Felicity has released a new report, marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which finds that European states, in particular Romania and Lithuania, should be held accountable for the torture of Ammar Al Baluchi at CIA black sites in their territories. As of the date of the report, Mr Al Baluchi has been detained by the US for 22 years without conviction or due process.
In an April 2025 ruling that Mr al Baluchi’s confessions regarding 9/11 were inadmissible as they were tainted by torture, a Guantánamo Bay Military judge unequivocally stated that Mr al Baluchi has been ‘subjected to physical coercion and abuse amounting to torture, and to conditions which constituted cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment’ during his detention.
Despite outright denials and suppression by involved countries, it has now long been known that the CIA has operated black sites with the cooperation of at least 50 countries worldwide. In 2014 a study by the US Senate revealed the extent of the post-9/11 rendition, detention and interrogation program, devised by CIA contracted psychologists who were paid US$81 Million for their role in the torture of detainees in these secret prisons. The Senate report also stated in no uncertain terms that the information and intelligence derived from the program was worthless. Yet, detainees like Mr al Baluchi, are still held at Guantánamo Bay, and are still subjected to conditions that are not unlike those experienced at CIA black sites.
Felicity states in the report:
“Mr al Baluchi has been held for decades with no apparent benefit to the global community or the administration of justice. He has been subjected to an extreme and disturbing regime of physical and psychological torture by authorities responsible for his arrest, interrogation, rendition and long-term detainment – contrary to domestic and international law.”
The European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) has previously found Romania and Lithuania responsible for violations of the European Convention on Human Rights for their roles in enabling the CIA’s program.
Like the Applicant detainees in these ECtHR cases, Mr al Baluchi was held incommunicado for years in a series of CIA ‘black sites’ in Afghanistan, Morocco, Romania and Lithuania.
Felicity’s report concludes that Mr al Baluchi should be released, compensated and properly medically treated and that the states involved should take responsibility for his treatment on their territory.
“It is time for all relevant parties to open or reopen investigations into this sorry period of history and for those responsible to be held accountable.”
