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Truth Still Eludes on UK Involvement in Rendition and Torture

There have been repeated claims of UK complicity in the alleged torture of individuals detained abroad. The government’s latest move in the saga does not suggest a desire to get to the bottom of them. In July 2010, the British prime minister, David…
News

Release the Senate Torture Report

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s adoption of a sweeping 6,300-page study detailing the CIA’s post-9/11 detention, rendition, torture and interrogation program. But the public has yet to see one word…
News

US: Investigate Killings in Afghanistan

Evidence of US Complicity in 18 Deaths Demands Thorough Investigation

(Washington, DC) – The United States government should undertake a thorough and impartial investigation into new allegations of US complicity in the killings of 18 men in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said today. An article published on November 6, 2013…
Report

"Between a Drone and Al-Qaeda"

Summary On the evening of August 29, 2012, five men gathered in a grove of date palms behind the local mosque in Khashamir, a village in southeast Yemen. Moments later, US remotely…
News

If Snowden really wants to learn Russian…

Edward Snowden’s Russian lawyer says his client wants to start learning Russian. Now that the American whistleblower has finally left Sheremetyevo airport for “temporary asylum” in Russia, he might find himselfiz ognya da v polymya – out of the frying pan…
News

Italy: Continue Efforts Toward Justice for CIA Abuses

Panama Releases Ex-CIA Figure Wanted for Rendition

(Milan) – Italy should continue its efforts to obtain justice for abuses by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), despite Panama’s decision to free a former CIA Milan station chief wanted by Italy. Media reports indicated that Panamanian…
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: Question FBI Nominee on ‘Torture Memos’

Senate Should Scrutinize James Comey’s Record on Detainee Abuse

(Washington, DC) – United States Senate Judiciary Committee members considering James Comey for the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) should question him on his apparent approval of legal memos authorizing torture, Human Rights…
News

Lithuania: Reopen Investigation Into Secret CIA Prisons

New EU Presidency Should Set Example for Justice

(Brussels) – As Lithuania takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency it should lead by example, meet its legal obligations, and reopen its investigation into its own complicity in CIA secret prisons, US enforced disappearances, and alleged…
News

US: Urgent Need for Surveillance Reforms

Ensure Oversight and Effective Safeguards for Privacy, Free Speech

(New York) – Recent revelations about the scope of US national security surveillance highlight how dramatic increases in private digital communications and government computing power are fueling surveillance practices that impinge on privacy in ways…
News

US: Pledges to End ‘War,’ Close Guantanamo

Obama Should Follow-Up With Action, Adherence to International Law

(Washington, DC) – United States President Barack Obama’s new call to transfer detainees from Guantanamo and wind down the “war” with al-Qaeda could jumpstart a US counterterrorism policy more consistent with US human rights obligations. However, in his…
News

US: Policy Recommendations on Counterterrorism

On May 23, 2013, US President Barack Obama will give a speech at the National Defense University on counterterrorism policy. Human Rights Watch has long reported on US counterterrorism policy, and has recently made a number of recommendations that address…
News

US: Statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on "Targeted Killing"

Testimony of Letta Tayler, Senior Researcher in the Terrorism/Counterterrorism Division

On April 23, 2013, the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights held a hearing entitled “Drone Wars: The Constitutional and Counterterrorism Implications of Targeted Killing”. Letta Tayler,…
News

US: Bipartisan Study Shows Need to Investigate Torture

‘Indisputable’ Evidence Requires Declassification, Official Inquiry

A bipartisan study finding “indisputable” evidence of torture for which the highest United States officials bear responsibility should spur the US government to thoroughly investigate detainee abuse since September 11, 2001, and provide redress to victims…