U.S. puts out new guidelines on torture

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http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5438255

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has released a new memo to replace a controversial document outlining how to
avoid violating U.S. and international terror statutes while interrogating prisoners.

In a December 30 memorandum, released early on Friday, the department stepped back from an August 2002 memo that said only the
most severe types of torture were not permissible under U.S. and international agreements against torture.

The new memo was more broad in its definition of what could be considered torture, and therefore what was unacceptable under U.S. law
and under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

The new memorandum was released on a federal holiday, just one week before White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales -- to whom the
August 2002 memo was addressed -- was to appear before the Senate for confirmation hearings. Gonzales has been nominated by
President George W. Bush to be the new Attorney General.

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