Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, says he has information to share with lawmakers about CIA head nominee Gina Haspel ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing.
Mohammed, who was repeatedly tortured by the CIA following his 2003 capture in Pakistan, sought permission this week from a Guantanamo Bay judge to “share six paragraphs of information” about Haspel with the Senate Intelligence Committee, reported The New York Times.
Haspel, who has drawn criticism for her role in a controversial CIA interrogation program, faces what is likely to be a tough confirmation hearing before the committee on Wednesday.
The nature of Mohammed’s information about Haspel is unknown. One of his attorneys, Marine Lt. Col. Derek Poteet, told the Times that he was “not able to describe the information.” Poteet said that it comes directly from Mohammed and that defense lawyers “agreed that the information was important.”
The CIA used several torture techniques on Mohammed, including waterboarding him 183 times and subjecting him to sleep deprivation and rectal rehydration, while the al Qaeda operative was in custody in clandestine prisons in Afghanistan and Poland.
It’s not clear whether Haspel was involved in Mohammed’s torture in any way. She has come under scrutiny, however, for serving as the head of a black site prison in Thailand in the early-2000s, where another terror suspect was tortured. Haspel has been accused of playing a part in destroying videotapes of those sessions.
Haspel is expected to tell lawmakers that she “will not restart” the CIA’s controversial interrogation program as the agency’s director.
It’s unclear whether Mohammed’s request for permission to share the information about Haspel will be approved before Wednesday’s hearing.