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Disappearing Act: Rendition by the Numbers
Piecing together a picture of the CIA’s secret rendition program.
An extraordinary rendition may be defined as the extrajudicial transfer of an individual to a country where there is reasonable probability he will be tortured. In our research we have counted 67 known cases of extraordinary rendition by the United States since 1995. While the details are often incomplete, they help paint a more complete picture of this secretive and controversial Central Intelligence Agency program.
Our research is based on reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law School, Andy Worthington’s The Guantanamo Files, Stephen Grey’s Ghost Plane, and media accounts. (Special thanks to Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch for her invaluable assistance.)
Before September 11
Then-CIA director George Tenet testified before the 9/11 Commission that there were more than 80 renditions before September 11, 2001. We found information on 29 cases of extraordinary and ordinary rendition prior to 9/11. Of the 14 that qualify as extraordinary renditions, 12 were to Egypt.
Prisoners who remained in American custody generally were accused of involvement with terrorist actions, such as the 1985 Egypt Air hijacking, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the 1998 African embassy bombings.
Names in parentheses are alternate spellings or aliases.
Our research is based on reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU Law School, Andy Worthington’s The Guantanamo Files, Stephen Grey’s Ghost Plane, and media accounts. (Special thanks to Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch for her invaluable assistance.)
Before September 11
Then-CIA director George Tenet testified before the 9/11 Commission that there were more than 80 renditions before September 11, 2001. We found information on 29 cases of extraordinary and ordinary rendition prior to 9/11. Of the 14 that qualify as extraordinary renditions, 12 were to Egypt.
Prisoners who remained in American custody generally were accused of involvement with terrorist actions, such as the 1985 Egypt Air hijacking, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the 1998 African embassy bombings.
Names in parentheses are alternate spellings or aliases.
| Name | Citizenship | RenderedFrom | RenderedTo | Date | Outcome | |
| 1 | Abu Talal al-Qasimi (Talat Fouad Qassem) | Egyptian | Croatia | Egypt | September 1995 | Questioned on a U.S. ship off the coast of Croatia; transferred to Egypt in 1998; executed in Cairo |
| 2 | Ahmed al-Naggar | Egyptian | Albania | Egypt | July 1998 | Hanged in Egypt, February 2000 |
| 3 | Mohammed Hassan Tita | Egyptian | Albania | Egypt | July 1998 | Sentenced to 10 years in prison in Egypt |
| 4 | Shawki Salama Attiya | Egyptian | Albania | Egypt | July 1998 | Sentenced to life imprisonment in Egypt |
| 5 | Ahmed Ismail Osman Saleh | Egyptian | Albania | Egypt | August 1998 | Hanged in Egypt, February 2000 |
| 6 | Essam Abdel Tawwab Abdel Halim | Egyptian | Bulgaria | Egypt | August 1998 | Sentenced to 10 years in prison in Egypt |
| 7 | Ihab Mohammed Saqr | Unknown | Azerbaijan | Egypt | Fall 1998 | Unknown |
| 8 | Ahmed Mohammed Mabrouk | Unknown | Azerbaijan | Egypt | Fall 1998 | Unknown |
| 9 | Essam Mohammed Hafez Marzouq | Unknown | Azerbaijan | Egypt | Fall 1998 | Unknown |
| 10 | Mohammed al-Zawahiri (brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri) | Egyptian | United Arab Emirates | Egypt | April 1999 | Imprisoned in Egypt |
| 11 | Hani al-Sayegh | Saudi | U.S. | Saudi Arabia | October 1999 | Deported to Saudi Arabia, October 1999 |
| 12 | Hussein al-Zawahiri (brother of Ayman al-Zawahiri) | Egyptian | Malaysia | Egypt | December 1999 | Released in 2000 |
| 13 | Abdul Rahman Muhammad Nasir Qasim al-Yaf’i | Yemeni | Egypt | Jordan | October 2000 | Returned to Yemen, March 2001 |
| 14 | Rifa Ahmed Taha (Abu Yasser) | Egyptian | Syria | Egypt | 2001 | Unclear if rendered before or after 9/11 |
After September 11
We found information on 117 renditions that have occurred since September 11, 2001. When we excluded renditions to Afghanistan, CIA secret prisons (or “black sites”), Guantanamo, or American custody, we found 53 cases of extraordinary rendition. All individuals for whom the rendition destination is known were sent to countries that have been criticized by the State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which document “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Of these 53 prisoners, more than one quarter have explicitly claimed that they were tortured while in foreign custody; four claim they were tortured while passing through American custody either en route to or following foreign custody. Four others may have been tortured while in foreign custody based on secondhand accounts or vague descriptions of treatment in prisons in their destination countries. Seventeen of the 53 individuals have been released after extraordinary renditions, and more than half (nine) of them claimed they were tortured while in foreign custody; two claim they were tortured while in American custody.
