11 detainees say they gave false confessions to halt abuse

Nearly a dozen detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp contend they were wrongly imprisoned after repeated abuse by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including beatings with chains, electric shock and sodomy, their attorney said Monday.

Tom Wilner represents 11 Kuwaiti prisoners held in the detention center at the U.S. Navy base in eastern Cuba. Most of his clients say they falsely confessed to belonging to Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime or al-Qaida as a way to stop the abuse, Wilner said.

Many of the 545 prisoners at the base have been held for more than three years, most without charge. About 150 have been let go, but officials have not given explanations for their release.

The government has denied using torture, but multiple investigations into abuse at detention camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo are underway.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said all "credible" abuse allegations are investigated, but he suggested the Kuwaitis' claims were consistent with al-Qaida tactics.

Although most of 11 Kuwaitis say physical abuse stopped once they arrived at Guantanamo, all complain of mistreatment, such as scant reading materials.

"At Guantanamo, the physical abuse -- at least for Kuwaitis -- has stopped, but there has been a switch to mental torture," he said.

Wilner and other lawyers representing the Kuwaitis were allowed to interview the prisoners for the first time in December and January, after the Supreme Court ruled in June that foreigners detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo could challenge their imprisonment. Wilner last visited his clients Jan. 10-13.

Lawyers are required to surrender attorney-client notes before leaving the U.S. base. The notes are sealed and sent to a secure facility in Arlington, Va., where attorneys must request for them to be reviewed and unclassified. The lawyers must also get government permission to speak about their conversations with the detainees.

Some of Wilner's clients range from a young man who is accused of being Osama bin Laden's spiritual adviser to a low-level member of the Taliban. None has been charged.

One detainee, according to Wilner's notes, said: "The American soldiers kept saying, 'Are you Taliban or are you al-Qaida?' 'Are you Taliban or al-Qaida!' They kept hitting me, so eventually I said I was a member of the Taliban." The detainees did not want to be identified by name.

Another Kuwaiti told Wilner he was held by U.S. troops in Afghanistan at bases in Bagram and Kandahar where he was hooded, tied with chains, hung by his wrists and stripped in front of female guards. He also said his interrogator forced him to sign a statement, but Wilner said the government has not provided him with any statement.

One Kuwaiti said he was sure he would be killed, Wilner's notes said.

Another Kuwaiti described how he confessed after having metal paddles placed under his arms and shocked in Afghanistan. Another said he was beaten so badly his ribs were broken. Some said they were beaten with chains.

One said U.S. troops in Afghanistan pulled down his pants and sodomized him with an object.

"One of the saddest things is these people looked up to Americans for liberating Kuwait in the '90s," Wilner said. "A lot of them still can't believe U.S. troops are doing this."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Paisley Dodds, an Associated Press reporter based in the Caribbean, has covered the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since it opened in 2002.