The frequent flyer program is a controversial technique used by the U.S. in the

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Guards deprived detainees of sleep by moving them from one cell to another, multiple times a day, for days or weeks on end. The technique was used to "soften up" detainees prior to interrogation. Guantanamo guards were ordered to discontinue the use of the technique in March 2004, although the practice persisted until at least later that year. Major

David Frakt David Frakt is an American lawyer, law professor, and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. Education Frakt is a 1987 graduate of the University High School, Irvine, California and a 1990 graduate of the University of California, Irvine ...

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

, defense counsel to a recipient of the program, Mohamed Jawad, said: In August 2008, in testimony at Jawad's

Guantanamo military commission ThGuantanamo military commissionswere established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of e ...

trial, Army officers confirmed the existence of the frequent flyer program. At least 17 detainees were subjected to the program. In May 2012

Ramzi Kassem Ramzi or Ramzy ( ar, رمزي ) is a masculine given name and surname of Arabic origin. It may refer to: Given name ;Ramzi * Ramzi Abed (born 1973), American film director, founder of "Bloodshot Pictures" and founding member of the electronic gro ...

, a lawyer for detainee

Shaker Aamer Shaker Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Aamer (born 21 December 1966)Camp Five Echo Camp Five Echo is a once secret " disciplinary block" built as part of the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. The press first reported on the existence of the camp in December 2011 when attorneys for Shaker Aamer, who had b ...

.{{cite news , url = http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/119282 , title = Aamer's torment in the spotlight , publisher =

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

, author = Paddy McGuffin , date = 2012-05-21 , archivedate = 2015-11-30 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151130041108/http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/119282 , url-status = dead , quote = In the lawyer's notes Mr Aamer states that he was held in solitary confinement from July to December 2011 in Camp 5 Echo block, a punishment block for "non-compliant" detainees. He was confined to his cell for 24 hours a day and subjected to sleep deprivation methods by guards. , access-date = 2012-08-31

References

Guantanamo Bay detention camp Interrogation techniques Sleeplessness and sleep deprivation