CIA Interrogation Sessions Used Mock Executions

Washington, August 22 (RHC)-- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to get information from a prisoner in one of its secret jails. According to The Washington Post, the tactics were used on at least one detainee -- but observers say similar mock executions may have been used on many other prisoners under the control of the CIA.

Citing a report by the spy agency's inspector general and unnamed former and current U.S. officials, the newspaper said the tactics were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The report notes that Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA's secret prisons, ultimately became one of three Al-Qaeda leaders subjected to waterboarding.

A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the classified Inspector General report to be publicly released Monday, in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The report, written in 2004, offers new details about Nashiri's interrogation, including episodes in which the detainee reportedly was threatened with death or injury if he refused to cooperate. The Washington Post says that in one instance, a CIA interrogator showed Nashiri a gun and tried to frighten the detainee into thinking he would be shot.