U.S. Torture

10/15/2012
Guantánamo Dispatch

At Guantánamo Today: ACLU Asks Judge Not to Censor Torture Testimony

By Hina Shamsi, Director, ACLU National Security Project at 9:53am

I’m in Guantánamo today, expecting to argue the ACLU’s constitutional challenge to the censorship of torture in the military commissions this afternoon or tomorrow. 

The Guantánamo military commissions were created in part to hide the government’s illegal torture program while permitting the use of information obtained through torture. Because of improvements in 2009 in the law governing the commissions, it’s harder (though not impossible) for coerced evidence to be used in the proceedings. But the government still wants to hide from the public what it did to prisoners in CIA and military custody.

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10/03/2012
U.S. Torture

Seeking the Truth About the CIA's Detainee Abuses

By Mitra Ebadolahi, Legal Fellow, ACLU National Security Project at 10:55am

In April 2011, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a narrow yet critically important set of government documents: internal CIA reports detailing the use of unauthorized interrogation techniques at its secret overseas prisons, also known as “black sites” (you can read the request here). Investigative news coverage and earlier FOIA requests had alerted us to the potential existence of many such reports. Most notably, in August 2009 – in connection with a separate ACLU FOIA request – the government had released a partially-redacted version of one report, the Special Review: Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities (September 2001–October 2003).

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09/20/2012
Rendition

Italian Court Upholds Rendition Conviction of CIA Agents

By Allison Frankel, ACLU Human Rights Program at 5:21pm

The U.S. government may have closed without any prosecutions its inquiries into and investigations of CIA involvement in torture, homicide and other gross human rights violations, and convinced courts to dismiss civil accountability suits for such abuses – but across the pond, courts are holding U.S. officials criminally responsible for these very same acts. Yesterday, Italy’s highest court affirmed the convictions of 23 Americans involved in the abduction and rendition to torture of a Muslim cleric, Abu Omar, as part of the U.S. government’s notorious “extraordinary rendition” program. This case marks the first time any court anywhere in the world has held CIA officials responsible for torture and other abuses arising out of the program, which was greatly expanded under President George W. Bush and continues to be endorsed, albeit with assurances that international legal obligations will be respected, under the Obama administration.

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08/02/2012
Military Commissions

Guantánamo Military Judge Grants ACLU’s Request to Argue Against Censorship of 9/11 Defendants’ Testimony

By Hina Shamsi, Director, ACLU National Security Project at 6:18pm

In an order made public today, a military commissions judge at Guantánamo Bay announced that he will hear oral argument on the ACLU’s challenge to censorship of torture at the trial of the 9/11 defendants.

In May, we filed a motion asking the military commission to deny the government’s request to suppress statements by the defendants about their treatment while in U.S. custody, including torture and other abuse.  As we said in our motion,

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07/23/2012
Military Commissions

Reporting from Guantánamo: The five uns

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 4:10pm

In Guantánamo Bay last week, I had an enlightening opportunity to talk with Brigadier General Mark Martins—the Chief Prosecutor of the military commissions—along with a handful of other NGO observers of the commissions. There was no agenda for our meeting, but we quickly launched into a vibrant discussion of the wisdom and legality of the military commissions. 

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07/18/2012
Military Commissions

Reporting From Guantanamo: “Why Not Get It Right the First Time?”

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 5:08pm

At the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay this week, military commission proceedings have resumed in the capital case against Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri, a 47-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia, who is facing a possible death sentence for his alleged involvement in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole over a decade ago.  Apprehended in 2002, Mr. al-Nashiri was held by the CIA for four years in secret before his transfer to military custody.  According to a 2004 CIA Inspector General report, he was waterboarded and threatened during an interrogation with a power drill and handgun.  

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06/27/2012
U.S. Torture

The White House's Blemished Record of Disclosure on Bush-Era Torture

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 10:46am

Of the thousands of now public documents related to the Bush administration's experiment with torture, a particularly remarkable one is a Justice Department memo from 30 May 2005 analyzing whether the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques" violate the Convention Against Torture.

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05/24/2012
Reckoning With Torture

On Memorial Day Weekend, America Reckons with Torture

This weekend, Bill Moyers’ public television show is devoting a full hour to Reckoning With Torture, the innovative film project by director Doug Liman, the ACLU, and PEN American Center. The movie will tell the story of America’s torture program using the government’s own documents. Here’s a preview of the upcoming Moyers & Company episode: http://billmoyers.com/segment/preview-reckoning-with-torture/

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05/07/2012
Guantánamo

The Shame of Guantánamo: A Close-Up View of Injustice

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 4:21pm

As I watched the arraignment Saturday of five accused conspirators in the 9/11 attacks, I was reminded of Yogi Berra. Sadly, it was a case of déjà vu all over again.

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04/12/2012
Military Commissions

Reporting from Guantánamo: Leaving the Constitution on the Mainland

By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 4:15pm

This week I am in Guantánamo Bay observing a hearing in the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri (pronounced al-NAH-shiri), the first death penalty case to be tried by military commission. Mr. al-Nashiri faces charges for his alleged participation in the attack on the destroyer USS Cole over 11 years ago. Apprehended in 2002, he was held by the CIA for four years in secret before his transfer to military custody. U.S. officials brutally tortured Mr. al-Nashiri: he was waterboarded, and threatened with a power drill and handgun next to his head. Sadly, this week's pretrial hearing in his case continues to erode the commission's purported commitment to fairness, transparency, and justice and instead affirms a commitment to Guantánamo's shameful legacy of injustice.

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