Pradhan, Alka - short clip - DoctorsoftheDarkSites

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-	This is the one where he talks about doctors,	0:03
	and it's actually called Doctors of the Dark Sites.	0:08
	And this is the one where he starts off talking about	0:12
	how all of the techniques were used together.	0:16
	It was never just one.	0:19
	It was always multiple techniques being used together.	0:20
	And so he describes all of the techniques.	0:23
	I was, I wasn't just being suspended to the ceiling.	0:26
	I was naked, starved, dehydrated,	0:29
	cold, hooded, verbally threatened,	0:33
	in pain from the beating and water drowning	0:36
	as my head smashed by hitting against the wall	0:40
	for dozens and dozens of times.	0:43
	My ears were exploding from the blasting harsh music	0:47
	which is still stuck in my head.	0:49
	Sleep-deprived for weeks,	0:51
	I was shaking and trembling.	0:53
	My legs barely supported my weight	0:54
	as my hands were pulled even higher above my head	0:56
	after I complained that the handcuffs were so tight	0:59
	as if cutting through my wrist.	1:02
	Then my legs start to swell.	1:04
	As a result of long suspension, started screaming,	1:07
	and then the doctor comes. The doctor comes.	1:11
	The doctor came with a tape measure,	1:14
	wrapped it around my leg, and to my utmost shock,	1:17
	the doctor told the interrogators, no, that wasn't enough.	1:19
	My legs should get more swollen.	1:24
	He continues this by saying, I imagine the doctor	1:27
	tells the interrogators, the leg wasn't swollen enough.	1:31
	The medical doctor actually advocating for more torture,	1:34
	and you can see in his language here	1:38
	how he's getting more agitated.	1:41
	The medical doctor actually advocating for more torture.	1:42
	And this is what America came to, because this doctor	1:46
	and other doctors are back home in America,	1:49
	and they will be doing	1:51
	what the U.S. government trained them to do.	1:53
	No doubt every now and then,	1:55
	they will miss and long for their sadistic practice,	1:56
	and the American people may be the next victims.	2:00
	I mean, it was a logical conclusion.	2:03
	And then here at the bottom, he just recalls, I think, yeah,	2:08
	he recalls that he'd be checked out by a doctor	2:12
	before he walked into each torture room.	2:14
	The doctor would tell the interrogators	2:18
	which methods they could use.	2:20
	And then as he came out, the doctor would check him again	2:21
	and then tell the interrogators what else they could do.	2:26
	The medical doctors who were on-site	2:29
	were making decisions about how many,	2:30
	what techniques could be used, how they could be combined,	2:33
	and how, and really, you know,	2:36
	kind of horrifyingly how they could be combined	2:40
	in order to get information from these men. Right?	2:44
	So it's not just that there were doctors on-site	2:49
	to ensure that nothing happened.	2:53
	It was not just that there were doctors on-site	2:57
	to check their pulse.	2:59
	There were doctors on-site to actively participate	3:00
	in the torture of detainees.	3:04

Item Info

Title:

Pradhan, Alka - short clip - DoctorsoftheDarkSites

Date:

May 2, 2017

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Pradhan, Alka

Role:

Detainee Attorney

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Detainee Attorney (representing Ammar Al Baluchi)
Alka Pradhan, female, age 35, is the Human Rights Counsel for the Guantanamo Bay Military Commission of the Department of Defense, and was also Counsel for The Constitution Project's Task-Force on Detainee Treatment, co-authoring a comprehensive report on U.S. detention practices since 2001.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United States

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

2:20:30

Digital Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo

Source Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Rights Note:

Unless otherwise noted, copyright is held by Peter Hongisberg. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, you are free to use and share these materials subject to the following conditions: You must attribute Peter Hongisberg as the rights holder. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You may not distribute any modifications to the materials. For other uses, including commercial uses, please contact Rubenstein Library at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/ask.

Identifier:

fedf3f09a7eec25c7176d8201a90e920
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4pn9512q
5c09f98e-cdf0-4821-bf42-76f74b142680

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4pn9512q

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Pradhan, Alka - short clip - DoctorsoftheDarkSites

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Human Rights Archive

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