UN Expert Calls for Prosecution of CIA, US Officials Over Alleged Torture During Interrogations

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ben Emmerson. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferr?

Ben Emerson, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism has called for prosecution of those responsible for torturing terrorism suspects.

“It has taken four years since the report was finalised to reach this point,” said Emmerson in a statement, released by the UN news centre.

Now it is time to take action, he added. “The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today’s report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes,” he said.

A US Senate report released on Tuesday confirmed the CIA during the Bush Administration have used torture for extracting information from terrorist suspects.

The so-called Feinstein report, after long-time US Senator Dianne Feinstein who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that compiled the document, probes crimes of torture and enforced disappearance of terrorist suspects by the Bush-era CIA.

Identities of the perpetrators, and many other details, have been redacted in the published summary report but are known to the Select Committee and to those who provided the Committee with information on the programme.

“The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the US Government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability,” Emmerson said.

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