In years of pretrial hearings, mostly over the lawfulness of evidence for Mr. Nashiri’s
eventual death-penalty trial, his lawyers have 💱 portrayed him as deeply damaged by
physical, psychological and sexual abuse in his nearly four years of C.I.A.
detention.
His lawyers 💱 argue that by the time federal agents questioned Mr. Nashiri at
Guantánamo in 2007, he was so thoroughly conditioned that 💱 he told his interrogators
what they wanted to hear. It was four years into his captivity; he had never been
💱 allowed to consult a lawyer. The judge is deciding whether those 2007 interrogations
are admissible at trial, as the war 💱 court wrestles with the legacy of torture after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Dr. Jessen testified that the practices — including
💱 waterboarding, nudity and isolation — were not meant to rob a prisoner of his will but
to gain his cooperation 💱 and disclose Al Qaeda’s secrets to the C.I.A.
“It’s all about
establishing rapport and finding that path ahead,” he said.
Dr. Jessen, 💱 who spent 20
years in the U.S. Air Force and specialized in survival training, called the
interrogations “well monitored” but 💱 “very intense.” C.I.A. headquarters would relay to
him messages such as: “Get a spine. Tell us when the next attacks 💱 would
be.”
Prosecutors have already agreed that nothing Mr. Nashiri said at the so-called
black sites can be used at trial 💱 because evidence derived from torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment is unlawful. But they defend as untainted his 2007 💱 law
enforcement interviews, which took place at Guantánamo at a former C.I.A. prison where
Mr. Nashiri was held by the 💱 agency in 2003 and 2004.