Guantanamo Judge Rules Government Cannot Use Confession Obtained Through Torture in 9/​11 Capital Case

On April 11, 2025, Judge Colonel Matthew McCall ruled that con­fes­sions elicit­ed from Ammar al-Baluchi, accused of con­spir­ing in the September 11^th ter­ror­ism attacks, were the result of tor­ture car­ried out by the CIA and as a result can­not be used against Mr. al-Baluchi in any legal pro­ceed­ing. According to Col. McCall, Mr. al-Baluchi invol­un­tar­i­ly incrim­i­nat­ed him­self in 2007 after exten­sive ​“psy­cho­log­i­cal con­di­tion­ing” through tor­ture and abuse dur­ing his deten­tion at the CIA’s over­seas pris­ons, known as black sites, between 2003 and 2006. The U.S. gov­ern­ment has been seek­ing a death sen­tence for Mr. al-Baluchi for more than twenty years.

According to CIA doc­u­ments cit­ed in the deci­sion, Mr. al-Baluchi was fre­quent­ly stripped naked and beat­en as part of an ​“enhanced inter­ro­ga­tion” pro­gram. ​“Student inter­roga­tors” repeat­ed­ly slammed his head into a wall, and at one point, Mr. al-Baluchi was shack­led at the wrists and ankles and made to stand naked, hood­ed, and sleep­less for 82 con­sec­u­tive hours. He endured ​“sim­u­lat­ed” water­board­ing as water was poured onto a tow­el cov­er­ing his face. By the time Mr. al-Baluchi was brought to Guantánamo Bay, he had endured at least 1,100 rounds of ​“enhanced inter­ro­ga­tion,” accord­ing to the ruling.

Federal pros­e­cu­tors have long argued that by the time that Mr. al-Baluchi alleged­ly con­fessed, he no longer feared those in charge of him and will­ing­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in three days of ques­tion­ing. No record­ings or tran­scripts of Mr. al-Baluchi’s inter­ro­ga­tions were made, how­ev­er. Instead, gov­ern­ment agents detailed his con­fes­sion in a 45-page memo. As the New York Times notes, this was Mr. al-Baluchi’s 1,120^th inter­ro­ga­tion since 2003. Jeffrey Groharing, a fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor, told the court that Mr. Baluchi lat­er vol­un­teered plan­ners’ motives for the attacks.

Attorneys for Mr. al-Baluchi argued dur­ing the January 2025 hear­ing that even after being trans­ferred to Guantánamo Bay, Mr. al-Baluchi feared if he did not coop­er­ate with ques­tion­ing, he would be sub­ject­ed to fur­ther tor­ture, or even death. Alka Pradhan, a lawyer for Mr. al-Baluchi, told the court that he was a part of ​“non­con­sen­su­al human exper­i­men­ta­tion” that agency employ­ees likened to ​“a Nazi con­cen­tra­tion camp.” Ms. Pradhan praised Col. McCall’s rul­ing, not­ing that he has now rec­og­nized ​“the bru­tal tor­ture [Mr. al-Baluchi] suf­fered at American hands.” She called the rul­ing ​“a reminder to the United States that gov­ern­ments that com­mit crimes must be held accountable.”