torture

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Afghanistan Routinely Tortures Prisoners: UN

'Even stones confess here,' one guard said; Kabul promises reform

(Newser) - A UN investigation has uncovered “a compelling pattern … of systemic torture and ill-treatment” in Afghan prisons, with prisoners reporting being beaten and shocked with electrical cables, hung by their hands, and having their genitals twisted until they passed out, the New York Times reports. Nearly half of all...

USS Cole Terrorist Faces Capital Charges Again

Original charges were dropped because suspect was tortured

(Newser) - One of the "high-value" detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with planning the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, reports the LA Times . Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, faces the death penalty if convicted...

I Guess Torture Is Legal Now
 I Guess Torture Is Legal Now 
OPINION
Aug 31, 2011 2:48 PM CDT

I Guess Torture Is Legal Now

Dick Cheney makes a farce of our 'rule of law': Dahlia Lithwick

(Newser) - With his memoir, and accompanying media blitz, Dick Cheney is trying to provoke us into once again discussing the merits of torture, a topic “about as compelling as a debate about the efficacy of slavery or Jim Crow laws,” writes Dahlia Lithwick of Slate . Almost everyone agrees torture...

Kids Among 88 Tortured and Killed in Syrian Prisons
Kids Among 88 Tortured and Killed in Syrian Prisons
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Aug 31, 2011 10:00 AM CDT

Kids Among 88 Tortured and Killed in Syrian Prisons

Along with 78 others

(Newser) - At least 88 people have been tortured and killed in Syrian detention centers over the past five months, including 10 children, according to a new report from Amnesty International. Victims were burned, beaten, and electrocuted, among other abuses, the report alleges. “These deaths behind bars are reaching massive proportions,...

Judge Lets Army Vet Sue Rumsfeld Over Detention

American contractor says defense sec approved his detention, torture in Iraq

(Newser) - An Army vet who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the US military in Iraq can sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally for damages, a judge ruled yesterday. The veteran, a private contractor who worked as a Marine translator in the volatile Anbar province, says he was...

Australia Freezes Ex-Gitmo Inmate's Assets

Prosecutors say royalties from book on Guantanamo violate law

(Newser) - An Australian man who was captured fighting with Taliban forces in Afghanistan and spent five years in Guantanamo Bay prison , where he says he was tortured, has had a family trust frozen by the Australian Supreme Court, reports ABC News in Australia. The trust contains money David Hicks earned from...

Infamous Iraqi Prison Still Open: Red Cross

Critics blame Maliki, who controls the elite units running the prison

(Newser) - A notorious Baghdad prison run by security forces controlled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continues to operate months after it was supposed to have shut down amid allegations of torture, says the Red Cross, which is demanding access to prisoners. Though the government denies the allegation, the situation at Camp...

Prosecute Bush, Cronies: Human Rights Watch

Group wants torture allegations investigated

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch wants George W. Bush and his top officials prosecuted for war crimes and criminal conspiracy, the Guardian reports. In a new report, the US group calls for foreign governments to move forward with the prosecution if the Obama administration does not investigate. In addition to allegations of...

US to Investigate Deaths of Two Detainees

Holder orders pair of inquiries but drops nearly 100 others

(Newser) - The is-it-torture debate is probably going to rev up again: The Justice Department says it will launch criminal inquiries into the deaths of two detainees in US custody in 2002 and 2003, reports the Washington Post . Eric Holder gave the green light on the recommendation of federal prosecutor John Durham,...

Grand Jury Probes CIA in Abu Ghraib's 'Iceman' Killing

Quiet proceedings investigate 'war crimes,' 'torture'

(Newser) - A secret federal grand jury is now hearing witnesses in the decade-old case of the “Iceman,” an Abu Ghraib prisoner who died on the CIA’s watch. It’s just one of several cases in the jury’s “investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving...

