The NY Times has a front page article by well regarded reporters Jane Perlez and Raymond Bonner of a Pakistani man, picked up in Indonesia in January, 2002 and held for more than 6 years by U.S authorities — never charged and never tried — under unbelievable, hard to read about, conditions. Even though anonymous US officials now say he was thought to be no more than a “talker” after two days of questioning in Jakarta, he was “rendered,” presumably with U.S. approval if not direct orders, to Egypt for 90 days of “further interrogation.” He was then held at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan and for five years at Guantanamo — all without being charged.

During the flight to Cairo, Mr. Iqbal said, he was bleeding from his nose, mouth and ears, and was unable to move because shackles wound tightly around his body.

When the plane landed, he was told he was in Cairo, he said. He was assigned a basement room like “a grave,” about 6 feet by 4 feet, he said, and was kept there for 92 days, according to the transcript of his tribunal hearing. On Jan. 11, 12 and 20, 2002, he was interrogated for 12 to 15 hours on each occasion, he said during the interviews here.

He described the interrogators as Egyptians. Mr. Iqbal said there were other men in the room whose faces were covered and who did not speak, but who passed notes with questions to the Egyptians.

He was asked when he had gone to Afghanistan and how he had met Mr. bin Laden. When he replied that he had never been to Afghanistan and had not met Mr. bin Laden, the Egyptians tortured him with electric shocks, he said. “I cry and I yell,” he said. “Also they gave me brain electric shocks.” He said he was forced to consume liquids that were laced with drugs “so you don’t know what you are talking about.”

In early April, he said, the Americans flew him to Bagram, the American air base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul. He was held there for almost a year, at times shackled and handcuffed in a small cage with other detainees, and further interrogated, he said.

“A C.I.A. person said, ‘We forgive you; just accept you met Osama bin Laden.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not going to say that.’ ” Even though polygraph tests showed that he was telling the truth, he said, he was shifted from cell to cell every few hours and deprived of sleep for six months.

So the question we all have of the Obama National Security Team is: When Do The Prosecutions Begin?

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