By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – Recently, Amnesty International accused U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration of granting “de facto amnesty” to members of the CIA involved in the detention and torture of militants captured after the September 11, 2001 attacks. A recent Senate Intelligence Committee report found that the CIA had a program in place from 2002 to 2006, which involved torturing captives in secret facilities.

It has been four months since the declassification of the report summary, and the United States has yet to take active steps toward ending the impunity associated with the CIA’s detention program.

The human rights group accused the administration of failing to take active measures in addressing the issues contained in the “advanced interrogation techniques.” Amnesty researcher Naureen Shah has claimed the administration’s failure to address these problems is essentially granting immunity to all those involved from prosecution. Amnesty is urging the Justice Department to “reopen and expand its investigation” into the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation program. In addition, the group demanded that the White House disclose the names, locations and dates of operations of all secret prisons involved in the CIA’s program.

However, in a report to Reuters, Shah said that the Justice Department told the media that it has reviewed the Senate committee report and has found no new evidence of any U.S. criminal laws that were violated. Seven w. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA responded to the Justice Department’s claims, stating, “Unless the U.S. government makes a concerted effort to end the impunity associated with this secret detention program, the United States’ human rights record will remain tarnished.”

The international community has shared Amnesty International’s concerns over the failure of the United States to address the torture report. The United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emerson, has stated that the US government officials involved in the program should be prosecuted. He further stated, “The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the U.S. Government, provides no excuse whatsoever.”

 

For more information, please see the following:

AMNESTY USA – U.S. Inaction Following CIA Torture Report is De Facto Amnesty for Perpetrators – 21 April 2015.
THE GUARDIAN – CIA Report: ‘Torture is a Crime and Those Responsible Must be Brought to Justice‘ – 10 December 2014
REUTERS – Amnesty International Condemns U.S. Failure to Act on Torture Report – 21 April 2015.