What Happened To Abu Zubaydah Eye? The Forever Prisoner Explores Details on Terror Suspect

Abu Zubaydah is a 50 years old Saudi Arabian who is said to have lost his left eye in the CIA custody during the interrogation. 

Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi Arabian currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba under the authority of Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.

During his time in custody, he was extensively interrogated by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

What Happened To Abu Zubaydah Eye? 

Abu Zubaydah lost his left eye while being held in one of the CIA’s secret prisons. Along with the eye, the CIA did a series of cruel acts on the man.

He was an alleged Al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan in 2002, was suspected of being a senior member of the group and a plotter in the 9/11 attacks although it’s not clear he was involved.

The inhuman act ranged from being water-boarded 83 times to numerous other torture techniques including forced nudity, sleep deprivation, confinement in small dark boxes, deprivation of solid food, stress positions, and physical assaults.

About his missing eye, Ali Soufan, a former F.B.I. agent who helped capture Abu Zubaydah in 2002, said that at the time of his arrest he appeared to have some sort of eye condition, perhaps an infection.

He was trying to flee from the rooftop when he was shot and wounded in the groin. Right after his capture, a photo was taken that does not show any problem in either of his eyes.

But again a former C.I.A. officer, John Kiriakou who was also engaged in the capture said that there appeared to be something wrong with one of his eyes.

After four years of imprisonment in 2006 finally, a photo of him with a pirate-style patch over his left eye was made available.

Abu Zubaydah Health Update: How Is He Now?

Abu Zubaydah’s health, physical and mental stability has been affected direly. He became ill and disabled due to a severe head injury.

Ron Suskind wrote a diary describing him in the voice of three people a boy, a young man, and a middle-aged alter ego. The diaries traversed ten years and recorded in mind-numbing detail what he ate, or wore.

He was tortured to the point where Abu went insane, having a split personality disorder, stated by Dan Coleman.

From the injuries, he suffered while he was fighting the communists in Afghanistan, the injuries by the CIA, and the isolation, his mental grasp is slipping away.

Now, Abu suffers from blinding headaches and has permanent brain damage. He has an unbearable sensitivity to sounds and the slightest noise drives him nearly insane.

He has experienced about 200 seizures in the last two years alone and he cannot picture his mother’s face or recall his father’s name. 

Is Abu Zubaydah Still In Jail?

Abu Zubaydah is still in American custody at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, unofficially known by the US as a forever prisoner. 

Zubaydah has never been charged and has never faced trial according to ABC News which was last posted on 9 September 2021.

The best-case scenario is that he’ll be released and he’ll never be prosecuted,” one of Zubaydah’s long-term lawyers, Joe Margulies, told the ABC.

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