After September 11, 2002: KSM’s Children Said to Be Tortured

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s (KSM’s) children, who are captured in a September 2002 raid on a house he used (see September 11, 2002), are allegedly tortured following their capture. A statement that they are tortured is made in a submission to a Guantanamo Bay hearing to determine the status of a detainee called Majid Khan. The submission is made by Khan’s father, based on information from another of his sons. It reads: “The Pakistani guards told my son that the boys were kept in a separate area upstairs and were denied food and water by other guards. They were also mentally tortured by having ants or other creatures put on their legs to scare them and get them to say where their father was hiding.” [US department of Defense, 4/15/2007 ] Human Rights Watch, based on eyewitness accounts, says that they are held in an adult detention center (see June 7, 2007), and KSM also says that his children are abused in US custody (see March 10-April 15, 2007). [US Department of Defense, 3/10/2007 ; Reuters, 6/7/2007] According to author Ron Suskind, after KSM is captured and there is difficulty getting some information from him (see March 1, 2003 and June 16, 2004), CIA headquarters authorizes his interrogators to “do whatever’s necessary.” KSM is then told that his two children will be hurt, unless he co-operates more. However, according to a CIA manager with knowledge of the incident, “He basically said, so, fine, they’ll join Allah in a better place.” [Suskind, 2006, pp. 230]