Retired Chicago Detective Reportedly Used Same Torture Implemented at Guantanamo Bay

Horrendous treatment.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A former Chicago police detective stands accused of utilizing the same methods of torture he employed at Guantanamo Bay to coerce confessions out of minority suspects. 

According to a report by the Guardian, Richard Zuley's tactics included threatening suspects' family members, threatening to plant evidence on them, and even shackling suspects to walls in police precincts. A dig into Zuley's actions resulted in the overturning of an innocent man's murder conviction in 2013: 


Lathierial Boyd, convicted in 1990 of murder, accuses Zuley in a federal civil-rights lawsuit of planting evidence and withholding crucial details.


Boyd told the Guardian that Zuley had a racial animus as well. No n***** is supposed to live like this, he remembered Zuley telling him after the detective searched his expensive loft.

As a result, Zuley has been named as a defendant in a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed by Boyd. Furthermore, the report claims that Zuley, who was a detective on the north side of Chicago from 1977 to 2007, resorted to the same barbaric practices during his time at Guantanamo Bay.  

In 2003, the Navy reserve lieutenant was assigned to lead the interrogation of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who, according to Chicago Sun-Times, is suspected of aiding the recruitment of three 9/11 hijackers. Guatanamo Diaries, his memoir, reveals the brutal treatment he was subjected to under Zuley's command: 


After Zuley took over in July 2003, Slahi was subjected to even more extreme interrogation tactics: multiple death threats, extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation and a terrifying nighttime boat ride in which he was made to believe that worse was in store.

According to the Guardian, Zuley, who's worked for Chicago's Aviation Department since retiring, declined comment on the allegations. 

[via The Guardian and Chicago Sun-Times]

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