Human Rights

CIA Attempts to Block Release of Torture Report
By Chris George | OMB Watch

The Central Intelligence Agency is attempting to prevent the Obama administration from releasing a May 2004 Inspector General's report describing and evaluating the agency's treatment of detainees and interrogation practices, according to today's Washington Post. A redacted version of about 12 paragraphs of text was released in May 2008 as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit. The Obama administration promised a review of the IG report last month after the ACLU appealed the decision in that case.

Tony Blair knew of secret policy on terror interrogations
Letter reveals former PM was aware of guidance to UK agents
By Ian Cobain | Guardian.co.UK

Tony Blair was aware of the ­existence of a secret interrogation policy which ­effectively led to British citizens, and others, being ­tortured during ­counter-terrorism investigations, the Guardian can reveal.

The policy, devised in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, offered ­guidance to MI5 and MI6 officers ­questioning detainees in Afghanistan whom they knew were being mistreated by the US military.

British intelligence officers were given written instructions that they could not "be seen to condone" torture and that they must not "engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners".

Torture timeline: Seven years of abuse allegations
By Ian Cobain | Guardian.co.UK

January 2002: First MI5 interrogators arrive in Afghanistan.

January 2002: MI6 officer conducts first interview with a detainee held by the Americans and alerts London to his mistreatment.

January 2002 MI5 and MI6 officers told not to take part in mistreatment of detainees, or be seen to condone it, but are also told they are not obliged to halt it. Read more.

CIA IG's Torture Report Referred Detainee Murder Cases to DOJ
By Jason Leopold | The Public Record

President Barack Obama’s promise of a more open government faces a new test this week as his administration weighs whether to release details of a May 2004 internal CIA report about the agency’s use of torture, including how at least three detainees were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The secret findings of CIA Inspector General John Helgerson led to eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department for homicide and other misconduct, but those cases languished as Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly intervened to constrain Helgerson’s inquiries.

Heavily redacted portions of Helgerson’s report were released to the American Civil Liberties Union in May 2008 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, but the ACLU appealed the Bush administration’s extensive deletions and the Obama administration agreed to respond to that appeal by Friday. Read more.

Crisis in Iran: A Statement from the Campaign for Peace and Democracy

NEW YORK, June 17, 2009 - Today the New York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy released the statement below in response to the unfolding events in Iran.

Crisis in Iran: A Statement from the Campaign for Peace and Democracy

We are horrified at what the Iranian government is doing in the aftermath of the June 12th elections. In a wave of state terror, security forces have arrested hundreds of oppositionists, reformist officials and ex-officials, and human rights activists. Using clubs, whips, chains, machetes and guns, they have viciously attacked protesters; many have been killed. Media, both domestic and international, have been shut down or restricted, and the authorities have attempted to prevent people from communicating with one another via cell phone, text messaging and Internet networking sites. All protest demonstrations have been banned.

The Audacity of War Crimes

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO DEMAND JUSTICE

Contact the Office of the Attorney General, District of Columbia to demand that our charges be dropped:

• Call Assistant Attorney General, Elizabeth A. Meyers at 202-727-3500 and/or at her Direct Line 202-727-4783 to leave a message.
• Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at 202-514-2001 to demand the appointment of an Independent Special Prosecutor to investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration.

On January 6, 2009, seventy people came to Washington D.C. from all over the United States to participate in the MARCH OF THE DEAD.

Our goal was to stage a peaceful protest displaying the ever-increasing death toll due to the AUDACITY OF WAR CRIMES committed by our government.

Our right to assemble and petition our government for redress of grievances was disrupted when the Capitol Police stopped the reading of the names of the dead from the illegal wars and occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Seventeen of us were arrested.

U.S. has decided fate of half Guantanamo detainees
By By Tabassum Zakaria | Reuters

The U.S. government has decided the fate of about half the detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and no more than a quarter of them will go on trial, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama's order for the prison for foreign terrorism suspects on a naval base in Cuba to be closed by the end of January has met resistance in Congress where some lawmakers are opposing any transfers to the United States.

Last week nine prisoners were transferred to Saudi Arabia, Bermuda, Iraq and Chad. One prisoner, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, accused of involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, was sent to New York and became the first detainee transferred to the United States for trial by civilian court.

"We've gone through about half of the detainees at this point," Holder said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

There are 229 captives still being held at Guantanamo. The camp, opened after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, drew international criticism for holding prisoners indefinitely, many without charge. Read more.

