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ACLU– British Prime Minister David Cameron today announced an independent
investigation into allegations that U.K. agents were complicit in the torture
of detainees in United States custody, and said the U.K. government would
compensate torture survivors if the allegations were found to be true. U.K.
residents and American Civil Liberties Union clients Binyam Mohamed and Bisher
Al Rawi have long claimed that U.K. officials were aware of their
CIA-orchestrated rendition and torture.
Following Prime Minister Cameron’s announcement, the ACLU called on the Obama
administration to broaden its own investigation into the Bush-era torture
program to include top-level government officials who may have known about and
authorized such abuse. Despite disavowing torture, the current administration
continues to shield Bush administration officials from legal scrutiny or accountability
for their role in the program. An ongoing Justice Department investigation of
the torture program excludes top-level officials.
“An investigation into the role of government personnel in the abuse and
torture of prisoners is exactly what the Obama administration should be
initiating. And while we welcome Prime Minister Cameron’s commitment to
ensuring that torture survivors are acknowledged and compensated, this
announcement also serves as a reminder of how little has been done here in the
United States to reckon with the abuses of the last nine years,” said
Jameel Jaffer, ACLU Deputy Legal Director. “The Obama administration
continues to suppress documents that would allow the public to understand the
full scope of the Bush administration’s torture program. It continues to use
the ‘state secrets’ privilege to extinguish civil litigation by torture
victims. And thus far the only criminal investigation this administration has
initiated is one that appears to be focused on interrogators, not on the senior
officials who authorized torture.”
Mohamed and Al Rawi are plaintiffs in the ACLU’s lawsuit against Boeing
subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan for its role in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition
program, in which prisoners in U.S. custody were forcibly transferred to CIA
“black sites” or prisons in countries known to torture. The United
States government has asserted the “state secrets” privilege in an
attempt to block the case from moving forward. In February, a British court
ordered the U.K. government to turn over seven previously suppressed paragraphs
from an earlier court ruling that summarize British government documents
related to Mohamed’s rendition, detention and torture while under the control
of U.S. authorities.
“Evidence of U.S. torture is widely known throughout the world. Yet, to
date, no survivors of the United States’ rendition and torture program have had
their day in a U.S. court,” said Steven Watt, staff attorney with the ACLU
Human Rights Program. “The Obama administration should not only end its
efforts to prevent accountability for torturers and justice for survivors, but
follow Britain’s lead and broaden the investigation here in this country. It is
time to reaffirm our commitment to human rights and the rule of law.”
More information about the ACLU’s lawsuit against Jeppesen DataPlan is
available online HERE.
