Case of Husayn (Abu Zubaydah) v. Poland

Abu Zubaydah (plaintiff) filed an action in the European Court of Human Rights against Poland (defendant) for violating the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the convention). Zubaydah claimed that Poland had allowed the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to establish a secret prison for high-value detainees, at which American officials tortured terrorist suspects. Zubaydah claimed that he and other high-value detainees were blindfolded and shackled, flown to an airport in Poland, and then transported by vans to the prison site. Zubaydah was later transferred from Poland to a different CIA prison. Zubaydah introduced evidence that Poland and the CIA had entered a bilateral agreement under which Poland was obligated to provide the CIA with physical security to guard the building and agreed to maintain secrecy and not to interfere with the CIA’s activities within the building. Zubaydah’s sources of evidence included reports and comments made by Polish, American, and European Union officials. Additionally, Zubaydah introduced experts who testified that given the statements that had been made by various officials, the complexity of the transportation of the high-value detainees, and the fact that reports began circulating that the CIA was abusing detained terrorists in multiple prison sites, Poland officials knew or should have known of the CIA’s operations and that the detainees were likely to experience torture by the American officials. The court considered the case.