Amnesty International has received consistent reports that the US authorities have a network of secret detention centres around the globe, holding an unknown number of "war on terror" detainees in unknown conditions In September 2005, Amnesty International spoke with Muhammad al-Assad, a man who had been caught up in this sinister system. He was effectively disappeared" by the US for over 16 months.

Muhammad al-Assad is a Yemeni national who had lived in Tanzania for 25 years. He ran a small business importing diesel engine parts. In 1997 he leased office space that he owned to a Saudi charity named the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. After the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, this charity was placed on a blacklist by the US authorities as a possible link to terrorist funding.

Arrest and secret transfer to US custody

On the night of 26 December 2003 Tanzanian immigration officials came to Muhammad al-Assad’s house and arrested him. He was hooded and cuffed and taken to a flat where he was interrogated about his passport.

From here he was taken to a plane. He asked his guards what was happening to him. One replied "we don’t know, we are just following orders, there are high ranking ones who are responsible." His head was forced down when he entered the plane, leading him to believe it was a small aircraft.

Muhammad al-Assad estimates that he spent three hours on this plane. Confused and scared, he does not know where he was taken, but told AI that one of his guards spoke Arabic with a Somalian or Ethiopian accent, and that the type of bread he was given was typical of East Africa. Muhammad al-Assad was held here for approximately two weeks. He was interrogated three or four times. His interrogator was an English speaking woman and the translator a white western man who spoke good Arabic. He was asked about the Al-Haramain charity.

Second transfer

At the end of the two weeks he was hooded and cuffed again and placed on what he thought was a larger plane. He was flown for a long time, up to eight hours, stopped for an hour, and then flown for a further three hours. He felt that the weather was much cooler at his destination.

He was held in a cell which was larger than the previous one. The cell was old, completely windowless and empty apart from matting on the floor. He says that he was not provided with a blanket and was very cold. He was left for nine days alone in this cell, no-one talked to him.

His interrogator and translator at this facility were both western white men in their forties and the guards here were also English speaking. He was asked similar questions about the Al-Haramain charity and his connection to it. He was held in this cell for two weeks in total, and was then transferred again. He was put in a car and driven for twenty minutes. He was placed in a similar cell, stating only that it was smaller and older. He was held for three months in this cell. He was only irregularly taken to be interrogated. His interrogators, as well as the questions, were the same.

Secret detention facility

In April 2004, Muhammed al-Assad was put on yet another flight, this one lasting five to six hours. He was then transferred to a helicopter, he was thrown roughly onto the floor. He was taken to a new US run facility. The description of this facility that he gave to AI is remarkably similar to the testimony of Salah Nasser Salim 'Ali and Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmillah, the two other detainees held in US secret detention who AI spoke to in June 2005.

The guards at the facility were covered in black clothing, including their faces. They would not speak, only communicating by hand gestures.

There were no ornaments or distinctive markings and there were no floor coverings.

Additionally, all three men were subject to the same regime of interrogation and sensory deprivation

Constant white noise was played through loudspeakers

Artificial light was kept on 24 hours a day. The detainees were unable to discern what time of day it was, save by what meal they were being provided and prayer times

There were no windows in their cells. The men did not see daylight throughout the entire time they were held in this facility

They were allowed to speak to no-one but their interrogators

They were taken for showers once a week

During the last four months of his captivity, Muhammed al-Assad was allowed to play football on his own for half an hour three times a week.

Return to Yemen and continued detention

On 5 May 2005, Muhammad al Assad was taken from the secret detention facility and returned to Yemen. He maintains that he was on the same flight as Muhammad Bashmillah and Salah 'Ali.

The three men were held in the Political Security Prison in Sana’a for two weeks. Muhammad al-Assad was then transferred to al-Ghaydah, in the east of the country. The other two men were sent to Aden.

Four months after his transfer he remains detained. When Amnesty International asked Yemeni officials about the status of the three men they replied that they had been given explicit instructions on the continued detention of the men, and that they are “awaiting files” from the US so that they can try them. The official stated that the instructions came from the US embassy in Yemen

When AI asked whether they would release the men if the US requested it, a high-ranking Political Security official answered, without hesitation, "yes"

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