Turkish islamic militant claims interrogation and torture by CIA agents

December 10, 2005

Turkish daily newspaper SABAH reported that the leader of Ansar El Islam group (Soldiers of God) claimed that prior to the NATO summit in 2004 in Istanbul, "he was interrogated by three foreigners and beaten."

On 29 April 2004, before the NATO Summit, which was to be held in June in Istanbul, Alpaslan Toprak, who is claimed to be the Turkish representative of Ansar El Islam, and 15 others were detained by the police after being given information by the CIA.

Toprak was separated from others in his group. He was blindfolded and interrogated in a secret location by four people, three of whom were speaking in English. He was beaten up and a gun was placed on his head. His allegations were included in his court statement, dated 12 May 2005.

According to the SABAH, during the interrogation of Toprak, a CIA plane was in Turkey.

The CIA has not issued a statement about the specific claims.