Torture Watch: January 2014

Summary: Reports and analyses of so-called 'interrogation' techniques and their impact on society

Tortured Bahraini photographer freed, victory for campaigners

Reporters Without Borders is relieved by yesterday’s announced release of Ahmed Al-Fardan, a photojournalist who had been held arbitrarily in deplorable conditions since 26 December. He is nonetheless still facing prosecution on a charge of “trying to participate in an illegal demonstration”: here.

'Tortured' Britons Cannot Sue Saudi Arabia

European court rules that alleged torture in Riyadh jails did not breach Convention on Human Rights.

Ex-CIA lawyer says Bush not told at first about waterboarding

John Rizzo disputes former President George W. Bush's claim that the CIA sought his permission to use waterboarding and other techniques on Al Qaeda suspects.

CIA Lawyer: Waterboarding Wasn't Torture Then, And Isn't Torture Now

In the years following Sept. 11, many Americans heard the term waterboarding for the first time — a technique aimed to simulate the act of drowning. Waterboarding was at the center of the debate about what the CIA called "enhanced interrogation techniques" — and what critics called "torture."

CIA Torture Whistleblower to Resume Letters from Prison

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is serving a thirty-month jail sentence in the federal correctional institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania, has resumed writing letters from prison after the Bureau of Prisons failed to give him nine months in a halfway house to finish out his sentence.

The Case of John Kiriakou

To date, only one person has been jailed in connection to the US torture program. One man has been put behind bars for the part that the United States has played in torturing prisoners of war around the globe. On January 25th, 2013, John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He reported to a Federal correction facility in Loretto, Pennsylvania in late February, 2013. Kiriakou was the only person jailed in connection to the US torture program, but ironically, John has never tortured anyone. His crime: he revealed classified information to a reporter confirming the use of torture as an official US government policy, specifically, the CIA use of waterboarding in interrogations.

Secret Reports Reveal All. The “Efficacy” of CIA Torture, Saudi Involvment in 9/11

Senate Intelligence Committee must make public its report on CIA torture

Shortly after the Abu Ghraib photographs became public, Secretary of State Colin Powell described telling foreign audiences, "Watch America. Watch how we deal with this. Watch how America will do the right thing. Watch what a nation of values and character, a nation that believes in justice, does to right this kind of wrong." Powell assured them that "they will see a free press and an independent Congress at work," that there would be "multiple investigations to get to the facts," and that "the world will see that we are still a nation with a moral code that defines our national character."

Snowden Controversy Highlights Risk to Obama’s Legacy on Torture

On his second day in office, President Obama signed an executive order banning the use of torture in interrogation, and has consistently spoken out against torture. The president has adopted a policy of “looking forward, not backward,” but several members of the Bush administration and Bush-era CIA have looked backward in memoirs (such as CIA counsel John Rizzo’s forthcoming “Company Man”) and asserted that torture “worked.” Whenever the topic resurfaces, as it did with the release of “Zero Dark Thirty,” they jump into the spotlight to defend torture.

Former Top CIA Lawyer John Rizzo Hails Agency’s ‘Special Relationship’ with Hollywood Figures

Ex-CIA lawyer Rizzo details interrogation techniques

Talking to Gordon Corera on Newsnight, he also said capturing and interrogating terrorists was a better method than killing people through drone strikes.

John Rizzo, who retired in 2009, was the CIA's chief legal officer for seven years.

Book review: Shedding light on CIA decision to use torture

There is a moment in John Rizzo’s new memoir when the longtime CIA lawyer has the chance to change history. It is March 2002, and Rizzo has just been briefed on the agency’s proposals for interrogating suspected terrorists.

Russia sees no progress in probe on secret CIA prisons in East Europe

The Russian foreign ministry has said the investigation on the so-called CIA “black sites” in Poland and Lithuania has lost its steam.

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