The "Salt Pit" is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA interrogation centre in Afghanistan.
Note: Use Google Maps to see 34.5768N 69.2905E, just north and east of Kabul, Afghanistan,
and just east of the abandoned brick factory (now torn down, but still visible).
In the winter of 2005 the "salt pit" became known to the general public over two incidents.
November 2002 death in custody
The CIA case officer, on his first assignment, who was the director of this prison, directed the Afghan guards to strip a suspect naked, and chain him to the floor of his unheated cell, and leave him overnight. In the morning the suspect was dead. A post-mortem examination determined that he froze to death, although his body bore wounds showing he had also been beaten.
The suspect was buried in an unmarked grave. His friends and family were never told what happened to him.
The "bright and eager" CIA case officer in charge of the facility was not censured. He was promoted.
The false imprisonment of Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen, was kidnapped from Macedonia and rendered to Afghanistan. El-Masri shared the same name as a suspect on the USA's watchlist, and this triggered the suspicion of Macedonian authorities that he might be traveling on a forged passport.
A team of American security officials were dispatched to Macedonia, where they took custody of El-Masri without regard to his legal rights under Macedonian law. It took over two months for the CIA to take the obvious step of determining of verifying whether El-Masri's passport was legitimate. El-Masri described being beaten and injected with drugs as part of his interrogation.
See Also
External links
- Google Map of 34.5768N 69.2905E Satellite image of alleged facility
- CIA Avoids Scrutiny of Detainee Treatment: Afghan's Death Took Two Years to Come to Light; Agency Says Abuse Claims Are Probed Fully Washington Post March 3, 2005
- CIA accused of detaining innocent man: If the agency knew he was the wrong man, why was he held? MSNBC April 21, 2005.
- GlobalSecurity.org satellite imagery of "The Salt Pit."
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