Human rights groups call for special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture

The ACLU and Human Rights Watch say the offences amount to
‘a vast criminal conspiracy’ and are ‘shocking and corrosive’ to
US democracy and credibility

Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Monday 22 December 2014 19.26 GMT

Two of America’s leading human rights organisations have written to the US attorney general, Eric Holder, calling on him to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate crimes committed under the CIA’s interrogation and detention programme in the wake of 9/11.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch issued the call as a joint response to the recently published report from the Senate intelligence committee that revealed the brutal extent of the CIA’s use of torture in secret prisons across the world. The groups say the agency’s rendition and treatment of terror suspects amounted to “a vast criminal conspiracy, under color of law, to commit torture and other serious crimes”.

The lack of a full criminal investigation, the letter warns, “would contribute to the notion that torture remains a permissible policy option for future administrations; undermine the ability of the US to advocate for human rights abroad; and compromise Americans’ faith in the rule of law at home”.

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