By Dave Lindorff

President Barack Obama, referring to the violent attacks on protesters against the controversial election results in Iran’s just-completed presidential election, this week lectured Iran’s government, saying, “Peaceful dissent should never be subject to violence.”

Referring to the tens and hundreds of thousands of frustrated and angry Iranians who have taken to the streets accusing Iranian authorities of rigging the election in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama said that “the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected."

But there is a certain hypocrisy going on here.

The following is an excerpt of the DOJ's 100 day progress report. A PDF is available.

Protecting Our National Security Consistent With the Rule of Law

On the second day of his Presidency, President Obama issued three Executive Orders and a Presidential Memorandum requiring immediate interagency action to: (1) review and effect the appropriate disposition of individuals currently detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and to close the detention facilities within one year; (2) develop policies for the detention, trial, transfer, release, or other disposition of individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations; study and evaluate current interrogation practices and techniques; and (3) if warranted, recommend additional or different guidance about appropriate policies on these subjects. The Presidential Memorandum also required a review of the detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who was being held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. These Orders and the Memorandum require the Attorney General to coordinate or co-chair each of these interagency activities in conjunction with the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The responsibilities for the Department that are contemplated by these Orders are substantial in scope and of vital importance to its mission.

Human Rights Campaign Statement on the Obama Administration’s Defense of the Defense of Marriage Act In the Smelt v. U.S. Case | Human Rights Campaign | Press Release

“We call on the President to send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued a statement today regarding the Obama Administration’s decision to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a gay couple who married in California. Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer, who were married in California on July 10, 2008, filed a suit in federal court in December challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Administration responded yesterday.

Iranian Filmmaker says Mousavi was told he won: Iranian filmmaker Makhmalbaf reports on phone call from Ministry of Internal Affairs to Mousavi HQ
Makhmalbaf's Interview on Radio Farda | June 13, 2009, 12:00 AM | Translated for The Real News Network

Makhmalbaf: Yesterday, twenty agents in civilian clothing attacked press offices of Mousavi‘s campaign at Gheitarieh. They broke all communication devices and attacked the campaign staff, including Mr. Kharazi and Mr Amirzadeh. They beat up the staff and when the people confronted them, they fired tear gas at the crowd. These were agents in civilian clothing! Then the agents attempted to runaway. About seven of them were captured by the people and were kept at the campaign headquarters. Next the police arrived at the headquarters and demanded to have custody of the seven captives and said "We would punish these lawbreakers ourselves." . "No, we need this to be court documented; we know that after the election, you will lose them", said Mr. Amirzadeh.

[I think here he is referring back to before this recording begins. This has to do with the reports from the early counts at the polls indicating that Mousavi is the winner] The Ministry of Internal Affairs contacts press offices of Mousavi's campaign to prepare a message for declaring victory on Sunday [which is Hazrate Zahra's birthday http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatimah]. Mr Mousavi said that "within the next couple of hours I will declare victory and the celebrations would be on Sunday, which is Hazrate Zahra's birthday and Mother's Day [in Iran]". Afterwards Mr. Khamenei is notified that Mr Mousavi has won the election. At first he says fine, you can communicate this to the people, but the message propagation and broadcasting should be well managed [and controlled].

Behind the scenes the news changed! All the mobile phones belonging to Mousavi's campaign got disconnected. Also from couple of days ago the SMS messaging were disabled for all the mobile phones. It was communicated to the Reformist [Eslah Talab] newspapers [the papers of Mousavi's political party] that they were the winners but were told that they must refrain from announcing the victory. The campaign's communications headquarters was shutdown and the responsibility for campaign's communications was given to me [Makhmalbaf]. This is as much as I know personally. Read more, view video

New UN Report Denounces America's Human Rights Record
by Stephen Lendman

On May 26, the UN Human Rights Council issued a report titled "Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development - Report of the Special Rapporteur (Philip Alston) on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions."

Alston was damning in his criticism regarding "three areas in which significant improvement is necessary if the US Government is to match its actions to its stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law:"

Agent Orange Continues to Poison Vietnam
By Marjorie Cohn | MarjorieCohn.com

Last week, the Bureau of the IADL, meeting in Hanoi, presented President Nguyen Minh Triet of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the final decision of the Tribunal. The judges found the U.S. government and the chemical companies guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ecocide during the illegal U.S. war of aggression in Vietnam. We recommended that the Agent Orange Commission be established in Vietnam to assess the damages suffered by the people and destruction of the environment, and that the U.S. government and the chemical companies provide compensation for the damage and destruction.

