On the advice of Christine Funk, a lawyer assigned to him by the US authorities, Farik Amin drew the sketches over the last five years of his detention
The sketches were for submission to the US military court in Guantanamo Bay when his and fellow Malaysian Nazir Lep’s cases came up for trial in January.
Now declassified, these exhibits were submitted to the court as part of his mitigation plea for a lesser punishment.
Under military court rules, a jury may consider the “nature and length of pretrial detention” when determining the appropriate punishment or recommending clemency.
In January, Farik, 49, and Nazir, 48, were jailed for 23 years each for their role in the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed 202 people. They had pleaded guilty under a pre-trial agreement reached with prosecutors that would allow for their repatriation to a third country and release after five years.
Both men had admitted to conspiring with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, the mastermind of the bombings. They have also deposed testimonies for use in Hambali’s trial, set for hearing in March next year.
According to the declassified documents, both the detainees told the court of the inhumane and cruel methods employed by CIA agents while they were held in solitary confinement in a secret prison in Afghanistan for three-and-a-half years, following their arrest in Thailand in 2003.
With his sketches displayed on-screen during the trial, Farik told the court that his torture began soon after he was arrested in Bangkok. He said he was not allowed to shower or brush his teeth for several months.
“I was held nude and handcuffed with my legs chained to the floor for months. I could not move around in the cell. I soiled myself while in this position. The only noise I could hear was white noise buzzing all the time, 24/7,” he said to a question by Funk, according to the court notes.
Farik said he was punched, inflicted with a lot of pain and humiliated throughout the period, adding that whenever he tried to cover his genitals, an agent would slap his hands away.
“I have nightmares all the time (because of what I went through),” the documents quoted him as saying.
Among the sketches shown was one with his arms shackled behind his back while squatting with a broomstick behind his knees. Another showed him using his hands to shield his genitals from view. Yet another depicted him shackled with his arms raised above his head while being deprived of sleep.
Farik also showed sketches of himself in the nude, being shaved from head to toe, and shifting his weight from one leg to the other to try to relieve his pain.
One sketch shows four guards, some in balaclavas, holding his limbs to the floor while another CIA agent straddles him and pours water on his face and body.
Change of heart
Farik said he began taking responsibility for his action in 2014. He told a psychiatrist that he relented in his views after realising that he could not change the world.
Hawthorne E Smith said Farik had started as an idealistic youth from a relatively poor family who was prepared to make sacrifices to defend his faith, which he believed at the time to be under threat.
Smith said Farik had communicated with him via letters written in English for about nine months before deciding to plead guilty.
“He said he had wanted to do something meaningful for his faith and family during his young adulthood. It was during this time that he began to consider jihad to protect his faith. He was an idealistic Muslim.
“Farik said over the past 20 years, he has changed. He is not an angry young man anymore. He is a reformed man.
“He is feeling so much more content and confident in his faith. He plans to go forward as a good and peaceful Muslim,” said Smith, according to the declassified documents.