June, 26 2013, 02:48pm EDT
No Accountability for Military Contractor's Role in Abu Ghraib Torture, Federal Judge Says
District Court Dismisses Torture Lawsuit against U.S. Contractor on International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
WASHINGTON
Today, on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a United States district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of four Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib. Al Shimari v. CACI International Inc. was filed against private U.S.-based contractor CACI Premier Technology, Inc. ("CACI"), which U.S. military investigators concluded had participated in torture and other "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" of detainees at Abu Ghraib. The suit, which brought claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) for torture and war crimes, was the last active case seeking accountability for torture at Abu Ghraib.
In dismissing the torture victims' claims, the district judge did not suggest that the plaintiffs' allegations of torture or a conspiracy involving CACI were unfounded. Rather, the district court narrowly interpreted the "presumption against extraterritorial application" of the ATS set forth in the recent Supreme Court decision, Kiobel v. Shell/Royal Dutch Petroleum, to foreclose claims arising in Iraq, even though CACI is a U.S.-based corporation, it conspired with U.S. soldiers to commit war crimes that were punished in U.S. courts martials, and the torture and war crimes occurred at a time when the United States exercised total jurisdiction and control over Abu Ghraib prison. The Supreme Court held in Kiobel that the presumption could be displaced in cases that "touch and concern" the United States "with sufficient force."
Said Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy, "The district court was incorrect to read Kiobel in such a narrow and technical way, as its ruling effectively created lawless spaces where even U.S.-based entities can commit torture and war crimes with impunity. The ATS and the Kiobel decision cannot be interpreted to provide safe haven in the United States to entities that have engaged in egregious human rights abuses abroad. The announcement of today's decision on the International Day in Support of Torture Victims is particularly disappointing."
At Abu Ghraib, the plaintiffs were subjected to electric shocks, sexual violence, forced nudity, broken bones, and deprivation of oxygen, food, and water. U.S. military investigators concluded that several CACI employees serving as interrogators directed abuse of Abu Ghraib employees in order to "soften" them up for interrogations.
"This is a sad day for our clients to obtain justice in the U.S. and runs contrary to our country's efforts to remedy the horrific wrongs that were committed in the prison of Abu Ghraib. We will keep fighting to ensure that our clients get their day in court against those that tortured them," said attorney Shereef Akeel.
Plaintiffs plan to appeal the district court's decision. Co-counsel in the case are Shereef Akeel of Akeel & Valentine, P.C. in Troy, Michigan, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, and George Brent Mickum IV.
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.
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As Historic Heatwave Grips Europe, Coalition Says 'No to a Climate Law for Polluters'
"Will the European Commission propose a climate law that ends fossil fuel use and reflects the E.U.'s fair share of climate responsibility? Or will it choose political convenience?"
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🔴 OUT NOW📢 69 NGOs call on the EU to deliver a Climate Law that rejects international carbon offsetting & Carbon Dioxide Removals (#CDR), commits to a full fossil fuel phase-out, and reflects Europe’s fair share of climate responsibility!Read the statement👇www.realzeroeurope.org/resources/st...
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— Real Zero Europe (@realzeroeurope.bsky.social) June 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
A draft proposal of the legislation published Monday by Politico revealed that the European Commission will allow E.U. member states to outsource climate efforts to Global South nations staring in 2036, despite opposition from the 27-nation bloc's independent scientific advisory board. The outsourcing will enable the E.U. to fund emissions-reducing projects in developing nations and apply those reductions to Europe's own 2040 target—which is a 90% net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels.
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This heatwave is brutal. Temperatures above 40°C in June across France, Spain, Italy...We still hear from right-wing politicians that “it’s just summer.” It’s not. This is the climate crisis courtesy of the fossil fuels industry. It’s not normal.
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— European Greens (@europeangreens.eu) June 30, 2025 at 7:01 AM
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Morgera pointed to three ways in which states' obligations under international humanitarian laws underpin the need for a fossil fuel phaseout by 2030:
- The survival of states that contributed minimally to climate change is impaired by loss of territory to sea-level rise and/or protracted unsafe climatic conditions;
- People are substantially deprived of their means of subsistence because of the severe deterioration of entire ecosystems due to climate change due to flooding, drought, and extreme heat; and
- The cultural survival of the populations of small island developing states, Indigenous peoples, people of African descent, peasants and small-scale fishers is impaired by loss of territories, protracted unsafe climatic conditions and/or severe ecosystem degradation.
Morgera's report was presented as more than a third of Tuvaluans applied for a visa to move to Australia under a new climate deal between the two countries, as the Pacific island is one of the most vulnerable places on Earth to rising sea levels and severe storms.
Morgera said that fossil fuel industry's impact on the human rights of people across the Global South—who have contributed little to the worsening of the climate emergency—"compels urgent defossilization of our whole economies, as part of a just, effective, and transformative transition."Keep ReadingShow Less
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