Subject: Reading the Senate Torture Report
Dear Attorney General Lynch:
The America we believe in does not torture. Yet for years, those who ordered and committed torture, enforced disappearance and other human rights violations in the CIA’s secret detention program have enjoyed impunity. That makes a mockery of the U.S. justice system.
Recently, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released to the public a summary of its 6,700 page report on these matters, known as the “Senate torture report.” It contains information about potential violations of federal and international law.
But shockingly, the Justice Department has failed to commit to reading and reviewing the full report. In litigation the Justice Department has even said that its copies of the full report remain unread, in a sealed envelope.1 Presumably, no one at the Justice Department has even begun to read the full report—let alone take any action on any information it contains on human rights violations, including the crimes under international law of torture and enforced disappearance.
That’s why, along with this letter, we are sending you a page, during each of the next ten days, for a total of 10 different pages of the de-classified report summary.
Reading the report is just one step. The Department of Justice must also re-open and expand its investigations into all CIA interrogations, detentions and renditions. It must bring to justice in fair trials all the persons, regardless of their level of office or former level of office, suspected of being involved in the commission of crimes under international law, such as torture and enforced disappearance.
Respectfully,
Dr. Magda Ahmed, Amnesty International, member of Group 128
Amherst MA
1 See Declaration of Peter J. Kadzik, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice, ACLU v. CIA, Case 1:13--cv--01870 (filed January 21, 2015, D.D.C.). We are concerned that the Justice Department and other agencies are not opening the full report due to a cynical and hyper-technical effort to circumvent U.S. open records law (the Freedom of Information Act) and prevent the release of the full report to the public.
From Page 25:
UNCLASSIFIED
TOP SECRET// //NOFORN
As measured by the number of disseminated
intelligence reports. Therefore, zero intelligence reports were disseminated
based on information provided by seven of the 39 detainees known to have been subjected to the CIA's
enhanced interrogation techniques.
- May 30,2005, Memorandum for John
A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from
Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of
Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, re; Application of United States
Obligations Under Article 16 of The Convention Against Torture to Certain
Techniques that May Be Used in the
Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees.
^Transcript of Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence briefing, September 6, 2006.
This episode was not described in CIA cables, but was described in internal emails sent by personnel in the
CIA Office of Medical Services and the CIA Office of General Counsel. A review
of the videotapes of the interrogations of Abu Zubaydahby the CIA Office of
Inspector General (OIG) did not note the incident. A review of the catalog of videotapes, however,
found that recordings of a 21-hourperiod, which included two waterboarding
sessions, were missing.
"Abdelrahman Al-Gasim is a Sudanese human rights lawyer who has been living as a refugee in Uganda since 2012. In 2000, Abdelrahman helped to found the Darfur Bar Association (DBA)—an independent, non-profit association of Darfuri lawyers and jurists that provides pro bono legal services to those in need and advocates for cultural understanding, respect for human rights and peace. Even though it led to his exile, his commitment for human rights in Sudan remains unwavering."
The 'tabling' activities continued as well and always gathered lot of debate and discussion at the Amherst Farmers Market in downtown Amherst. As one visitor commented that it becomes part of the face of Amherst.
Thousands of people have been tortured all around the world. According to a senate report, the C-I-A is ALSO responsible for carrying out torture tactics.
Many people came together at the Amherst Common to speak out against that. They say the Department of Justice isn’t doing enough to end C-I-A torture tactics after the senate report was release. One Amherst resident, who was tortured himself in Sudan back in the 90s said, torturing is NEVER the way. “OK, two important things: torture is wrong, number one, ethically, religiously, politically, anything, it’s wrong. So, information, no, it’s wrong, completely wrong, does not give you any information,” said Mohamed Ibrahim.
The Honorable Loretta Lynch