Taxi to the Dark Side - Oscar Winning Film Looks at Torture

“Taxi to the Dark Side,” by director Alex Gibney, traces the history of detainee abuse from Bagram Airbase to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. The film centers around Dilawar, an Afghani taxi driver, who was tortured to death by U.S. soldiers at Bagram in 2002. (Click on image below to view the official website.)

The U.S. soldiers who beat him to death say that they did not actually believe that Dilawar was guilty of any crime, yet they subjected him to the same harsh treatment that it seems all the detainees at Bagram faced: blunt force blows to the legs, sensory and sleep deprivation, and other physical and psychological traumas. The soldiers who beat Dilawar are interviewed in depth, but the story is not just about Dilawar. It is about how a system could go so wrong that these fairly ordinary Americans could be convinced that it was their duty to beat a man to death even though they believed he was not guilty of committing a crime.

Human Rights First’s David Danzig writes, in a review of the film posted on The Huffington Post, “Gibney, the filmmaker, has done his homework. He is interested in harder questions than simply, "who did this?" He wants to know why and how it could be done better. And, in this way, the film is both thoroughly depressing (you want to cry the last time you see Dilawar's picture flash on the screen) and at the same time offers a sliver of hope. Because what makes Taxi so compelling and watchable is that it doesn't just document the abuse, it begins to point to a better way.”

Human Rights First Responds

In response to the revelations of Abu Ghraib, Human Rights First launched its End Torture Now campaign to put an end to the United States’ abusive policies. 

In fighting the U.S. policy of torture, we are

• Building and sustaining a coalition of more than 40 retired U.S. generals and admirals who believe the best national security strategies are those that protect human rights. Their voices helped to pass the Detainee Treatment Act banning cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
  
• On March 1, 2005, Human Rights First, together with the American Civil Liberties Union, retired military leaders, and the law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, LLP., filed a lawsuit against U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of Iraqi and Afghan civilians who were tortured and abused while in U.S. custody.
  
• Seeking legislative fixes of the misguided and unconstitutional portions of the recently-passed Military Commissions Act, including its purported elimination of habeas corpus; and
  
• Ensuring that the CIA complies with the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and does not engage in secret detention and the use of so-called “alternative interrogation procedures.”

What You Can Do

Elect to End Torture: Join us from the very beginning as we work from now until Election Day to secure a president who will enforce a clear and absolute ban on torture and cruel treatment. 
Click here to add your name

Demand Oversight from Congress: Until all U.S. personnel are properly constrained by clear guidelines, illegal abuses will likely continue. By holding hearings, Congress can step in and clean up U.S. policy:
Click here to send a letter to Congress