|
The ACLU has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking documents and images detailing the torture and abuse of detainees. As the result of a lawsuit filed to make the government comply with the request, the U.S. has been forced to release more than 100,000 pages of documents, but it has steadfastly refused to turn over photos and videos in its possession. In September 2005, a U.S. district judge ordered the U.S. to release specific images that have been withheld, but the government appealed the ruling. In late March 2006, the ACLU and the government entered into an agreement whereby the U.S. withdrew its appeal and agreed to identify images from the contested trove that are in the public domain on the Web site Salon.com. The government will also turn over to the ACLU any additional images that have not yet been made public. Once the court signs the agreement, the U.S. will have seven days to comply.
The ACLU and Human Rights First have charged that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees, and filed a complaint in federal court in January 2006 on behalf of nine men subjected to torture and abuse under Secretary Rumsfeld's command. In March 2006, Secretary Rumsfeld filed a long-anticipated motion to dismiss the case asserting that the government is immune from responsibility for acts of torture and abuse committed against civilians detained by the U.S. military at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan. ACLU and Human Rights First attorneys reject this chilling argument.
Two of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit—Thahe Mohammed Sabar and Sherzad Kamal Khalid—recently visited the United States to help our leaders and the public learn from firsthand accounts about the atrocities committed in our name. President Bush has declared to the world "We don't torture." Our clients tell a different story.
|