Judge Allows Civil Lawsuit Over Claims of Torture
By John Schwartz | NYTimes

The decision issued late Friday by a judge in San Francisco allowing a civil lawsuit to go forward against a former Bush administration official, John C. Yoo, might seem like little more than the removal of a procedural roadblock.

But lawyers for the man suing Mr. Yoo, Jose Padilla, say it provides substantive interpretation of constitutional issues for all detainees and could have a broad impact. Read more.

Rachel Maddow: "Will it raise chain of command issues?"

By Linda Milazzo

As angry uprisings take place in Iran over the questionable "re-election" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As innocents are murdered at every corner of this planet - indeed at EVERY CORNER - when considering those at its furthest coordinates suffering the effects of global warming brought on by human greed -- there appears on this day a message of hope that can make us ALL smile.

Regardless of ideology, the common denominator I would hope true adults will agree on is that ALL children are OURS to protect. The clear right of passage to be an adult is the knowledge that our principal obligation is to protect and serve the world's children; that ALL children are precious and should be accorded their mutual rights to safety and joy.

N.M. Conference of Churches urges torture investigation
Trip to the White House is part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture
By Gwyneth Doland | New Mexico Independent

A Santa Fe woman is among 33 religious leaders meeting in Washington this week to urge President Obama to establish an independent, non-partisan commission to investigate U.S.-sponsored torture of detainees since 9/11.

The Rev. Holly Beaumont, the Santa Fe-based legislative advocate for the New Mexico Conference of Churches, traveled to the capital on Wednesday as part of a delegation from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Rev. Beaumont spoke with NMI from Washington, D.C. Here is an excerpt from the conversation: Read more.

Feds ask court to reconsider CIA renditions suit
By Associated Press | Google News

The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision to allow a Boeing Co. subsidiary to be sued for allegedly flying terrorism suspects to secret prisons overseas to be tortured.

In April, a panel of judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the lawsuit dealing with the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program could proceed. Read more.

Hundreds Rally In Harrisburg For Affordable Health Care
By Dwayne Parker | WFMZ - Click here to view demonstration video.

Hundreds of Pennsylvanians say they refuse to wait for a nationwide solution to the problem of finding affordable health care. Thursday morning, they took their fight to Harrisburg.

It's called the Family and Business Healthcare Security Act. It's a single-payer option to healthcare. But this option is not without its critics. These protesters are demanding that PA take the lead in single- payer Healthcare. The rally, lead by Health Care for All PA, made their voices heard in the Capital Rotunda in Harrisburg. Pedro Rodriguez is the statewide organizer. Read more.

People of Laos suffer bomb legacy
By Jill McGivering | BBC News | Listen to BBC’s Jill McGivering's report on the Robin Young show.

Sop'ore is a small, remote village in Khammouane province. It's a group of wooden stilt-houses in traditional Lao style.

I met Mr Ta on his veranda there, as chickens, dogs and pigs scratched and snuffled below. We sat looking out at the mountains, which were covered with lush tropical rainforest and low morning mist.

The serenity of the scene stood in contrast to Mr Ta's horrific injuries.

Eight years ago, he told me, he was foraging in the forest with his children, looking for food. But they came across a small bomb. When it exploded, he lost both his arms and one of his eyes.

Since then, he explained, life has been very hard.

"I can't look after myself," he said. "I can only eat like a dog. My wife has to feed me and care for me, as well as looking after our children." Read more.

Palau Population, Anecdotally, Less Than Thrilled With Prospect of Uighurs
By Jake Tapper | ABCNews Political Punch

The decision by Johnson Toribiong, president of the obscure Pacific nation of Palau, to take in up to 13 Uighurs -- Muslim Chinese -- currently being held at Guantanamo is meeting some resistance from the general population.

As ABC News' polling director Gary Langer points out, proportional to population, sending 13 Uighurs to Palau is like sending 188,993 Uighurs to the United States. Read more.

Congress on a Path to Transfer Hundreds of Billions in Tax Dollars to the Insurance Industry While Calling it Health Care Reform
Single payer witnesses show the common sense path, but Congress listening to industry donors
By Kevin Zeese | Property Agenda US

And, it will take the people speaking out and getting active to make real health care reform possible. If you don’t want to see another massive transfer of wealth to the insurance industry while Americans continue to lack health care, you need to take action. Tell your representatives that you want a national health plan funded by a single payer system. The insurers are working hard, the American people have to work harder. The time is now. You can take action by clicking here.

