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Gul Rahman, who died in 2002 while being held at a secret CIA facility known as the 'Salt Pit' in Afghanistan (photo: AP)
'Continuing Impunity': No Charges for CIA in Detainee Torture, Deaths
Years-long Justice Dept. investigation ends without accountability
Aug 31, 2012
The CIA will face no charges over the torture and death of detainees while in custody, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday as it ended a criminal investigation begun by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham in 2008. Rights groups have called the decision "nothing short of a scandal."
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, "Based on the fully developed factual record concerning the two deaths, the Department has declined prosecution because the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."
Democracy Now! summarizes the part of the investigation begun in June of 2011 into the deaths of two detainees: "The Justice Department had been probing the deaths of two men: one in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. Gul Rahman died in 2002 while being held at a secret CIA facility known as the 'Salt Pit' in Afghanistan. He had been shackled to a concrete wall in near-freezing temperatures. Manadel al-Jamadi died in 2003 while in CIA custody at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison. His corpse was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic."
The ACLU slammed the decision.
"That the Justice Department will hold no one accountable for the killing of prisoners in CIA custody is nothing short of a scandal," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. "The Justice Department has declined to bring charges against the officials who authorized torture, the lawyers who sought to legitimate it, and the interrogators who used it. It has successfully shut down every legal suit meant to hold officials civilly liable.
"Continuing impunity threatens to undermine the universally recognized prohibition on torture and other abusive treatment and sends the dangerous signal to government officials that there will be no consequences for their use of torture and other cruelty. Today's decision not to file charges against individuals who tortured prisoners to death is yet another entry in what is already a shameful record."
The Center for Constitutional Rights also criticized the decision and noted the importance of independent investigations.
"Once again, the United States has shown it is committed to absolving itself of any responsibility for its crimes over the past decade. Today's announcement belies U.S. claims that it can be trusted to hold accountable Americans who have perpetrated torture and other human rights abuses, and underscores the need for independent investigations elsewhere, such as the investigation underway in Spain, to continue. Impunity does not always cross borders," the group stated.
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The CIA will face no charges over the torture and death of detainees while in custody, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday as it ended a criminal investigation begun by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham in 2008. Rights groups have called the decision "nothing short of a scandal."
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, "Based on the fully developed factual record concerning the two deaths, the Department has declined prosecution because the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."
Democracy Now! summarizes the part of the investigation begun in June of 2011 into the deaths of two detainees: "The Justice Department had been probing the deaths of two men: one in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. Gul Rahman died in 2002 while being held at a secret CIA facility known as the 'Salt Pit' in Afghanistan. He had been shackled to a concrete wall in near-freezing temperatures. Manadel al-Jamadi died in 2003 while in CIA custody at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison. His corpse was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic."
The ACLU slammed the decision.
"That the Justice Department will hold no one accountable for the killing of prisoners in CIA custody is nothing short of a scandal," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. "The Justice Department has declined to bring charges against the officials who authorized torture, the lawyers who sought to legitimate it, and the interrogators who used it. It has successfully shut down every legal suit meant to hold officials civilly liable.
"Continuing impunity threatens to undermine the universally recognized prohibition on torture and other abusive treatment and sends the dangerous signal to government officials that there will be no consequences for their use of torture and other cruelty. Today's decision not to file charges against individuals who tortured prisoners to death is yet another entry in what is already a shameful record."
The Center for Constitutional Rights also criticized the decision and noted the importance of independent investigations.
"Once again, the United States has shown it is committed to absolving itself of any responsibility for its crimes over the past decade. Today's announcement belies U.S. claims that it can be trusted to hold accountable Americans who have perpetrated torture and other human rights abuses, and underscores the need for independent investigations elsewhere, such as the investigation underway in Spain, to continue. Impunity does not always cross borders," the group stated.
The CIA will face no charges over the torture and death of detainees while in custody, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday as it ended a criminal investigation begun by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham in 2008. Rights groups have called the decision "nothing short of a scandal."
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, "Based on the fully developed factual record concerning the two deaths, the Department has declined prosecution because the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."
Democracy Now! summarizes the part of the investigation begun in June of 2011 into the deaths of two detainees: "The Justice Department had been probing the deaths of two men: one in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. Gul Rahman died in 2002 while being held at a secret CIA facility known as the 'Salt Pit' in Afghanistan. He had been shackled to a concrete wall in near-freezing temperatures. Manadel al-Jamadi died in 2003 while in CIA custody at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison. His corpse was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic."
The ACLU slammed the decision.
"That the Justice Department will hold no one accountable for the killing of prisoners in CIA custody is nothing short of a scandal," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. "The Justice Department has declined to bring charges against the officials who authorized torture, the lawyers who sought to legitimate it, and the interrogators who used it. It has successfully shut down every legal suit meant to hold officials civilly liable.
"Continuing impunity threatens to undermine the universally recognized prohibition on torture and other abusive treatment and sends the dangerous signal to government officials that there will be no consequences for their use of torture and other cruelty. Today's decision not to file charges against individuals who tortured prisoners to death is yet another entry in what is already a shameful record."
The Center for Constitutional Rights also criticized the decision and noted the importance of independent investigations.
"Once again, the United States has shown it is committed to absolving itself of any responsibility for its crimes over the past decade. Today's announcement belies U.S. claims that it can be trusted to hold accountable Americans who have perpetrated torture and other human rights abuses, and underscores the need for independent investigations elsewhere, such as the investigation underway in Spain, to continue. Impunity does not always cross borders," the group stated.
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