo Bay prisoner Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri have filed a petition against the Polish government, demanding an investigation into CIA torture on Polish soil.

Reprieve is excited by the work of human rights group Open Society Justice Initiative, working on behalf of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national who was held in a secret CIA “black-site” in Poland, code-named 'Quartz'.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was captured in November 2002, and held in CIA prisons around the world until he reappeared in Guantanamo Bay in September 2006.

Public documents released through “freedom of information” litigation in the US confirm that Mr Al-Nashiri was subjected to serious torture whilst he was in Poland and other secret CIA prisons, including being waterboarded, and threatened with a drill.

Lawyers for Al-Nashiri hope that by filing a petition with prosecutors in Warsaw, further evidence of Mr Al-Nashiri’s torture will emerge into the public domain.

It is currently not possible to compel any evidence relating to abuse in the CIA's secret prisons through the US courts. Reprieve is hopeful that the proceedings in Poland will inspire further legal action in other European black sites, such as Romania and Lithuania.