While much has been said of the torture techniques used by the US government in the early days of the War on Terror, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation, a prisoner named Abu Zubaydah was subjected to all 10 sanctioned torture techniques, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
According to a new report by Al Jazeera, in addition to providing confirmation that the CIA secretly operated a black site prison out of Guantanamo Bay, a forthcoming Senate Intelligence Committee report indicates that Zubaydah was tortured with a loud, endless loop of music by the Chili Peppers.
The report allegedly details how Zubaydah, a suspected major player in Al Qaeda’s ongoings who was subjected to waterboarding 83 times, was shackled at the wrists and hung from the ceiling of his prison cell as the Californian rock group’s music was used to “batter the detainee’s senses.”
This isn’t the first time that popular music was allegedly employed during torture. In 2009, The Telegraph reported on a campaign launched by artists including Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails in protest of their music being used during torture at Guantanamo Bay. A 2004 Pentagon report stated one detainee spent hours being forced to listen to Texas nu-metal band Drowning Pool‘s Bodies.
Outspoken Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said at the time, “Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney’s idea of America, but it’s not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me – we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now.”
