Alkarama recently received the case of Palestinian refugee in Iraq, Mahmoud Al-Khayat, who spent nearly five years in custody during which he was transferred between eight separate detention centres and prisons. Of those five years, the US military was responsible for two, during which Mahmoud Al-Khayat was tortured at length.

Mahmoud Hekmat Rashi Al-Khayat, now 50, is originally from Al-Badawi Refugee Camp in Tripoli, Lebanon, but had been living and working in Karada, Baghdad for over 20 years . On 15 February 2005, he was arrested without a warrant by US Battalion 101 in Karada and taken to the Saddam Hussein International airport (in fact a detention center at the time), where he would spend a week before being transferred to the now infamous Abu Ghraib detention centre.

Allegations of Torture

According to Alkarama's sources, Mr Al-Khayat spent a total of five months at Abu Ghraib prison between 22 February 2005 and July 2005. He was apparently tortured for two months and then isolated for three months in secret detention, in order for his torture wounds to disappear. Reports claim that "coercive techniques" were used to extract confessions, such as severe beatings, torture by electric shock , and pepper spray to the eyes. He was left with his front teeth broken, a burst vein in his arm from gunfire and wounds all over his body. The confessions he was to give were later used to convict him during a trial in an Iraqi court in 2007.

Since 2004, a range of investigations and inspections of Abu Ghraib have taken place; namely that of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in May 2004 which found evidence of "a pattern and a broad system" of torture. Since then, several US army officials have made public statements confirming that the main role of Abu Ghraib was to extract "as much intelligence [from the detainees] as possible".

Prison Transfers Continue, Unfair Trial

In July 2005, the US army transferred Mr Al-Khayat to Bouka Prison in Basra. A year later in July 2006, he was transferred back to Abu Ghraib, where he would spend two months before being transferred back to Saddam Hussein International airport. After seven months, he was handed over to the Iraqi authorities on 24 April 2007, and would spend the next eight months in Badush prison in Mosul City.

While in custody at Badush prison he was put on trial despite not being able to appoint a lawyer. When Mr Al-Khayat informed the court that confessions had been extracted under torture, the information was ignored and thus his conviction was quick to follow. Mr Al-Khayat was sentenced to three years on charges of "breaching the residency law", despite the fact that he had a residence permit since 1989.

Following his sentence, he was transferred to Soussa Castle prison in November 2007, and later to Al-Rasafa Prison in April 2009.

After having completed his sentence, Mahmoud Al-Khayat was finally released on 18 October 2009, and repatriated to Lebanon. He then moved to Syria, where he now lives with his wife and three kids.

During a 15 December 2008 interview hosted by ABC World News correspondent Jonathan Karl, former vice-president Dick Cheney said, "on the question of so-called torture, we don't do torture. We never have. It's not something that this administration subscribes to."

Mahmoud Al-Khayat would claim otherwise.