Rights groups call on US Justice Dept. to probe CIA torture
World |
'Significant new information in agencys final torture report needs further review, says groups
Three major rights groups called on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate the CIA for alleged torture and other rights violations of prisoners in the agencys custody.
In a letter to Lynch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International noted the December 2014 release of a scathing Senate report that catalogued grisly details of the agencys interrogation practices.
The groups said that while the Justice Department had previously investigated some aspects of the CIAs controversial detention and interrogation program, the report includes significant new information.
With the Senate torture report now final and in the Justice Departments possession, we strongly urge you to appoint a career prosecutor as a special prosecutor to review it, the groups wrote.
The more than 6,000-page report, of which a 500 page executive summary was made public, found that the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques under the George W. Bush administration were more brutal and extensive than initially thought.
Among the more cruel techniques, the report noted that the CIA employed the use of nudity, waterboarding which it said induces convulsions and vomiting, sleep deprivation for as long as 180 hours, and unnecessary rectal hydration and feeding.
Most regard the agencys methods as torture, and President Barack Obama was quick to end them shortly after he assumed office in 2009.
If our laws have meaning, we cant accept that some of our countrys most senior officials authorized criminal conduct and were never held accountable. Torture is a crime, said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. We know it happened. The Senate torture report documented it in excruciating detail. Its up to Attorney General Lynch to uphold the laws of our land and ensure that a criminal investigation of the U.S. torture program is conducted.
Its unlikely, however, that the Justice Department will re-investigate the agencys program, as it previously said the Senate report contained no new information than a previous four-year investigation into the program had uncovered.
Should the department opt not to investigate it would contribute to the notion that torture remains a permissible policy option for future administrations; undermine the ability of the United States to advocate for human rights abroad; and compromise Americans faith in the rule of law at home, according to the letter to Lynch.
Anadolu Agency
In a letter to Lynch, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International noted the December 2014 release of a scathing Senate report that catalogued grisly details of the agencys interrogation practices.
The groups said that while the Justice Department had previously investigated some aspects of the CIAs controversial detention and interrogation program, the report includes significant new information.
With the Senate torture report now final and in the Justice Departments possession, we strongly urge you to appoint a career prosecutor as a special prosecutor to review it, the groups wrote.
The more than 6,000-page report, of which a 500 page executive summary was made public, found that the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques under the George W. Bush administration were more brutal and extensive than initially thought.
Among the more cruel techniques, the report noted that the CIA employed the use of nudity, waterboarding which it said induces convulsions and vomiting, sleep deprivation for as long as 180 hours, and unnecessary rectal hydration and feeding.
Most regard the agencys methods as torture, and President Barack Obama was quick to end them shortly after he assumed office in 2009.
If our laws have meaning, we cant accept that some of our countrys most senior officials authorized criminal conduct and were never held accountable. Torture is a crime, said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. We know it happened. The Senate torture report documented it in excruciating detail. Its up to Attorney General Lynch to uphold the laws of our land and ensure that a criminal investigation of the U.S. torture program is conducted.
Its unlikely, however, that the Justice Department will re-investigate the agencys program, as it previously said the Senate report contained no new information than a previous four-year investigation into the program had uncovered.
Should the department opt not to investigate it would contribute to the notion that torture remains a permissible policy option for future administrations; undermine the ability of the United States to advocate for human rights abroad; and compromise Americans faith in the rule of law at home, according to the letter to Lynch.
Anadolu Agency
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