The European Court of Human Rights issues rulings finding that Romania and Lithuania violated the European Convention on Human Rights by hosting CIA secret prisons where terrorism suspects were tortured. The court conclusively determines that Romania operated a CIA black site from September 2003 to …
European Court of Human RightsRomaniaLithuaniaCIAAbu Zubaydah+1 moretortureciablack-sitesinternational-lawromania+2 more
President Donald Trump announces his nomination of Gina Haspel to serve as CIA Director, making her the first woman nominated for the position despite her direct involvement in the CIA’s torture program and destruction of interrogation videotapes. Haspel ran the CIA’s “Cat’s …
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President Barack Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, reducing her 35-year prison term to seven years served with a release date of May 17, 2017. The commutation came after Manning attempted suicide twice in 2016 while serving her sentence as a transgender woman in a men’s military …
Barack ObamaChelsea ManningDepartment of Justicewhistleblower-prosecutionclemencylgbtqtortureaccountability
The Senate Intelligence Committee report reveals that CIA torture was far more brutal and sadistic than the agency disclosed, documenting techniques that go beyond the authorized list to include rectal feeding and rehydration used as punishment, mock executions, threats to sexually assault …
CIAGul RahmanSenate Select Committee on IntelligenceJames MitchellBruce Jessentorturewar-crimesciaenhanced-interrogationblack-sites+1 more
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence releases a 525-page executive summary of its comprehensive investigation into the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, revealing that the program was far more brutal, widespread, and ineffective than the CIA disclosed. The report, based on a …
Dianne FeinsteinSenate Select Committee on IntelligenceCIAJohn BrennanBarack Obamatortureciawar-crimessenateaccountability+2 more
The European Court of Human Rights issues a landmark ruling finding that Poland violated the European Convention on Human Rights by allowing the CIA to operate a secret torture prison on its territory from December 2002 to September 2003. The court conclusively determines that Poland hosted a CIA …
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The Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation reveals that the CIA paid private contractors James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen $81 million to design, implement, and assess the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation program. The psychologists had no interrogation experience, no background …
James MitchellBruce JessenCIAGeorge Tenettortureciaenhanced-interrogationprofiteeringwar-crimes
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou pleaded guilty to violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act after being indicted under the Espionage Act for publicly confirming that waterboarding was official U.S. government policy. In a profound miscarriage of justice, Kiriakou became the only person …
John KiriakouCIAObama AdministrationDepartment of Justicewhistleblower-prosecutiontortureespionage-actaccountabilitywar-crimes
President Barack Obama authorizes the Department of Justice to release four previously classified memos from the Office of Legal Counsel written between 2002 and 2005 that authorized CIA torture techniques including waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and confinement in coffin-sized …
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Gul Rahman, an Afghan detainee, dies of hypothermia at a CIA black site in Afghanistan known as the “Salt Pit” after being shackled half-naked to a concrete floor in a freezing cell overnight. Rahman’s death is ruled a homicide by the CIA’s medical examiner, yet no one is …
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President George W. Bush publicly acknowledges for the first time that the CIA has been operating secret prisons to hold and interrogate terrorism suspects, confirming what journalists and human rights organizations had been reporting for years. In a White House speech, Bush admits that “a …
George W. BushCIAKhalid Sheikh MohammedAbu ZubaydahAbd al-Rahim al-Nashiritortureciablack-sitesbushguantanamo+1 more
CIA National Clandestine Service director Jose Rodriguez orders the destruction of 92 videotapes documenting hundreds of hours of brutal interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at secret CIA black sites. The tapes contain graphic evidence of waterboarding, stress positions, and …
Jose RodriguezCIAGina HaspelAbu ZubaydahAbd al-Rahim al-Nashiri+1 moretortureciaobstruction-of-justiceevidence-destructionwar-crimes+2 more
Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Director Porter Goss personally lobby Senator John McCain in an extraordinary attempt to exempt CIA officers from proposed legislation banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” of any detainee held by the U.S. government. Despite the Senate voting …
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Washington Post journalist Dana Priest publishes a groundbreaking investigation revealing the CIA operates a “hidden global internment network” of secret prisons, including facilities in “several democracies in Eastern Europe.” The article exposes the existence of CIA black …
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Canadian inquiry conclusively determines that Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was wrongly rendered by the United States to Syria where he was tortured for nearly a year based on false intelligence provided by Canadian police. The inquiry finds Arar had no connection to terrorism and that …
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Abu Zubaydah remains held in U.S. custody more than two decades after his capture in Pakistan in March 2002, despite never being charged with any crime. Zubaydah was the CIA’s first “high-value detainee” and the primary test subject for the torture program, waterboarded 83 times …
Abu ZubaydahCIAJames MitchellBruce JessenGina Haspeltortureciablack-siteswaterboardingguantanamo+2 more
Following the authorization provided by the August 2002 Yoo-Bybee torture memos, the CIA begins systematically implementing “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorism suspects held at secret black site prisons. The program, developed by psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen …
CIAAbu ZubaydahAbd al-Rahim al-NashiriJames MitchellBruce Jessen+1 moretorturewar-crimesciaenhanced-interrogationwaterboarding+2 more
Vice President Dick Cheney systematically orchestrated the creation and authorization of the CIA’s ’enhanced interrogation’ torture program through National Security Council Principals Committee meetings and legal manipulation. Working closely with legal counsel David Addington and …
Dick CheneyGeorge W. BushDavid AddingtonJohn YooCIA+3 moretorturewar-crimesciaenhanced-interrogationblack-sites+5 more
Following the September 11 attacks, President Bush authorizes the CIA to conduct “extraordinary rendition”—the extrajudicial kidnapping and transfer of terrorism suspects to foreign countries for detention and interrogation, often involving torture. CIA Director George Tenet and …
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