Search Results

Sort by
News

North Carolina Citizens’ Commission Examines US Torture

Holds Hearings on State’s Role in CIA Secret Renditions Program

There’s been no justice for victims of the US Central Intelligence Agency’s rendition, torture, and secret detention program created after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. But a unique citizen-led initiative in North…
The lobby of the CIA Headquarters Building in Langley, Virginia, U.S. on August 14, 2008.
News

US Senate Fails to Confront Torture

Bradbury Confirmation Disregards Key Role in Detainee Abuse

The United States Senate’s reluctance to address past US use of torture was on shocking display during the confirmation of an official who had provided legal cover for so-called, “enhanced interrogation techniques,” in the years after…
us cover
News

US Ignores Allies’ Torture in Yemen

Evidence of US Complicity in Abuses by UAE and Yemeni Forces

The Associated Press reported today that US forces were involved in the interrogation of detainees held in secret prisons in Yemen where torture is widespread. The centers are run by United Arab Emirati (UAE) and UAE-backed Yemeni…
An Emirati and South Yemen flag painted in Yemen’s port city of Aden. By 2017, Emirati and South Yemen flags flew in many parts of Aden, which President Hadi declared the temporary capital of Yemen after Houthi-Saleh forces took over Sanaa in 2014.
News

US Senators Press Supreme Court Nominee on Torture

Gorsuch’s Record, Views Raise Concerns About His Opposition to ‘Enhanced Interrogation’

US Senator Dianne Feinstein and others have expressed important reservations over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s record and views on torture during the confirmation process. I cannot support the nomination of Judge Gorsuch for the…
U.S. Supreme Court nominee judge Neil Gorsuch speaks at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017.
News

Dispatches: An Opening for Justice for CIA Torture

The United States government just opened the door a crack to justice for the torture of scores of men in CIA custody under its infamous detention and interrogation program. For the first time, the Justice Department didn’t effectively block a lawsuit by…
us cover
News

Dispatches: Britain Backtracks on Justice for Yemen

The British government’s concern for the safety and well-being of the Yemeni people – already extremely feeble – reached a new low this week. In Geneva, Britain failed to actively promote a Dutch resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that…
Damaged buildings in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, May 8, 2015.
News

Dispatches: “Torture,” No Longer A Four-Letter Word?

Is some sense of sanity finally slipping into the torture debate in the US? Yesterday, after years of criticism for failing to call it by its name, the New York Times finally decided it would use the word “torture” to describe when US interrogators use…
News

Dispatches: Who Owns Your Thoughts at Guantanamo?

Do your thoughts belong to you? Not if you’re one of the five 9/11 defendants facing charges at Guantanamo. But that may have changed with a new ruling at a secret hearing on Monday. Lawyers are still trying to puzzle it out. Of the many…
News

Dispatches: Blowing a Tire at Guantanamo

On our way to a barbecue dinner where the ceiling fell in, we blew a tire. The two events here at Guantanamo Bay were not related, nor were they exactly big news in a week when a fresh set of hearings is getting underway for the five men…
News

Dispatches: Italy’s Lonely Steps Toward Justice for CIA Abuses

Back in 2009 when Italy convicted a number of CIA officials in absentia for abducting a cleric and sending him off to Egypt where he was severely tortured, no one thought that the CIA officials would ever face the music. That may change with the arrest in…
News

US Attorney General Opens Torture Investigation

On August 24, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a federal prosecutor to review cases of post-9/11 detainee abuse and determine whether or not a criminal investigation is warranted.  Human Rights Watch has collected information on some 330 cases…
News

UK: European Court Rebuke Over Indefinite Detention

Revise Policies to Ensure Fair Hearing

(London) - The ruling today by the European Court of Human Rights on the United Kingdom's detention policy for foreign terrorism suspects confirms that indefinite detention violates basic rights, Human Rights Watch said. The court ruled that the…
News

A Trial Sends a Message Around the World

On October 30, 2008, justice for victims of atrocities committed during the course of Liberia's long and brutal years of armed conflict took a major step forward in a very unlikely location: Miami, Florida. On that afternoon, an American jury issued its…
News

Majority of US Senators Vote to Restore Habeas Corpus

On September 19, a majority of US senators voted to approve an amendment that would restore the right to habeas corpus, one of the oldest and most important checks on the arbitrary exercise of government power. Last year’s Military Commissions Act…
News

Council of Europe Confirms Secret CIA Prisons

On June 8, the Council of Europe released a report confirming allegations first made by Human Rights Watch in 2005 that the CIA used locations in Poland and Romania for the secret detention of terror suspects. During several years of research, we combed…
News

US/Liberia: Chuckie Taylor Indicted for Torture

On December 6 the US Department of Justice took a major step in bringing its first-ever criminal charges for torture committed outside the United States against Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr. The son of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor and a…

Refine Search

Filter by Country
Filter by Topic
Filter by Type
Filter by News Category