Ban Torture

News

The D.C. Circuit Court ruled that federal trial judges still have the authority to stop the government from transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to countries where they fear torture. Judges may consider pleas to block transfers until the Supreme Court decides the cases of Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195) and Al Odah v. U.S. (06-1196) heard on Dec. 5. A decision by the Justices is expected some time this spring or early summer. (scotusblog, March 14)

The CIA acknowledged secretly detaining a prisoner, Muhammad Rahim, for at least six months beginning last summer. The prisons were emptied in the fall of 2006, but President Bush signed an executive order last July that reiterated the CIA’s authority to use interrogation techniques more coercive than those permitted by the Pentagon. (Mark Mazzetti, The New York Times, March 15)

Director of national intelligence Mike McConnell participated in a symposium at Johns Hopkins University and said that waterboarding is a legal technique that works.

Just to put it in context, probably upwards of a quarter to a third of all the information generated in this period of time came from these three individuals [who were waterboarded]. It’s saved lives… Does it work? Yes, it works.

Reports

Yemeni national Khaled Abdu Ahmed Saleh al-Maqtari was held by the US without charge for 32 months in Abu Ghraib and two secret CIA prisons before being returned to Yemen in 2007. Amnesty International documented his case, corroborates his account with other prisoners, and provides an overview of international and US law. (via Jurist and BBC)

Human Rights First released a new report, Tortured Justice, discussing the problem of coerced evidence. “The introduction of coerced evidence, obtained through the use of official cruelty, into military commission trials at Guantanamo Bay is rapidly contaminating the justice system and jeopardizing the prospects for the successful prosecution of terrorists”

Mother Jones reports the CIA’s extraordinary rendition of Abu Omar from Milan to Egypt. Italy is prosecuting the kidnapping and has indicted 26 American officials. By Peter Bergen, March/April issue). Other articles in the Torture Hits Home issue.