Alleging torture when no torture has taken place is a move straight out of the Al-Qaeda playbook. When Al-Qaeda operatives are jailed, they are told to claim that they have been tortured. From the Al-Qaeda playbook:
1. At the beginning of the trial, once more the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by State Security [investigators ]before the judge.
2. Complain [to the court] of mistreatment while in prison.
3. Make arrangements for the brother ‘s defense with the attorney, whether he was retained by the brother ‘s family or court-appointed.
4. The brother has to do his best to know the names of the state security officers, who participated in his torture and mention their names to the judge.[These names may be obtained from brothers who had to deal with those officers in previous cases.]…
6. During the trial, the court has to be notified of any mistreatment of the brothers inside the prison.
This game has been played the world over, but nowhere has it achieved more success than in the demonization of American personnel at Guantanamo Bay. Even the President of the United States has lent the prestige of his office to this baseless smear.
“5 Americans Detained in Pakistan Allege Torture,” from AP, January 18 (thanks to David Yerushalmi):
SARGODHA, Pakistan — Five Americans being held in Pakistan on suspicion of terrorism alleged they were being tortured in comments shouted to reporters Monday as they were driven from court.
Police and prison authorities denied any ill-treatment, and said the men did not bring up their complaints in court….
Police have publicly accused them of plotting terror attacks in Pakistan, having links to al-Qaida and seeking to join militants fighting U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan. Lawyers for the men say they were focused only on Afghanistan….
The men were inside a prison van when several of them shouted in unison, “We are being tortured” three times within earshot of reporters. The media and the public were not allowed to attend the court session.
Aftab Haanif, the deputy superintendent of Sargodha jail where the men are being held, denied any kind of torture and said they were receiving better food than regular inmates….
Why?