Salt Pit
Encyclopedia
The Salt Pit is the codename of an isolated clandestine CIA black site
prison, and interrogation
centre in Afghanistan
. It is located north of Kabul
and functioned as a brick factory prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan
. In the winter of 2005 the "Salt Pit" became known to the general public over two incidents.
In the morning the suspect was dead. A post-mortem examination determined that he froze to death.
The Washington Post described the CIA camp commandant as "newly minted", on their first assignment.
ABC News
called the CIA camp commandant "a young, untrained junior officer".
The Washington Posts sources noted that the CIA camp commandant had subsequently been promoted.
Rahman was buried in an unmarked grave and his friends and family were never told of what happened to him but later learned of his fate in 2010 after an AP story revealed Rahman had died at Salt Pit.
, a German
citizen, was kidnapped from the Republic of Macedonia
and rendered
to Afghanistan
.
El-Masri shared the same name as a suspect on the US's terrorist 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 the Republic of Macedonia, where they kidnapped
El-Masri without regard to his legal rights under Macedonian law.
It took over two months for the CIA official who ordered his arrest to take the step of verifying whether El-Masri's passport was legitimate.
El-Masri described being beaten and injected with drugs as part of his interrogation.
On Thursday, May 18, 2006 U.S. Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis, III in Washington dismissed a lawsuit El-Masri filed against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his transport, explaining that a public trial
would "present a grave risk of injury to national security."
On Tuesday, October 9, 2007 the U.S Supreme court threw out El-Masri's appeal against the earlier judgement, without comment.
claims to be the only civilian to have taken a photo of the Salt Pit. Using El-Masri's testimony, Paglen located the Salt Pit using Google Earth and traveled to Afghanistan where he photographed the facility using a long-distance lens. He claims that he knew he was on the right track when he passed a goat herder wearing a baseball cap with the logo of Kellogg, Brown & Root on it. The photo was shown at Bellwether gallery in New York in 2006 along with other items documenting Paglen's attempts to trace secret government projects. It was produced in an edition of one, and bore a price tag of $20,000.
Black site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , generally outside of U.S. territory and legal jurisdiction. It...
prison, and interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
centre in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. It is located north of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
and functioned as a brick factory prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. In the winter of 2005 the "Salt Pit" became known to the general public over two incidents.
November 20, 2002 death in custody
The recently assigned CIA case officer in charge of this prison directed the Afghan guards to strip Gul Rahman naked from the waist down, and chain him to the floor of his unheated cell, and leave him overnight, according to The Associated Press. Rahman was captured in Islamabad on Oct. 29.In the morning the suspect was dead. A post-mortem examination determined that he froze to death.
The Washington Post described the CIA camp commandant as "newly minted", on their first assignment.
ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
called the CIA camp commandant "a young, untrained junior officer".
The Washington Posts sources noted that the CIA camp commandant had subsequently been promoted.
Rahman was buried in an unmarked grave and his friends and family were never told of what happened to him but later learned of his fate in 2010 after an AP story revealed Rahman had died at Salt Pit.
Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-MasriKhalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri is a German citizen who was kidnapped in the Republic of Macedonia, flown to Afghanistan, allegedly beaten, stripped, raped, and interrogated and tortured by the CIA for several months as a part of the War on Terror, and then released...
, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
citizen, was kidnapped from the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
and rendered
Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is the abduction and illegal transfer of a person from one nation to another. "Torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the United States and the United Kingdom have transferred suspected terrorists to other countries in order to torture the...
to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
El-Masri shared the same name as a suspect on the US's terrorist watchlist
Watchlist
Watchlist or watch list can have several meanings:*Interpol Terrorism Watch List, a 24 hour, 7 days a week command center and a linkage system to identify terrorist financing lists...
, and this triggered the suspicion of Macedonian authorities that he might be traveling on a forged
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
.
A team of American security officials were dispatched to the Republic of Macedonia, where they kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
El-Masri without regard to his legal rights under Macedonian law.
It took over two months for the CIA official who ordered his arrest to take the step of verifying whether El-Masri's passport was legitimate.
El-Masri described being beaten and injected with drugs as part of his interrogation.
On Thursday, May 18, 2006 U.S. Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis, III in Washington dismissed a lawsuit El-Masri filed against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his transport, explaining that a public trial
Public trial
Public trial or open trial is a trial open to public, as opposed to the secret trial. The term should not be confused with show trial.-United States:...
would "present a grave risk of injury to national security."
On Tuesday, October 9, 2007 the U.S Supreme court threw out El-Masri's appeal against the earlier judgement, without comment.
Location photographed
Artist/geographer Trevor PaglenTrevor Paglen
Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author.He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in geography from the University of California at Berkeley, where he currently works as a researcher.Paglen is the author of three books...
claims to be the only civilian to have taken a photo of the Salt Pit. Using El-Masri's testimony, Paglen located the Salt Pit using Google Earth and traveled to Afghanistan where he photographed the facility using a long-distance lens. He claims that he knew he was on the right track when he passed a goat herder wearing a baseball cap with the logo of Kellogg, Brown & Root on it. The photo was shown at Bellwether gallery in New York in 2006 along with other items documenting Paglen's attempts to trace secret government projects. It was produced in an edition of one, and bore a price tag of $20,000.