| Name | Citizenship | RenderedFrom | RenderedTo | Date | Outcome | |
| 1 | Jamal Mohammed Alwai Mar’i | Yemeni | Pakistan | Jordan | September 2001 | Says he was not tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo |
| 2 | Mamdouh Habib | Australian | Pakistan | Egypt, Afghanistan | October 2001 | Tortured in Egypt; transferred to Guantanamo; released January 2005 |
| 3 | Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed | Yemeni | Pakistan | Jordan | October 2001 | Unknown |
| 4 | Muhammad Haydar Zammar | German (Syrian descent) | Morocco | Syria | November 2001 or December 2001 | Tortured in Syria; now in Syrian custody |
| 5 | Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Abu Musab) | Mauritanian | Mauritania | Jordan, Afghanistan | November 2001 | Tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo |
| 6 | Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi (Ali Abdul-Hamid al-Fakhiri) | Libyan | Pakistan | Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Libya | In CIA custody as of November 2001; rendered to Libya late 2005/early 2006 | Possibly tortured in Egypt; sent to Libya |
| 7 | Ahmed Agiza | Egyptian (living in Sweden) | Sweden | Egypt | December 2001 | Tortured in Egypt; still imprisoned there |
| 8 | Muhammad Zery | Egyptian (living in Sweden) | Sweden | Egypt | December 2001 | Tortured in Egypt; released October 2003 |
| 9 | Hassan (Raba’i) | Libyan | Pakistan | Libya, Afghanistan | 2002 | May have been rendered to Libya in late 2005 or 2006; status unknown |
| 10 | Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni | Egyptian (held Pakistani passport) | Indonesia | Egypt, Afghanistan | January 2002 | Fellow prisoners say he was tortured in Egypt; transferred to Guantanamo |
| 11 | Walid al-Qadasi | Yemeni | Iran | Afghanistan, Yemen | January 2002 | Tortured in “dark prison” in Afghanistan; transferred to Yemen April 2004; released February 2006 |
| 12 | Anas al-Libi (Anas al-Sabai, Nazih al-Raghie) | Libyan | Sudan | Probably Egypt | February 2002 | Unknown |
| 13 | Abduh Ali Shaqawi (Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi; Riyadh the Facilitator) | Yemeni | Pakistan | Jordan, Afghanistan | February 2002 | Transferred to Afghanistan January 2004; transferred to Guantanamo September 2004. |
| 14 | Abou Elkassim Britel [Abu al-Kassem Britel] | Italian/Moroccan | Pakistan | Pakistan, Morocco | March or May 2002 | Tortured in Morocco; released February 2003; recaptured May 2003; currently in Moroccan custody |
| 15 | Suleiman Abdalla Salim (Suleiman Abdalla, Issa Tanzania) | Yemeni, Tanzanian | Somalia | Afghanistan or Kenya | March 2002 or March 2003 | Claims he was tortured in U.S. custody; status unknown |
| 16 | Binyam Mohamed al-Habashi | Ethiopian | Pakistan | Morocco, Afghanistan | April or July 2002 | Tortured in Morocco; transferred to Guantanamo, September 2004 |
| 17 | Barah Abdul Latif | Syrian | Pakistan | Syria | May 2002 | Questioned in Palestine Branch Prison, Damascus |
| 18 | Bahaa Mustafa Jaghel | Syrian | Pakistan | Syria | May 2002 | Questioned in Palestine Branch Prison, Damascus |
| 19 | Abdel Halim Dalak | Unknown | Pakistan | Syria | May 2002 | Student arrested in November 2001; Status unknown |
| 20 | Omar Ghramesh | Unknown | Pakistan | Syria | May 2002 | Arrested with Abu Zubaydah; Status unknown |
| 21 | Unidentified teenager | Unknown | Pakistan | Syria | May 2002 | Status unknown |
| 22 | Abu Zubair al-Haili (Fawzi Saad al-’Obaydi) | Saudi | Morocco | Morocco | June 2002 | Tortured in Morocco; Status unknown |
| 23 | Sheikh Ahmed Salim (Swedan) | Kenyan | Pakistan | Unknown | July 2002 | Status unknown |
| 24 | Yasser Tinawi | Syrian | Somalia | Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria | July 2002 | Interrogated by U.S. agents in Ethiopia, then flown to Cairo; transferred to Syria |
| 25 | Omar bin Hassan | Palestinian | Somalia | Ethiopia | July 2002 | Released after questioning on Somali border |
| 26 | Maher Arar | Syrian/Canadian | New York | Syria | September 2002 | Tortured in Syria; released February 2004 |
