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December 2, 2008 10:32:04 PM CST


torture

torture news stories

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WWII Vets Slam US 'Torture' Techniques

Vet says chess, ping-pong were
old grilling tricks

(Newser) - Silent for 60 years, a handful of WWII vets are admitting their old interrogation tricks — and slamming alleged torture techniques used by the US today. Almost two dozen ex-fighters met for a ceremony by the Potomac yesterday, the Washington Post reports, but one refused the award, protesting the Iraq war and the grilling methods used at Guantanamo Bay. More »

More about:  George W. Bush Iraq war CIA torture Nazi veterans World War II interrogation techniques

Bush Reiterates: US Doesn’t 'Torture People'

President denies breaking law in wake of document revelations

(Newser) - Faced with newly disclosed Justice Department memos, President Bush once again denied the US tortures detainees, saying today that interrogation techniques save American lives, comply with “international obligations” and are fully disclosed to “appropriate members” of Congress. He said of detainees, “you bet we are going to question them.” More »

More about:  George W. Bush Senate Department of Justice torture detainee Jay Rockefeller head slapping

Justice Memos Endorse Torture

Officials gave green light for array of painful interrogation techniques

(Newser) - The Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales secretly endorsed the use of torture techniques during interrogation by the CIA, the New York Times reports. A classified 2005 legal memorandum authorized the harshest  techniques ever used by the CIA, the Times says, including a combination of head-slapping, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, freezing, loud noises and other forms of physical pain. More »

Prez Yanks Pick for Top CIA Lawyer

'Enhanced interrogation' support drives Rizzo
out of the running

(Newser) - The White House has dropped its nomination of John Rizzo as the CIA's top counsel after Democrats and human rights groups slammed him for supporting "enhanced interrogation" techniques. The career CIA lawyer sent a letter to President Bush withdrawing his nomination yesterday, Reuters reports. Rizzo retreated because he had little chance of getting the job anyway, said one official. More »

More about:  CIA torture interrogation

Online Book Links Torture Tests to Government

'Torture bible' details studies

(Newser) - A "torture bible" recently unearthed online indicates that the US government sanctioned and funded the torture of test subjects in psychological experiments in the '50s, apparently to perfect interrogation techniques, Boing Boing reports. The studies were commissioned by the government and involve methods "likely to be regarded as highly unethical," says a post by Xeni Jardin. More »

More about:  torture psychology America interrogation government study

In China, Yahoo
Names Names

Lawsuit accuses net giant of complicity in torture, human rights abuses

(Newser) - Yahoo asked a US federal court yesterday to dismiss a human rights lawsuit accusing the company of abetting the Chinese government. Two imprisoned Chinese journalists accuse the Web giant of passing along information about users that led to the arrest, imprisonment, and sometimes torture of writers and dissidents, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. More »

More about:  China lawsuit Yahoo torture human rights ethics

Psychologists Won't Impose Gitmo Ban

Group votes to list interrogation techniques it won't help with

(Newser) - The American Psychological Association has voted not to ban members from assisting with interrogations at Guantanamo and other military prisons, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Instead, the group approved a measure listing specific procedures members won't help with, including sleep deprivation and water-boarding. "If we remove psychologists from these facilities, people are going to die," said an Army psychologist. More »

Shrinks Fault CIA Torture Tactics

Professional group to condemn interrogation techniques

(Newser) - The American Psychological Association, long chummy with the CIA, is set to condemn tactics the spy agency has been using to interrogate terror detainees, writes Salon . Members have in the past worked with the CIA to design techniques: now the group wants to distance itself by formally opposing a long list of tactics they consider torture at the organization's yearly convention this weekend. More »

More about:  CIA torture psychology detainee abuse interrogation sleep deprivation water boarding torture list

(Newser) - Moammar Gadhafi's son burnished his pro-Western image yesterday by admitting that Libya had tortured 5 nurses and a doctor once accused of spreading HIV among children, the AP reports. Seif al-Islam Gadhafi conceded that the "Benghazi six" were electrocuted and threatened after their 1999 imprisonment, but he did not apologize, and even accused one of exaggerating the torture he endured. More »

More about:  torture HIV Libya Moammar Gadhafi Bulgarian nurses Seif al Islam Gadhafi

After Uproar, Britain Reviews Asylum Policy

Iraqi interpreters left for dead may win refugee status

(Newser) - A row over the fate of 91 Iraqi interpreters working for the British military took a new turn today, with the government promising to reexamine its refusal to grant them asylum. The Times of London, which broke the story on Tuesday, now reports that Gordon Brown has ordered a review of its asylum policy towards Iraqi translators, some of whom have faced torture and kidnapping for their alleged collaboration. More »

More about:  Iraq Gordon Brown kidnapping torture British military asylum interpreters Des Browne

Freed Doctor Recounts Libyan Torture

“My wounds are still bleeding,” says Palestinian

(Newser) - In the wake of last week's jubilant homecoming of the Bulgarian nurses released from a Libyan prison, it's their Palestinian cellmate who’s first to go public with his story. Dr. Ashraf al-Hazouz’s joy at release after 8 years is “turning into a hunger for justice,” he says in an interview with the New York Times and a graphically detailed first-person account in der Spiegel.  More »

More about:  torture prison AIDS Libya nurses Bulgarian nurses

Khmer Rouge Jailer First to Be Charged

UN-backed tribunal opens amid doubts senior leaders will be brought to justice

(Newser) - A UN tribunal has charged an ex-Khmer Rouge prison chief with crimes against humanity in the torturing and killing of as many as 17,000 people during the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s. Kang Kek Ieu, known as Duch, ordered inmates executed at the "killing fields" near Phnom Penh, the BBC reports. He is one of five suspects the tribunal plans to investigate. More »

More about:  torture genocide Cambodia crimes against humanity Khmer Rouge Pol Pot Ta Mok Duch

Gitmo Prisoner Fights His
Own Release

Algerian prefers detention to torture as terrorist—or by terrorists—at home

(Newser) - A detainee at Guantanamo Bay is doing everything he can in court—to stay in prison. Algerian Ahmed Belbacha, 38, is contesting his imminent release from the notorious detention camp because he fears he'll be tortured by Algerian security agents as a  suspected terrorist—or killed by Islamic terrorists for being a former state worker, reports the Times . More »

More about:  terrorism Guantanamo Bay torture Washington DC <