CCR Submits Torture Details to Spanish Court after Judge's Order to Proceed with Gitmo Investigation

[Hissyspit]

http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-submits-declaration-detailing-torture-spanish-court-after-judge%2526%2523039%3Bs-order-proceed-guant%C3%A1namo-

CCR Submits Declaration Detailing Torture to Spanish Court after Judge's Order to Proceed with Guantánamo Torture Investigation

Document Highlights Treatment of Acknowledged Torture Victim Mohammed al Qahtani; Helps Set Stage for Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials

[e-mail]

February 8, 2012, New York and Madrid – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted a declaration to a Spanish court detailing the torture of Mohammed al Qahtani, who has been detained without charge or trial at Guantánamo since 2002. The submission follows Spanish Investigating Judge Pablo Ruz Gutierrez’s recent order to proceed with the probe into the U.S. torture program.

Mr. al Qahtani was the victim of the “First Special Interrogation Plan,” a regime of aggressive interrogation techniques amounting to torture personally authorized by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. al Qahtani is the only prisoner held at Guantánamo Bay the U.S. has officially admitted to torturing. Mr. al Qahtani’s treatment, much of which is described in detail in the declaration through his own words, includes 48 days of sleep deprivation, 20-hour interrogations, forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, physical force, prolonged stress positions, and prolonged sensory overstimulation. In addition, the document details the effects of the interrogation, which included Mr. al Qahtani’s severe emotional distress, inability to control his bladder, and visual and auditory hallucinations. Time Magazine obtained and published a detailed log of his interrogations in 2005.

Katherine Gallagher, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitution Rights, said, “This declaration details the severe psychological and physical trauma suffered by Mr. al Qahtani as a result of the brutal treatment he was subjected to at Guantánamo through techniques that are in direct violation of the Geneva Convention and the Convention Against Torture. That the high-level U.S. officials alleged to be responsible for this criminal conduct, including Donald Rumsfeld and Geoffrey Miller, continue to enjoy impunity domestically is a stain on the U.S. system of justice. We hope that this declaration will provide valuable evidence for use in holding these officials accountable in Spain, a venue that is willing to investigate torture.”

- snip -

The case, which Judge Ruz inherited from Judge Baltasar Garzón, has been ongoing since April 2009, when Garzón opened a preliminary investigation into what he termed “an authorized and systematic plan of torture and ill-treatment on persons deprived of their freedom without any charge and without the basic rights of any detainee…” The investigation stemmed from a previous court case in which four former Guantánamo detainees at the center of the case were found to have been tortured. That investigation concluded that facts of the case related to violations under the Spanish Penal Code, the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Organic Law of the Judicial Power (article 23.4.) Judge Ruz’s recent order was precipitated, in part, by a decision to proceed with the investigation after the U.S. and U.K. governments failed to respond to letters rogatory issued by the Spanish court that requested information about any domestic investigations in those countries.

MORE[p]

[barbtries]

1. justice. could it happen?

the people responsible should be held to account. i wish our government was willing to prosecute wrongdoers even if they are republicans.

[Justice wanted]

2. GAWD we need some justice happening for what happen in GITMO. A lot of these people where

"arrested" after neighbors turned them in for money.

[EFerrari]

3. K&R

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[hootinholler]

5. At first I was all like WTF does Credence Clearwater Revival have to do with torture

Then I realized it was the Center for Constitutional Rights and was far less confused.

[Ferretherder]

13. The same thing I thought.

n/t

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[BB1]

7. Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Is there anything they can't do??? Wow!

[Voice for Peace]

8. big rec

thanks for posting. I'm so glad there are people who keep this alive.

[Judi Lynn]

9. K & R. Thanks. n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. God, the euphanisms....."First Special Interrogation Plan"

I guess that produced a gentler, softer kind of agony for the victims.

[gratuitous]

11. But everybody likes torture and summary executions

As long as there's no political price to pay for subverting the Constitution, what's the big schmeal? I mean, it's just a bunch of dark-skinned nobodies getting juiced or snuffed, not like one of the Kardashian women. So why should anyone care about an authorized and systematic plan of torture and ill-treatment on persons without any charge and without the basic rights of any detainee? America, fuck yeah!

[pmorlan1]

12. K & R

Thanks for posting, Hissyspit.

[Overseas]

14. K&R. Yes please!