Yesterday, as Senator Tom Harkin (D-IO) left the health care hearing room he leaned over to me and said:

“I used to sell insurance. The basic rule is the larger the pool the less expensive the health care. Today we have 1,300 separate pools – separate health care plans – and that is why health care is so expensive; 700 pools would be more efficient and less expensive and one pool would be the least expensive. That’s why single payer is the answer.”

Nothing like common sense.

But, common sense was not on display in the Senate yesterday. Instead, the senate is seeking a path to the goal of universal coverage by protecting the least efficient model – the for-profit insurance industry that through waste, fraud, abuse and bureaucracy eats up 31% the cost of health care.

Chris Dodd (D-CT) who chaired the hearing, standing in for the ailing Ted Kennedy, has received $2.1 million from insurance industry throughout his career, another $547,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, and $467,000 from health care professionals. Dodd opened the hearing stating the stark facts:

Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead
By Stephen Lendman

Following Israel's Operation Cast Lead, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) documented the toll on Gaza's children and published it in May. It did so "in response to the unprecedented number of children who were killed (and injured) by (the Israeli Defense Forces) during the offensive on Gaza." According to international standards, the Convention on the Rights of the Child's (CRC) definition was used to apply to anyone under age 18.

ACLU Files Lawsuit Seeking Disclosure Of Still-Secret Torture Documents | Press Release
Case Marks Launch Of Group's "Accountability For Torture" Initiative

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit seeking the disclosure of still-secret records relating to the torture of prisoners held by the U.S. overseas. The requested documents include legal memos authored by John Yoo and Steven Bradbury, who were lawyers in the Bush administration Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), as well as documents sent by the Bush White House to the CIA. The government has failed to turn over the documents in response to a December 2008 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

"The information already in the public domain makes clear that the torture policies were devised and developed at the highest levels of the Bush administration, but there are still unanswered questions about precisely what the policies permitted, how they were implemented and who specifically signed off on them," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. "This lawsuit is an effort to fill some of the gaps in the narrative."

Today's lawsuit marks the launch of the ACLU's new "Accountability for Torture" initiative, which has four goals: comprehensive disclosure of information relating to the Bush administration's torture policies; the creation of an accurate and comprehensive historical record; the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate issues of criminal responsibility; and recognition and compensation for torture victims.

Restore the Rule of Law

We are finally beginning to learn the full scope of the Bush administration's torture program. Government documents show that hundreds of prisoners were tortured in the custody of the CIA and Department of Defense, some of them killed in the course of interrogations. Justice Department memos show that the torture policies were devised and developed at the highest levels of the Bush administration.

The ACLU is committed to restoring the rule of law. We will fight for the disclosure of the torture files that are still secret. We will advocate for the victims of the Bush administration's unlawful policies. We will press Congress to appoint a select committee that can investigate the roots of the torture program and recommend legislative changes to ensure that the abuses of the last eight years are not repeated. And we will advocate for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to examine issues of criminal responsibility.

We can't sweep the abuses of the last eight years under the rug. Accountability for torture is a legal, political, and moral imperative. Much more to read.

A Saudi resident and Chadian national, El-Gharani was just 14 years old when he was seized by Pakistani forces in a random raid on a mosque in Karachi, but was treated appallingly both by the Pakistanis who seized him, and by the US military. I provided a detailed explanation of the abuse to which he was subjected in an article last year, “Guantánamo’s Forgotten Child,” which I condensed for an article in January, when I explained:

As with all but three of the 22 confirmed juveniles who have been held at Guantánamo, the US authorities never treated him separately from the adult population, even though they are obliged, under the terms of the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (on the involvement of children in armed conflict) to promote “the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are victims of armed conflict.”

Instead, El-Gharani was treated with appalling brutality. After being tortured in Pakistani custody, he was sold to US forces, who flew him to a prison at Kandahar airport, where, he said, one particular soldier “would hold my penis, with scissors, and say he’d cut it off.” His treatment did not improve in Guantánamo. Subjected relentlessly to racist abuse, because of the color of his skin, he was hung from his wrists on numerous occasions, and was also subjected to a regime of “enhanced” techniques to prepare him for interrogation — including prolonged sleep deprivation, prolonged isolation and the use of painful stress positions — that clearly constitute torture. As a result of this and other abuse, including regular beatings by the guard force responsible for quelling even the most minor infractions of the rules, El-Gharani has become deeply depressed, and has tried to commit suicide on several occasions.