Attorney General Holder To Appoint Prosecutor To Investigate Torture (8/24/2009)
Release Of CIA Torture Report Underscores Need For Full Investigation, Says ACLU
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a preliminary investigation into whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees in U.S. custody overseas under the Bush administration.
Attorney General Holder said his decision to appoint a special prosecutor was in part influenced by the contents of a CIA inspector general report made public today as part of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The IG report provides a detailed description of torture and abuse of detainees and addresses the legality and effectiveness of the agency's "enhanced interrogation" program.
"While this is a welcome first step, we are disappointed that Attorney General Holder still appears unwilling to conduct a full investigation and to prosecute any crimes that are uncovered. A preliminary investigation absent a commitment to prosecute violations of the law is simply anemic. How much evidence of wrongdoing and violations of law is necessary before the attorney general commits to launching a full investigation?" said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "The CIA's own inspector general documented in disturbing detail the level of the torture committed and the extent to which laws were broken. Attorney General Holder's decision not to launch a full investigation is deeply troubling given the evidence already in the public domain of crimes that were committed. Any investigation that truly follows the facts where they lead would inevitably lead to prosecutions of high level officials – not just rogue agents in the field. This issue will not go away by deferring the hard decisions."
The version of the IG report made public today includes newly unredacted sections and details of serious detainee abuse in CIA custody that were previously unknown. According to the report, agents committed mock executions and threatened to harm at least one detainee, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, with a gun and a power drill if he did not cooperate with the interrogation. Al-Nashiri is represented by military attorneys assisted by the John Adams Project, a joint effort by the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to provide support for the under resourced military defense counsel in the Guantánamo military commissions.
"The Obama administration made a commitment to transparency, and the release of the IG report is a step in the right direction. The American public has a right to know the full truth about the torture that was committed in its name," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security project. "The information in the report about the origins and scope of the CIA's torture program further underscores the need for a comprehensive investigation into the torture of detainees and those who authorized it."
The CIA turned over a heavily redacted version of the IG report in May 2008, but earlier this year the government agreed to review the same report with a view toward disclosing more information.
The CIA IG report is available online at: www.aclu.org/oigreport/
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/40831prs20090824.html--------------------------------------
CCR Issues Statement in Response to Word of Appointment of Special Prosecutor
CCR Demands Full Investigation of Top Officials for Torture and Other Crimes
CONTACT: press@ccrjustice.org
August 24, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the statement below in response to the rumored announcement of the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the torture of detainees by the U.S. Press reports say Attorney General Holder likely to name John Durham, who is currently investigating the 2005 destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations that included waterboarding and other methods of torture and abuse.
“Responsibility for the torture program cannot be laid at the feet of a few low-level operatives. Some agents in the field may have gone further than the limits so ghoulishly laid out by the lawyers who twisted the law to create legal cover for the program, but it is the lawyers and the officials who oversaw and approved the program who must be investigated.
“The Attorney General must appoint an independent special prosecutor with a full mandate to investigate those responsible for torture and war crimes, especially the high ranking officials who designed, justified and orchestrated the torture program. We call on the Obama administration not to tie a prosecutor’s hands but to let the investigation go as far up the chain of command as the facts lead. We must send a clear message to the rest of the world, to future officials, and to the victims of torture that justice will be served and that the rule of law has been restored.”
Available for comment: CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren, CCR Legal Director Bill Quigley, and the Senior Managing Attorney of CCR’s Guantánamo Project, Shayana Kadidal.
Earlier press accounts suggest the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility report on the role of lawyers in the torture program called for new investigations into cases of the torture and death of detainees previously not taken up by the DOJ. The latest news is that the OPR report is still being reviewed for classification and will not come out today, but the release of a less redacted version of the 2004 report by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on the treatment of men held in its secret detention and interrogation program is still expected to be released today, as ordered by a federal judge.
CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last seven years – sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the first attorney to meet with a former CIA “ghost detainee” there. CCR represents current and former detainees who were tortured and abused at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and in the secret CIA detention program.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-issues-statement-response-word-appointment-special-prosecutorNote: The above two documents are public news releases.
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