# The cremation footnote > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The cremation footnote," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah-cremation-footnote/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *A footnote John Kiriakou cites from the declassified executive summary of the Senate torture report, stating that Abu Zubaydah will never be permitted to leave Guantanamo — despite never having joined al-Qaeda, never having pledged fealty to Osama bin Laden and never having been charged — and that on his death the CIA will cremate his body and scatter the ashes at sea.* - **Source:** Footnote in the declassified executive summary of the [Senate torture report](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-torture-report) - **Subject:** [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah) - **What it says:** He will never be allowed to leave [Guantanamo](#); on death, cremation and ashes at sea - **Grounds stated:** Not a member of al-Qaeda, never pledged fealty, never charged - **Kiriakou's verdict:** *"That's not justice. And that's not the American way."* **The cremation footnote** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s name for a passage he says appears in the declassified executive summary of the [Senate torture report](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-torture-report), and which he treats as the plainest statement of what was decided about [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah). Its terms, as he relays them: even though Abu Zubaydah was not a member of al-Qaeda, even though he had never pledged fealty to [Osama bin Laden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/osama-bin-laden), and even though he never directly committed any crime against Americans or American installations, *"he will never be allowed to leave Guantanamo — ever."* The footnote continues that when he dies, the CIA will cremate his body and throw his ashes in the Caribbean.[1][2] Kiriakou's objection is not to the man's treatment in isolation but to what the arrangement forecloses: *"That's not justice. And that's not the American way. If this man is as bad as we say he is, then let's give him his day in court — because whether we like his politics or not, that's what the Constitution says that he gets, and we've never given him that."*[2] ## Why no trial He attributes the absence of any trial for the five remaining high-value detainees to institutional self-protection rather than security. The CIA is *"rightfully afraid that they will talk about the torture that they underwent"* — torture that was a crime domestically and, the United States being a signatory to the [United Nations Convention Against Torture](#), internationally as well — and afraid they will speak about sources and methods, and about the programme itself.[3][4] His reading of the cost is historical. Because the testimony of Abu Zubaydah, [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/khalid-sheikh-mohammed) and the other three has been kept secret for twenty years, *"we'll never really know what they have to say"*, and *"we'll never know the lessons that could have been learned because of the 9-11 attacks, because we're not allowed to know them."*[5][6] He pairs this with the disclaimer in the 9/11 Commission report, whose members held the highest clearances and were nonetheless barred from interviewing the key witnesses — and barred from interviewing the people who had interviewed them.[7][8] ## See also - [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah) - [Senate Torture Report](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-torture-report) ## Sources 1. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 15:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=941s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 2. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 16:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 3. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 14:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=874s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 4. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 15:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=909s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 5. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 02:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=154s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 6. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 03:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=185s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 7. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 03:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=215s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ 8. Biden denies CIA torture victims their day in court (2022-04-01), at 04:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rss5de56833&t=249s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-01-scheer-intelligence-biden-denies-cia-torture-victims-their-day-in/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah-cremation-footnote/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt