Rights Groups Seek Information on Detainees' Treatment

[Say_What]

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Several civil liberties and veterans groups plan to file a formal request with the federal government today seeking information on whether prisoners in U.S. custody in the war on terrorism have been tortured or mistreated during interrogations.

The request, to be filed under the Freedom of Information Act, follows media reports that U.S. authorities have used questionable techniques, including sleep deprivation and the withholding of medications, against prisoners held abroad in the war on terrorism.

The American Civil Liberties Union and four other groups, including Physicians for Human Rights and Veterans for Peace, are seeking records pertaining to the treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody as well as to those who have been handed over to other countries for interrogation, according to the ACLU. Use of coercive interrogation techniques would constitute clear violations of both domestic and international law, the groups say.

"The president and a number of senior officials have assured the public that the United States is committed to international law," said Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney. "This provides the government with an opportunity to flesh that out a little, to explain to us what they're doing and to assure us that detainees are not being mistreated."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53222-2003Oct6.html

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. They might get to find out quite a lot about what goes on at Gitmo

bush has said, "you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."