Syria to Investigate Boy's Brutal Execution

Footage has galvanized protesters, provoked international outcry

(Newser) - A wave of outrage both at home and abroad has forced Syria into investigating the torture and execution of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib. Footage of his brutalized corpse was posted online last week, sending protesters to the streets with a renewed ferocity, and drawing rebukes from the likes of Hillary Clinton....

Syrian Forces Torturing, Killing Kids: Opposition

More than 25 kids and teens among the more than 1,000 dead

(Newser) - Syrian opposition groups say more than 25 children and teenagers have been killed in the government's crackdown in Syria—some of them after "severe torture." The Local Coordination Committees, a group that helps to organize protests, put out a statement identifying kids aged 5 to 17 who'...

Rick Santorum: McCain Doesn't 'Get' Torture

Former POW's spokesman gets snarky in response

(Newser) - Rick Santorum raised more than a few eyebrows yesterday when he said that John McCain “doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works.” Santorum was taking issue with McCain’s assertion , backed by a letter from Leon Panetta, that information gained under torture did not lead to Osama bin...

John McCain: Torture Didn't Lead Us to Bin Laden
 Torture Didn't 
 Lead Us to 
 bin Laden 
john mccain
May 12, 2011 1:00 PM CDT

Torture Didn't Lead Us to bin Laden

The practice is Un-American and must stop: John McCain

(Newser) - Some have used the death of Osama bin Laden as evidence to support the use of torture—but claims that such techniques led us to the al-Qaeda leader are simply not true, writes John McCain in the Washington Post . The senator points to former attorney general Michael Mukasey’s assertion...

Syria Torturing Activists for Facebook Passwords

Activists say social media no longer safe

(Newser) - Syrian activists say it’s not safe to use their Facebook or Twitter networks anymore—because they’ve been infiltrated by the Assad regime. “Some of our people who have been taken have been broken under the most severe torture, and they have revealed passwords and names,” one...

CIA Interrogators Deserve Thanks, Not Punishment

Waterboarding helped lead us to bin Laden: Linda Chavez

(Newser) - Waterboarding played a role in leading us to Osama bin Laden, writes Linda Chavez. So why is the Obama administration still pursuing its investigation of CIA interrogators, she wonders at the Washington Examiner . These agents deserve thanks, not punishment. The Obama administration must know it doesn't make sense: "...

Torture 'Apologists' Are Wrong: It's Never Justified, Even if it Led US to Osama bin Laden (Op-Ed)
Torture 'Apologists' Are Wrong: It's Never Justified
counterpoint
May 6, 2011 11:55 AM CDT

Torture 'Apologists' Are Wrong: It's Never Justified

Let's not embrace the values of Osama bin Laden: op-ed essay

(Newser) - The "apologists" crowing that we never would have caught Osama bin Laden without waterboarding and other forms of torture are sadly off base, write Charles and Gregory Fried in the Washington Post . For starters, we can't know if they're right. But even if they are, the larger...

Torture Played ‘Small Role’ in bin Laden Hunt

Some who were tortured misled interrogators

(Newser) - Some conservatives are arguing that Osama bin Laden's death justifies Bush-era harsh interrogation techniques , but after looking at the trail of evidence, the New York Times concludes that torture played “a small role at most” in finding bin Laden’s courier. The detainee who provided the most crucial...

Gitmo Doctors Covered Up Torture: Study

Doctors didn't inquire, despite evidence of physical, mental abuse

(Newser) - The Defense Department doctors and psychologists who tended to Guantanamo Bay detainees were complicit in covering up their torture, according to a new study released yesterday. Medical records and legal files reveal that the doctors saw evidence of bone fractures, contusions, and lacerations; heard stories of rape; and saw signs...

In Libya, Photos Bear Witness to Gadhafi's Torture

Meanwhile, ICC claims Libya ordered killing of civilians

(Newser) - In pictures uncovered by journalists in Zawiyah, the dead prisoners of Moammar Gadhafi's forces are shown naked or clad only in underwear, hands bound, backs scarred. Other pictures depict ominous scenes: Puddles of blood, a saw. The pictures were discovered in a burned-out police station, where one worker pointed to...

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