Fort Meade: The first Central Intelligence Agency captive, arrested in Pakistan 15 years ago did not testify about the harsh conditions inside Guantanamo Bay detention centre on Friday.
The captive took the stance after long discussions with his lawyer.
Zayne Abu Zubaydah has spoken for the first time in public since he was captured in 2002. He was subjected to 83 rounds of waterboarding, an interrogation practice that stimulates drowing, in August 2003.
Zubaydah had requested to be witness at the court hearing of a fellow detainee Ramzi Binalshibh who was also abducted from Pakistan in alleged involvement in Sep 11 attacks.
Binalshibh had accused the prison guards of making noises and vibrations to disrupt the sleep and his lawyers wanted Zubaydah to testify this behavior of prison guards before the court.
“His attorneys have advised him not to testify,” James Harrington, a civilian lawyer appointed to represent Binalshibh, told Army Col James Pohl, the judge presiding over the hearing. “The decision last night … was not made until the last minute.”
Zubaydah, 46, was captured in Faisalabad in March 2002. When he was captured, authorities suspected he was a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda, though they have more recently described him in official documents as only a “facilitator” for the terror network. He has been held at Guantanamo since September 2006.
