An Innocent Turk Describes How Americans Tortured Him at Guantanamo

Why do they hate us?

Murat Kurnaz, 24, who was released in August because of lack of evidence that he was involved in terrorist activities, said he endured many types of torture.

"From electric shocks to having one's head submerged in water, (subjection to) hunger and thirst, or being shackled and suspended," Kurnaz said, listing the alleged abuses he faced while a detainee at Camp X-Ray in Cuba.

A burly man with long reddish hair and a thick beard stretching down to his belly, Kurnaz spoke without emotion to CNN Turk television from his home in Bremen, northern Germany.

"They tell you 'you are from Al-Qaeda' and when you say 'no' they give the (electric) current to your feet.... As you keep saying 'no' this goes on for two or three hours," he said, adding he had several times lost consciousness," Kurnaz said.

He claimed he was once shackled to a ceiling for "four or five days."

"They take you down in the mornings when a doctor comes to see whether you can endure more," he said. "They let you sit when the interrogator comes.... They take you down about three times a day so you do not die."

Kurnaz also alleged prisoners were locked up in cells into which frigid or hot air was pumped.

"I saw several people die," he said. "Sometimes I thought I could no longer stand it and would also die."

He claimed he was once left without food for 20 days and spoke of psychological abuse, including "religious insults" such as the Koran being kicked on the ground.