Story highlights Samir Naji describes conditions in Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Naji says he was interrogated for three months by two teams, running shifts round the clock

Interrogators abused him, forced him to look at degrading pornography, he claims

Treatment shames American flag hanging in the prison corridor, Naji says

Samir Naji is a Yemeni accused of serving in Osama bin Laden's security detail and has been imprisoned for nearly 13 years without charge in Guantanamo Bay. He was cleared for release in 2009, but remains in detention. The following first-person testimony, recorded during his most recent meeting with lawyers from the international human rights organization Reprieve, has just been released by prison censors. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his.

Also see: Closing Guantanamo: Who's left and what's in the way

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (CNN) I've heard that the Senate report on CIA torture is 6,000 pages long. My story, though, takes place elsewhere: in Guantanamo, away from the CIA program that the report covers. The 6,000 pages of the Senate report are just the start of what Americans have to accept happened in their name.



It starts and ends in the silence of a tiny, freezing cold cell, alone. That's when you hold yourself in a ball, and fight to ignore the confusion of what has just happened to you, and the fear of what might be coming next. Or the fear that comes when you realize that no one is coming to help; that the life, family and friends you knew are all far, far away.

The cell door opens. The next session, seemingly the 100th in a row. I think my first period of interrogation lasted three full months. Two teams of interrogators running shifts, day and night.

Each session begins with shouting, to wake me up. Then they hit me on the face and the back. I am so desperate for sleep, my head is swimming. There are photographs of faces stuck all around the walls of this room. They demand that I identify the individuals, but I can barely focus to see if I might know them. The shouting and the insults get louder, and then they nod to a man in the corner. He injects me twice in the arm with some unknown substance. It's the last thing I know.

Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A DJ from Radio GTMO, the radio station at the US Navy base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, replaces photos of the Obama administration with photos of the Trump administration on Friday, January 27. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on January 22, 2009, to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay within a year. Eight years later, the prison for terrorism suspects remains open, with 41 detainees as of January 2017. President Donald Trump stated during the 2016 campaign that he would keep the prison facility open. Hide Caption 1 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay The base at Guantanamo Bay has held terror suspects since January 2002. Early in the war on terror, the Bush administration argued these detainees were "enemy combatants" who didn't have the protections accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Here, a detainee stands at an interior fence in October 2009. Hide Caption 2 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A Navy sailor surveys the base in October 2009. In December 2013, Congress passed a defense-spending bill that makes it easier to transfer detainees out of the facility. Hide Caption 3 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay US military guards move a detainee inside the detention center in September 2010. At its peak, the detainee population exceeded 750 men. Hide Caption 4 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A military doctor holds a feeding tube used to feed detainees on a hunger strike in June 2013. In March 2013, the US military announced that dozens of detainees had begun a hunger strike. By that June, more than 100 detainees were on a hunger strike, and more than 40 were being force-fed, military officials said. Hide Caption 5 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Muslim detainees kneel during early morning prayers in October 2009. Cells are marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca, which is regarded as Islam's holy city. Hide Caption 6 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A soldier stands near the fence line in January 2012. Hide Caption 7 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A Quran sits among a display of items issued to detainees in September 2010. The suspects are given a prayer mat and a copy of the Muslim holy book as well as a toothbrush, soap, shampoo and clothing. Hide Caption 8 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A guard walks out of the maximum-security section of the detention center in September 2010. Hide Caption 9 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A police dog undergoes training exercises in October 2009. Hide Caption 10 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A camp librarian views artwork painted by detainees in September 2010. Hide Caption 11 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A detainee rubs his face while attending a "life skills" class in April 2009. Hide Caption 12 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A seat and shackle await a detainee in the DVD room of a maximum-security detention center in March 2010. Hide Caption 13 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay US Marines join in martial-arts training in September 2010. Hide Caption 14 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Members of the military walk the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012. Hide Caption 15 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Guards move a detainee from his cell in Cell Block A of the Camp 6 detention facility in January 2012. Hide Caption 16 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A detainee waits for lunch in September 2010. The cost of building Guantanamo's high-security detention facilities was reportedly about $54 million. Hide Caption 17 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Marines get an early morning workout in October 2009. Hide Caption 18 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A bus carries military guards from their night shift in September 2010. Hide Caption 19 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A military guard puts on gloves before moving a detainee in September 2010. Hide Caption 20 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay Members of the military move down the hallway of Cell Block C in the Camp 5 detention facility in January 2012. Hide Caption 21 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay A guard holds shackles before preparing to move a detainee in September 2010. Hide Caption 22 of 23 Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay An American flag flies over Camp 6 at Guantanamo in June 2013. Hide Caption 23 of 23

The freezing cold cell. The cell door opens. This time the guards enter, making awful honking noises, like wild animals.

I tried to refuse to eat the little food they bring me, in protest at all this. The interrogator laughs at me, but then turns angry; he swears loudly, and pours an army meal pack over my head. They tell the man in the corner to start feeding me intravenously. He inserts the tube in two different places on my arm and makes it bleed.

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