Ex-Guantanamo Bay inmates say ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is aimed at excusing torture of US detainees

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This film image released by Columbia Pictures shows a scene from "Zero Dark Thirty," directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/Sony - Columbia Pictures)

LONDON – Two former Guantanamo detainees have criticized “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film purportedly based on the real-life hunt for Osama bin Laden which suggests that brutal interrogations provided key intelligence.

Iraqi-born Bisher al-Rawi and Libyan-born Omar Deghayes — who was partially blinded after what he said was an American guard’s attempt to gouge out his eyes — said the movie legitimizes abuse.

Speaking on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the opening of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, the former detainees described the film as an attempt to rehabilitate those guilty of torture.

The film received an Oscar nomination Thursday but has not yet opened in the U.K. Neither former detainee has seen the movie but the torture scenes have been widely discussed on both sides of the Atlantic.

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