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CIA report: 'Torture is a crime and those responsible must be brought to justice' CIA report: 'Torture is a crime and those responsible must be brought to justice'
(35 minutes later)
Human rights activists and legal experts have renewed calls for the Obama administration to prosecute US officials responsible for the CIA torture programme revealed in extensive detail following the release of a damning report by the Senate intelligence committee. The UN, human rights activists and legal experts have renewed calls for the Obama administration to prosecute US officials responsible for the CIA torture programme revealed in extensive detail following the release of a damning report by the Senate intelligence committee.
The report, released on Tuesday, found the CIA misled the White House, the Justice Department, Congress and the public over a torture programme that was both ineffective and more brutal than the agency disclosed.The report, released on Tuesday, found the CIA misled the White House, the Justice Department, Congress and the public over a torture programme that was both ineffective and more brutal than the agency disclosed.
“Today’s release once again makes crystal clear that the US government used torture. Torture is a crime and those responsible for crimes must be brought to justice,” Amnesty International USA’s executive director, Steven W Hawkins, said in a statement.“Today’s release once again makes crystal clear that the US government used torture. Torture is a crime and those responsible for crimes must be brought to justice,” Amnesty International USA’s executive director, Steven W Hawkins, said in a statement.
“Under the UN Convention Against Torture, no exceptional circumstances whatsoever can be invoked to justify torture, and all those responsible for authorising or carrying out torture or other ill-treatment must be fully investigated.”“Under the UN Convention Against Torture, no exceptional circumstances whatsoever can be invoked to justify torture, and all those responsible for authorising or carrying out torture or other ill-treatment must be fully investigated.”
In Geneva, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, said CIA officers and other US government officials should be prosecuted.
“The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorised at a high level within the US government provides no excuse whatsoever,” Emmerson said in a statement.
Former Bush officials had been critical of the report’s findings before they were made public. Former vice-president Dick Cheney told the New York Times on Monday that any attempt to portray the programme as a “rogue operation” was a “bunch of hooey” and defended its use as “absolutely, totally justified”.Former Bush officials had been critical of the report’s findings before they were made public. Former vice-president Dick Cheney told the New York Times on Monday that any attempt to portray the programme as a “rogue operation” was a “bunch of hooey” and defended its use as “absolutely, totally justified”.
But Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of international law at the University of Notre Dame, told the Guardian that Cheney’s comments were undermined by the contents of the report.But Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of international law at the University of Notre Dame, told the Guardian that Cheney’s comments were undermined by the contents of the report.
“By bringing out that the CIA lied to Congress, to the executive branch, to the Justice Department, to the inspector general, to the courts and others, the report undermines any chance for Republicans like former vice-president Cheney to defend the CIA,” O’Connell said.“By bringing out that the CIA lied to Congress, to the executive branch, to the Justice Department, to the inspector general, to the courts and others, the report undermines any chance for Republicans like former vice-president Cheney to defend the CIA,” O’Connell said.
“The United States is obligated under both the Geneva Convention and the Convention Against Torture … to investigate and prosecute the commission of torture.”“The United States is obligated under both the Geneva Convention and the Convention Against Torture … to investigate and prosecute the commission of torture.”
Republican senator John McCain, tortured in Vietnam as a prisoner of war, was out of step with some fellow Republicans in welcoming the report and endorsing its findings.
“We gave up much in the expectation that torture would make us safer,” he said in a Senate speech. “Too much.”
President Obama has cooled on commitments made during the 2008 election campaign to pursue criminal investigations if it were proved that “there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in cover-ups of those crimes with knowledge forefront”.President Obama has cooled on commitments made during the 2008 election campaign to pursue criminal investigations if it were proved that “there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in cover-ups of those crimes with knowledge forefront”.
A 2009 DoJ investigation into the use of torture, which was commissioned by the former attorney general Michael Mukasey and headed by assistant US attorney John Durham, concluded in August 2012 that no charges should be brought.A 2009 DoJ investigation into the use of torture, which was commissioned by the former attorney general Michael Mukasey and headed by assistant US attorney John Durham, concluded in August 2012 that no charges should be brought.
Chris Anders, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, described the Senate report as an “exhaustive cataloguing not just of horrific details of the interrogation and torture programme, but also of the mismanagement and a chaotic CIA”.Chris Anders, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, described the Senate report as an “exhaustive cataloguing not just of horrific details of the interrogation and torture programme, but also of the mismanagement and a chaotic CIA”.
Anders added that the statute of limitations had not lapsed for some incidents included in the report, particularly those that resulted in death.Anders added that the statute of limitations had not lapsed for some incidents included in the report, particularly those that resulted in death.
The report documents the case of suspected militant Gul Rahman who died from hypothermia after a CIA officer was approved to use “enhanced measures” during his interrogation and left him naked from the waist down and shackled to a wall in a cold cell.The report documents the case of suspected militant Gul Rahman who died from hypothermia after a CIA officer was approved to use “enhanced measures” during his interrogation and left him naked from the waist down and shackled to a wall in a cold cell.
Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch, also called on governments in other signatory states to the UN Convention Against Torture to prosecute officials should they enter their territory.Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch, also called on governments in other signatory states to the UN Convention Against Torture to prosecute officials should they enter their territory.
“Other countries have all the information they need should they wish to exercise universal jurisdiction and prosecute these officials should they appear in their borders,” Prasow said.“Other countries have all the information they need should they wish to exercise universal jurisdiction and prosecute these officials should they appear in their borders,” Prasow said.
The director of Amnesty USA’s security and human rights programme, Naureen Shah, told the Guardian that among the most shocking disclosures in the report were revelations that the US paid over $180m to two contractor psychologists to help establish the programme.The director of Amnesty USA’s security and human rights programme, Naureen Shah, told the Guardian that among the most shocking disclosures in the report were revelations that the US paid over $180m to two contractor psychologists to help establish the programme.
“This is the kind of thing that goes beyond horrific,” Shah said. “It shows exactly how free the US government felt to commit torture with impunity. It’s brazen in its detail and also in its abdication of legal responsibility – the idea that you would outsource to contractors the design of a programme that at base was about torture and ill treatment.”“This is the kind of thing that goes beyond horrific,” Shah said. “It shows exactly how free the US government felt to commit torture with impunity. It’s brazen in its detail and also in its abdication of legal responsibility – the idea that you would outsource to contractors the design of a programme that at base was about torture and ill treatment.”