Leaked Contents Of CIA Torture Report Raise Serious Concerns About Interrogation Methods

ACLU Calls On Government To Release Report With Minimal Redactions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – Widely leaked portions of the CIA’s Inspector General (IG) report on the legality and effectiveness of the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” program indicate CIA agents committed serious abuses that were previously unknown. According to the reports, agents committed mock executions and threatened to harm at least one detainee, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, with a gun and a power drill if he did not cooperate with the interrogation. Al-Nashiri is represented by military attorneys assisted by the John Adams Project, a joint effort by the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to provide support for the under resourced military defense counsel in the Guantánamo military commissions.

The government is required to turn over the IG report on Monday in connection with a long-running ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking documents related to the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. The CIA is also facing an August 31 deadline to turn over dozens of additional documents related to the Inspector General’s investigation and the CIA’s torture program in general.

The following can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:

“Leaked portions of the CIA Inspector General’s report offer more proof that government officials committed serious crimes while interrogating prisoners. So-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ like mock executions and threatening prisoners with guns and power drills are not only reprehensible but illegal. Portions of the report that have been leaked shed light on the scope of the CIA’s torture program and raise serious questions about what details are still being withheld. Releasing the report with minimal redactions is essential to knowing what crimes were committed and who was involved. The American public has a right to know the full truth about the torture that was committed in its name.”

More information about the ACLU’s FOIA litigation is available online at: www.aclu.org/accountability