Bright Light (CIA)
From Citizendium - Reading time: 3 min
Bright Light is the codename of one of the Central Intelligence Agency's network of black sites -- clandestine interrogaton centers.[1][2][3] The location of the site, 4 Mures Street, in Bucharest Romania, was confirmed in an exclusive report from the Associated Press on December 8, 2011.[4][5]
Some of the most important captives in the high value detainee program were held there. Other sites in the CIA's network were in isolated locations.[1][6] The Bucharest site was housed within the campus of the Romanian National Registry Office for Classified Information, explaining the need for high security.
The cells the captive were held in were mounted on springs, to keep the captives off-balance.[1] According to ABC News captives were subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the Bucharest site, but noted they were not subjected to the controversial technique of waterboarding there.[4]
Individuals held at the site included: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abd al-Nashiri and Abu Faraj al-Libi.[5][7]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Adam Goldman. AP Exclusive: Inside Romania's secret CIA prison, Associated Press, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2011-12-08. “The existence of a CIA prison in Romania has been widely reported but its location has never been made public until a joint investigation by The Associated Press and German public television, ARD Panorama. The news organizations located the former prison and learned details of the facility where harsh interrogation tactics were used. ARD's program on the CIA prison will air Dec 8.”
- ↑ AP Exclusive: In basement of Romanian government building, CIA ran secret prison, Washington Post, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2011-12-08. “For years, the building — codenamed Bright Light — housed some of the CIA’s most important terror suspects, including Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the mastermind of 9/11. Even after the detainees were shipped off to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and reports about the prison began to surface, the Romanian government repeatedly denied any knowledge of its existence.”
- ↑ CIA’s secret prison reportedly spotted in Romania, Globe and Mail, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2011-12-08. “In northern Bucharest, in a busy residential neighbourhood minutes from the heart of the capital city, is a secret the Romanian government has long tried to protect.”
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Matthew Cole. Another Secret CIA Prison Found, Abc News, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2011-12-08. “Another CIA secret prison was located and identified today in Eastern Europe, and unlike others previously discovered, this one is in a heavily populated section of a capital city. According to an AP investigation, the CIA housed six so-called high-value terrorism detainees in a Romanian government building in central Bucharest, in the midst of a leafy neighborhood and next to a railway line.”
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 CIA 'secret prison' found in Romania - media reports, BBC News, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2023-12-30. “The building identified in the German investigation houses the Office of the National Register for Secret State Information, or Orniss.”
- ↑ Alex Spillius. CIA 'used Romania building as prison for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed', The Telegraph, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2011-12-08. “It was judged ideal for housing al-Qaeda suspects and submitting them to what the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation techniques" because as an established government facility, it didn't require heavy security and local residents had learnt not to pry.”
- ↑ Adam Goldman, Matt Apuzzo. Inside Romania's secret CIA prison, The Independent, 2011-12-08. Retrieved on 2023-12-30. “Shuttling detainees into the facility without being seen was relatively easy. After flying into Bucharest, the detainees were brought to the site in vans. CIA operatives then drove down a side road and entered the compound through a rear gate that led to the actual prison.”
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