Guantanamo inmate tells of sleep deprivation

A Guantanamo prisoner has testified that US troops made loud noises, kept the lights on in his cell, and frequently moved him around the prison to deprive him of sleep.

Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan detainee charged with attempted murder, told a military court he does not know why he was subjected to the military’s “frequent flyer” sleep deprivation programme in May 2004, nearly 17 months after he was arrested.

Jawad said: “Day and night, they were shifting me from one room to another.”

His testimony has come in a pretrial hearing at the US war crimes court.

Lawyers and human rights groups have accused the military of using sleep deprivation to “soften up” Guantanamo detainees for questioning.

This was the first time a prisoner testified about such treatment.