Usman then described how the soldiers, changing tack, produced two items, a weapon and a jacket, claiming these were discovered from his vehicle. “They produced something from their own vehicle or mine … I don’t know from where… and said that they had recovered it from me.” Despite his protests to the contrary, the soldiers took photographs and videos of the weapon and the jacket, placing them next to Usman’s car. “I told them that these were not mine. ‘I just have the tablighi beddings.’” In vain, he attempted to persuade the officers to accurately document the situation, as required by law-enforcement procedure and authority. “I told him — ‘put the bedding in front of the camera.’” But the officer insisted otherwise. Usman emphasised: “He said ‘I took the weapon from your vehicle’; I said there is only my bedding in the car, and that that’s all I have and nothing else.” Usman attempted to challenge his captors, suggesting they had created false evidence: “Maybe this was put by you or someone else?” But the officer said, “No, we will take you along with us.” “They deceived me like this; they shut our eyes [blindfolded us] and placed us in the car.” At Bagram, the authorities continued to insist that the military jacket in the video belonged to Usman, using the circumstances of his capture as a torment strategy. He reported that such interrogation was accompanied by beatings lasting up to seven hours at a time. Usman recalled the heavy steel boots the soldiers wore, while they stood on his body, accusing him of driving a car loaded with weapons from Pakistan to Afghanistan. “When I recall Bagram I still get frightened. They used to keep big fans on and also turn on the big AC at full speed. There was no bedding beneath us … I became so helpless due to the cold … I wanted to take off my clothes and strangle myself with them.” US soldiers offered Usman money, a house, a car and residence in either Switzerland or Washington DC if he would agree to work as an agent and assassin for them in Pakistan. He refused, repeatedly saying he was just a preacher. In response, he was threatened: “They told me that they can keep me detained here for 40 to 50 years — for my whole life. ‘You should listen to us and say what we want you to say so that you can go home.’ I told them I will get freedom because I am innocent. They said no, ‘say what we’re telling you to say. You will get your freedom on this lie.’ Thinking of 40 to 50 years of detention scared me. In this state of helplessness, I admitted that the items they had recovered were mine.” The US soldier then raised the stakes even higher. He told Usman to do exactly as they ask him to so that he would be sent back to Pakistan. “‘We [the Americans] will target big names in Pakistan and you will have to kill them at any cost.’ I said I can’t do that, I am here for tabligh, I came to show the right path to humanity. I will continue this in the future too.” 29