| 27 | Hassan bin Attash | Saudi (born in Yemen) | Pakistan | Jordan, Afghanistan | September 2002 | Tortured in Jordan; transferred to Guantanamo |
| 28 | Saif al Islam el Masry | Egyptian | Georgia | Possibly Egypt | September 2002 | Believed to be held in a secret CIA prison |
| 29 | Abdallah al-Sadeq (Sadek) | Libyan | Thailand | Libya | 2003 | Libyan custody |
| 30 | Abu Munder al-Saadi | Libyan | Hong Kong | Libya | 2003 | Libyan custody |
| 31 | Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu Omar) | Egyptian; asylum in Italy | Italy | Egypt | February 2003 | Tortured in Egypt; released February 2007 |
| 32 | Aafia | Siddiqui | Pakistani | Pakistan | March 2003 | Status unknown |
| 33 | Saud Memon (involved in Daniel Pearl slaying) | Pakistani | South Africa | Pakistan | March 2003 | Released April 2007 “badly injured and emaciated”; Died May 2007 |
| 34 | Laid Saidi | Algerian | Expelled from Tanzania to Malawi | Afghanistan; Algeria | May 2003 | Says he was tortured at Bagram; transferred to Algeria; released August 2004 |
| 35 | Safwan al-Hasham (Haffan al-Hasham) | Saudi | Pakistan | May 2003 | Appeared on a congressional “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” list in July 2006; status unknown | |
| 36 | Jawad al-Bashar | Egyptian | Pakistan | May 2003 | Status unknown | |
| 37 | Mahmoud Sardar Issa | Sudanese | Malawi | Zimbabwe, Sudan | June 2003 | Released July 2003 in Sudan |
| 38 | Fahad al-Bahli | Saudi | Malawi | Zimbabwe, Sudan | June 2003 | Released July 2003 in Sudan |
| 39 | Arif Ulusam | Turkish | Malawi | Zimbabwe, Sudan | June 2003 | Released July 2003 in Sudan |
| 40 | Ibrahim Itabaci | Turkish | Malawi | Zimbabwe, Sudan | June 2003 | Released July 2003 in Sudan |
| 41 | Khalifa Abdi Hassan | Saudi | Malawi | Zimbabwe, Sudan | June 2003 | Released July 2003 in Sudan |
| 42 | Salah Nasser Salim ‘Ali | Yemeni | Indonesia | Jordan, Afghanistan, Yemen | August 2003 / October 2003 | Tortured in Jordan; held in Yemen |
| 43 | Muhammad Faraj Ahmed Bashmilah | Yemeni | Indonesia | Jordan, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Yemen | October 2003 | Tortured in Jordan; released March 2006 |
| 44 | Salah Nasir Salim ‘Ali Qaru | Yemeni | Jordan | Djibouti, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe | October 2003 | Tortured at a “black site”; returned to Yemen May 2005 |
| 45 | Muhammad Abdullah Salah al-Assad | Yemeni | Tanzania | Djibouti, Afghanistan, Yemen (CIA custody) | December 2003 | Harsh conditions in secret prisons (no direct mention of torture); released March 2006 |
| 46 | Khaled al-Sharif (Abu Hazem) | Libyan | Pakistan | Libya,Afghanistan | Late 2003 | May have been rendered to Libya in late 2005 or 2006; status unknown |
| 47 | Ibad al Yaquti al Sheikh al Sufiyan | Saudi | Pakistan | Unknown | January 2004 | Status unknown |
| 48 | Walid bin Azmi, USS Cole suspect | Unknown | Pakistan | Unknown | January 2004 | Status unknown |
| 49 | Marwan Ibrahim Jabour | Palestinian (born in Jordan) | Pakistan | Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel | May 2004 | Tortured in Pakistan; released in Gaza November 2006 |
| 50 | Sharif al-Masri (Abd-al-Sattar Sharif al-Masri. Told Pak. authorities of Al Q plan to smuggle nuclear materials to U.S. from Mexico) | Egyptian | Pakistan | Unknown | August 2004 | Status unknown |
| 51 | Qari Saifullah Akhtar (Amir Harkat-ul-Ansar Qari Saifullah) | Pakistani | United Arab Emirates | Pakistan | August 2004 | Appeared on FBI’s “Terrorists No Longer a Threat” list in July 2006; status unknown |
| 52 | Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri) | Syrian-Spanish dual | Pakistan | India? Syria? | November 2005 | Arrested by Pakistani police; was in U.S. custody in early 2006; now likely in Syrian custody |
| 53 | [First name unknown] al-Mahdi-Jawdeh (Abu Ayoub, Ayoub al-Libi) | Libyan | Pakistan | Libya | 2006 | Status unknown |
Katherine Tiedemann is a program associate at the New America Foundation’s Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative.SOURCE: Mother Jones
