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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Jen Nessel, CCR, 212 614 6449, jnessel@ccrjustice.org

Veerle Opgenhaffen, NYU CHRGJ, 212 992 8186, opgenhaffen@exchange.law.nyu.edu
Sharon Singh, AIUSA, 202 544 0200 x 289, ssingh@aiusa.org

Amnesty, CCR and NYU Receive Docs Cheney Wanted Declassified to Justify Torture

The
attached documents were released today through FOIA litigation by
Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University
School of Law seeking disclosure of information concerning
"disappeared" detainees, including "ghost" and unregistered prisoners.
The original FOIA requests were filed with several U.S. government
agencies including the Departments of Justice and Defense and the
Central Intelligence Agency.

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON

The
attached documents were released today through FOIA litigation by
Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University
School of Law seeking disclosure of information concerning
"disappeared" detainees, including "ghost" and unregistered prisoners.
The original FOIA requests were filed with several U.S. government
agencies including the Departments of Justice and Defense and the
Central Intelligence Agency.

Said Center for Constitutional Rights Attorney Gitanjali S. Gutierrez,
"These are the documents Dick Cheney was so excited to see
declassified, but they don't make the case for torture, they only show
that the CIA is able to tailor documents to justify its actions after
the fact. The descent into torture has made the world a darker and more
dangerous place for everyone."

Said Tom Parker, Amnesty
International USA Policy Director for (counter) terrorism and human
rights, "Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Vice President Cheney's track
record, the two CIA memos released today are hardly the slam dunk we
had been led to expect. There is little or no supporting evidence in
either memo to give substance to the specific claims about impending
attacks made by Khaled Shaik Mohammed in highly coercive circumstances."

These documents are available here.

  • "Khalid Shaykh Muhammad: Preeminent Source On Al-Qa'ida" July 13, 2004,
    "Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against Al-Qa'ida" June 3, 2005

AIUSA, CCR, and NYU CHRJG filed FOIA requests with several U.S.
government agencies, including the CIA, DOD, DOS, DOJ, and DHS
beginning in 2004.

To see the prior filings and the documents previously released through this litigation, click here.

For more information or copies of legal filings in the case and released documents, please contact jnessel@ccrjustice.org, opgenhaffen@juris.law.nyu.edu, or ssingh@aiusa.org,.

For more information about the organizations involved, please see their websites: www.ccrjustice.org, www.chrgj.org and www.amnestyusa.org.

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. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

(212) 614-6464