Rights Group Welcomes First Step in Accountability for Prisoner Abuse

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Washington, DC – Human Rights First welcomes today’s announcement that Attorney General Eric Holder will launch a preliminary review into prisoner abuse.  The decision comes in the wake of the Attorney General’s review of an Office of Professional Responsibility report detailing the flawed legal reasoning in the “torture memos” that authorized coercive interrogation practices, as well as a May 2004 inspector general report that details appalling abuses committed against prisoners in the CIA’s interrogation program.

“The decision to pursue criminals is a crucial step towards ending an era of impunity for crimes of torture and other ill-treatment and reversing the national security failures that resulted from that treatment,” stated Devon Chaffee, Human Rights First Advocacy Counsel.  “This is what it looks like for an independent Attorney General to do his job. Now, the Attorney General should ensure that the appointed prosecutor has discretion to follow the facts wherever they lead, including investigating the architects of the system of prison abuse, not only those who implemented it.”   

The cruelty documented in the volumes of now publically available information exposing the widespread nature of the abuse, clearly demonstrate the need for an unhindered investigation to hold to account those who broke the law by orchestrating, directing or committing torture or other cruelty against prisoners in U.S. custody.  The validity of any defenses for abusive conduct can be determined only through a case by case factual investigation. 

“Prosecutions are essential to deterring future abuses, but they are unlikely to reveal the bigger picture of how torture and other ill-treatment came to be officially authorized and what those misguided policies cost the country in terms of national security,” added Chaffee.  “To fully close the door on future programs of official cruelty, there must be a comprehensive examination by a nonpartisan commission of experts is needed to identify the systematic failures that lead to widespread prisoner abuse and to evaluate the impact of those policies on U.S. national security.” 

Human Rights First has authored a number of publications on the need for greater accountability and accounting for torture and cruel treatment including How to End Torture and Cruel Treatment: Blueprint for the Next Administration", Leave No Marks: "Enhanced" Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality, and Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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