Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Federal judge orders CIA to turn over Iraqi prisoner records
Jeannie Shawl at 2:50 PM
JURIST -- US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled Wednesday that the Central Intelligence Agency should comply with Freedom of Information Act requests made by the American Civil Liberties Union [advocacy website] and turn over its records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq. The CIA had argued that it should not have to comply with the ACLU's FOIA requests due to an exception in the law for national security interest issues or state secrets, but Judge Hellerstein said that the CIA did not follow the procedure required to claim the exception. AP has more. The ACLU has a compilation of government documents obtained through FOIA requests. (see below for ACLU sources and links to documents)
CIA Ordered to Turn Over Prisoner Records
By Larry Neumeister
NEW YORK - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq.
The spy agency also was given the option of explaining better why it cannot release the documents.
"Congress has set the laws, and it is the duty of executive agencies to comply with them," U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote.
It was the second time in six months that the judge suggested the government was impeding the American Civil Liberties Union's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism.
The ACLU filed its lawsuit in October 2003 seeking information on treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The group is seeking the records to show that prisoner abuse by the United States is "not aberrational but systemic."
The CIA had claimed a provision in the Freedom of Information Act law allowed it to retain files pertaining to national security issues or state secrets.
The judge said the CIA did not follow proper procedure to claim that exception, which requires a declaration by the CIA director.
ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said he was interested in the CIA's documents because there have been credible allegations about the agency's role in the abuse and torture of detainees.
"What we want is to get this information into the public domain as quickly as possible," he said. "I'm hopeful that just bringing some of this activity to light will convince the government to change its policies."
Megan Gaffney, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, which represents the CIA in the case, had no immediate comment.
http://www.aclu.org/International/International.cfm?ID=13962&c=36
Torture FOIA
January 21, 2005
Government Documents on Torture
Freedom of Information Act
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Oct. 7, 2003 under the Freedom of Information Act demanding the release of information about detainees held by the United States.
Below are more than 600 documents the government did not want the general public to read -- including an FBI memo (pdf) stating that Defense Department interrogators impersonated FBI agents and used "torture techniques" against a detainee at Guantanamo. The public has a right to know. These documents can be viewed using Acrobat Reader.
> Army records (Jan. 24) | Press
> FBI records, including e-mails pertaining to the McCraw inquiry into detainee abuse at Guantanamo (Jan. 5) | Press
> Army records, including records pertaining to criminal investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan (Dec. 21, 2004) | Press
> FBI records, including e-mails in which FBI agents report witnessing the use of “torture techniques” at Guantanamo Naval Base (Dec. 20, 2004) | Press
> Navy records, including records pertaining to criminal investigations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan (Dec. 14, 2004) | Press
> Defense Intelligence Agency, State Department and FBI records, including records in which DIA agents report detainee abuse by Task Force 626 in Iraq and e-mails in which FBI agents express concern about DOD interrogation methods. (Dec. 7, 2004) | Press
> Defense Department records, relating to the Taguba report (Oct. 19, 2004) | Press
> Office of Information and Privacy, Defense Department, Army and FBI records, including the Ryder Report (Oct. 15, 2004) | Press
Careful review of these documents demonstrate that many other critical records have not been released. We will continue to fight for the public's right to know what the government's policies were, why these abuses were allowed to take place, and who was ultimately responsible, and encourage you to join the alliance to get these records released.
