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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLandmark Ruling Will Finally Allow Victims to Hold CIA 'Torturers to Account'
ACLU cheers 'historic win in the fight to hold the people responsible for torture accountable for their despicable and unlawful actions.'
by
Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/22/landmark-ruling-will-finally-allow-victims-hold-cia-torturers-account
In a landmark victory for torture victims, U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush ruled on Friday that a lawsuit against two psychologist CIA contractors who helped design the agency's brutal interrogation program may move forward.
It is the first such case to proceed since before the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
By rejecting a motion to dismiss the civil case, Quackenbush gives the plaintiffs—Tanzanian Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Libyan Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and the family of Afghani Gul Rahman—a chance "to call their torturers to account in court for the first time," said ACLU staff attorney Dror Ladin, who argued in court on Friday.
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Salim, Soud, and Rahman are just three of 119 victims and survivors of the CIA program named in the Senate torture report, the ACLU claims. Rahman "froze to death while detained at a CIA black site," Rudaw reports. His family is pursuing the case on his behalf.
The CIA-contracted psychologists are James Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen, who are charged under the Alien Tort Statute for "their commission of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; non-consensual human experimentation; and war crimes," all of which violate international law.
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It's about fucking time. Hope they work their way up the chain of command.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/22/landmark-ruling-will-finally-allow-victims-hold-cia-torturers-account
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JEB
(4,748 posts)<snip>
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of Suleiman Abdullah Salim, a Tanzanian fisherman; Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, a Libyan who was living in exile from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime; and Gul Rahman, an Afghan refugee who died of hypothermia while undergoing so-called “enhanced interrogation”.
Although they were held for years and subjected to what their lawsuit describes as “war crimes”, the three men were never accused of being members of al-Qaida. They were never charged with any crimes. They were left with serious psychological and physical injuries but have received no compensation from the US government.
JEB
(4,748 posts)When Gul Rahman was taken to the "salt pit," a then-secret CIA prison in Afghanistan, he was given a psychological evaluation by CIA contractor Bruce Jessen.
Jessen wanted "to determine which CIA enhanced interrogation techniques should be used on him," a Senate intelligence panel report later concluded.
Over the next two weeks, the elderly Afghan farmer was forced to stay awake, subjected to total darkness and loud noises, was badly beaten and was dragged naked and hooded over dirt floors.
On Nov. 20, 2002, guards found him dead from hypothermia, dehydration, immobility and lack of food. The CIA would later determine that Rahman's detention was a case of mistaken identity.
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Lots more at the link.
