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US: Ex-Detainees Describe Unreported CIA Torture

Electric Chair Threats, Baton Beatings, Various Water Tortures

(New York) – Two Tunisians formerly held in secret United States Central Intelligence Agency custody have described previously unreported methods of torture that shed new light on the earliest days of the CIA program, Human Rights Watch…
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US: CIA Torture Revelations

Newly Released Documents Show Need for Accountability

The recent release of documents related to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation program provide excruciating new details about CIA torture, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 16, 2016, Human Rights Watch…
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) (L) discusses a newly released Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's anti-terrorism tactics.
News

Letter to President Obama re: CIA torture

On June 16th, 2016, Human Rights Watch sent this letter to President Barack Obama urging him to take action before the end of the presidential term to account for the grave abuses committed as part of the Central Intelligence Agency's detention and…
News

Call It What You Will, Torture Is Wrong

The Republican candidate for president of the United States speaks and writes approvingly of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques.” He is referring to a program run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that subjected people the US detained…
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…
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Dispatches: Obama in Argentina on 40th Anniversary of the 'Dirty War'

On March 24, United States President Barack Obama finishes a two-day visit to Argentina. The visit  coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Argentine military coup, which ushered in an era of brutal attacks on people perceived as dissidents, including…
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Submission to the United Nations Committee against Torture

Follow-up Assessment Report

The below shadow report was submitted to the United Nations' Committee against Torture by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union on March 1, 2016. Introduction  This submission assesses the response of the United…
News

Dispatches: Playing Politics With Torture in the US

Several of the United States presidential candidates have made statements endorsing the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” and yesterday, Donald Trump put his support in writing. There are many things troubling about…
Republican U.S. presidential candidates (L-R) Governor John Kasich, former Governor Jeb Bush, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, businessman Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson arrive onstage before the start of the Republican U.S. presidential candi
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Why Germany Can and Should Open an Investigation into US Torture

In 2004, four Iraqis filed a criminal complaint with the German federal prosecutor against senior United States officials alleging torture by US armed forces in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The US government strongly protested and warned that the complaint…
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News

Delusion of justice on CIA torture

It’s been a year since the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a summary of a still classified 6,700-word report, revealed new information about the brutality and depravity of the CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”: “rectal feedings”…
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Interview: Torture and the CIA

It is now widely acknowledged that after the 9/11 attacks in the US, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began a global detention and interrogation program through which it tortured and abused prisoners. Yet the US government has failed to hold…
Illustration of the scales of justice replaced by two people shackled by their wrists and dangling in the air.
News

US: CIA Torture is Unfinished Business

Year After Senate Report, Still No Criminal Inquiry, Redress Provided

(Washington, DC) – Obama administration claims that legal obstacles prevent criminal investigations into torture by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are unpersuasive, and risk leaving a legacy of torture as a policy option, Human Rights Watch said in…
Illustration of the scales of justice replaced by two people shackled by their wrists and dangling in the air.
Report

No More Excuses

Summary It is now well established that following the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated a global, state-sanctioned program in which it abducted scores of people…
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UN Report: Protect Public Disclosures of Wrongdoing

(October 22, 2015) – Governments and international institutions should do more to protect whistleblowers and confidential sources by adopting the recommendations in a new United Nations expert report, Human Rights Watch said today. David Kaye, the UN’s…
News

The CIA’s Grotesque Secret

How it’s partnering with human rights abusers — and sparking blowback

In a letter to three U.S. senators that recently came to light, CIA director John Brennan outlined how his intelligence agency deals with abusive partners, referring – it would appear – primarily to foreign security forces. But even…