BRIEF: Guantanamo Detainees Allegedly Drugged During Interrogations

MASSACHUSETTS, United States – Guantanamo Bay detainees have alleged that they were “forcibly drugged” during interrogations while in United States custody.  Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), author of the report “Break Them Down,” has called upon Congress and the Department of Justice to investigate these allegations. 

“Break Them Down” is a “groundbreaking report” in which Physicians for Human Rights documents the “systematic use of psychological torture” by United States officers during interrogations of terror suspects.  Physicians for Human Rights has continually documented these instances of torture since 2005. 

Physicians for Human Rights’ report claims that medications may have been used to chemically restrain detainees, facilitate interrogations as well as “therapeutic purposes” without informed consent from the detainee. 

Under the War Crimes Act and the Anti-Torture Statute, the use of “mind-altering substances” or other procedures “calculated to profoundly disrupt the senses or personality” during an interrogation is a crime. 

These allegations also raise questions about the “role of health professionals” in the interrogation of detainees and the violation of the codes of medical ethics. 

For more information, please see:

Physicians For Human Rights – Allegations of Drugging in US Interrogations – 22 April 2008

Washington Post – Detainees Allege Being Drugged, Questioned – 22 April 2008