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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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October 16th,
2009 - US Judge Upholds Censoring CIA Prisoner Testimony |
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US Judge Upholds Censoring
CIA Prisoner Testimony From Agence France Presse October 16, 2009 Washington - A federal court
upheld Friday the US government's decision to censor statements made by
Guantanamo Bay detainees about their treatment at Central Intelligence
Agency-run prisons. The American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), a human rights group, had argued that the government should
declassify redacted information contained in statements that detainees made
before tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. But Judge Royce Lamberth of
the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday declined the
ACLU's request, which was made under the Freedom of Information Act. "The court finds that
defendants have shown that damage to national security would reasonably
result if the detainees' statements were disclosed, and that defendants did
not classify portions of the detainees' statements to conceal violations of
the law or prevent embarrassment," Lamberth wrote. Ben Wizner, a staff attorney
with the ACLU's National Security Project slammed the decision and the US
government's insistence on fighting declassification of the material. "The court's ruling
allows the government to continue suppressing these first-hand accounts of
torture - not to protect any legitimate national security interest, but to
protect current and former government officials from accountability," he
said "While much is known
about the Bush administration's torture program, the CIA continues to censor
the most important eyewitnesses - the torture victims themselves." Wizner said the transcripts
of testimony provided by detainees, including the self-described mastermind
of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, would provide
"critical" information about "the CIA's torture program."
The ACLU said it plans to appeal the ruling. Mohamed was among a number
of so-called high value detainees who were detained at CIA-run prisons
located at secret sites overseas. He was transferred along with 13 other
high-value detainees to Guantanamo in 2006. Copyright © 2009 AFP. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxPh1cfP7Ir_tMaqYM74BJLfODWg |