Yemeni Inmate Claims Months of Abuse in CIA Cells

A Yemeni man claims he was held for 19 months in secret CIA prisons, shackled in tiny cells with no idea why he was there or if he would ever be free again, bombarded by rap music or white noise around the clock. Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah says he was picked up as an al-Qaeda suspect in 2003 and held at the the agency's infamous "black sites" before being released without charge or explanation, he tells Salon.

He says he wasn't beaten often, but subjected to psychological torture. He attempted suicide multiple times and was surprised to receive psychiatric counseling afterward—before interrogations began again. He called his imprisonment "almost like being inside a tomb. Whenever I saw a fly I was filled with joy," he said. But "I would wish for it to slip out so it would not be imprisoned."   (More CIA stories.)