Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars, interviewed by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman & Juan González

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Torture Topics

Torture

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Torture

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  • John_brennan-cia

    Whistleblower John Kiriakou: For Embracing Torture, John Brennan a "Terrible Choice to Lead the CIA"

    Days after he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, John Kiriakou — the first CIA official to be jailed for any reason relating to the torture program — denounces President Obama’s appointment of John Brennan to head the CIA. "I’ve known John Brennan since 1990," Kiriakou says. "I worked directly for John Brennan twice. I think that he is a terrible choice to lead the CIA. I think that it’s time for...
    Jan 30, 2013 | Story
  • Sami_al_hajj

    Part 2: Al Jazeera's Sami al-Hajj on His 438-Day Hunger Strike in U.S. Detention at Gitmo Prison

    In part two of our exclusive interview, Sami al-Hajj, the Al Jazeera journalist imprisoned and tortured at Guantánamo for six years, describes how he waged a 438-day hunger strike to protest his detention. Al-Hajj was arrested in Pakistan in December of 2001 while traveling to Afghanistan on a work assignment. Held for six years without charge, al-Hajj was repeatedly tortured, hooded, attacked by dogs and hung from a ceiling. Interrogators questioned...
    Jan 09, 2013 | Story
  • Rendition

    As Brennan Tapped for CIA, Case of Somali Detainees Highlights Obama's Embrace of Secret Renditions

    New details have emerged about how the Obama administration has quietly embraced the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition in which terrorism suspects are secretly detained and interrogated abroad without due process. The Washington Post recently reported three European men with Somali backgrounds were arrested in the East African country of Djibouti on a "murky pretext" in August. They were then questioned by U.S. interrogators...
    Jan 09, 2013 | Story
  • John_brennan-cia

    Obama's Cheney? "Assassination Czar" John Brennan Brings Legacy of Drone War and Torture to CIA Nod

    Dubbed the "assassination czar," presumptive CIA nominee John Brennan has played a key role backing some of the nation’s most controversial post-9/11 policies, from the secret drone war to wireless surveillance. Brennan was a rumored pick for the job when Obama was first elected in 2008 but was forced to withdraw from consideration amid protests over his role at the CIA under George W. Bush and his public support for the CIA’s...
    Jan 07, 2013 | Story
  • Mccoy

    Alfred McCoy: "Torture and Impunity: The U.S. Doctrine of Coercive Interrogation" (Pt. 2)

    In this online exclusive, we continue our discussion with University of Wisconsin professor Alfred McCoy on U.S. torture policy, the Obama administration’s refusal to prosecute war crimes, and new revelations that waterboarding was used more often than the government ever acknowledged. [includes rush transcript]
    Sep 21, 2012 | Web Exclusive
  • Torture_and_impunity

    As Italy Sentences 23 CIA Agents in Rendition Case, Obama Refuses to Prosecute Anyone for Torture

    Italy’s high court has upheld the sentences of 23 CIA operatives convicted of kidnapping a Muslim cleric under the U.S. program of "extraordinary rendition." The cleric, Abu Omar, was seized from the streets of Milan in 2003 and taken to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being sent to Egypt, where he was tortured during a four-year imprisonment. The Americans were all convicted in absentia after the United States refused to...
    Sep 21, 2012 | Story
  • How_the_us_rendered_2

    Rendered, Tortured & Discarded: A Shocking Story of an Innocent Man's Ordeal in U.S. Prisons Abroad

    A new exposé by human rights investigator Clara Gutteridge for The Nation magazine looks at secret U.S. operations in Africa and how the United States rendered, tortured and discarded one innocent man from Tanzania. Suleiman Abdallah was captured in Mogadishu in 2003 by a Somali warlord and handed over to U.S. officials, who had him rendered to Afghanistan for five years of detention and torture. Imprisoned in three different U.S. facilities,...
    Jul 06, 2012 | Story
  • Garzon-sad-button

    Spanish Judge Garzón Disbarred in Trial Seen as Retaliation for Trailblazing Human Rights Work

    Spain’s most famous judge, Baltasar Garzón, has been disbarred for 11 years after being found guilty of ordering illegal monitoring. Garzón is known for taking on global human rights cases under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, with actions including ordering the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, indicting Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks, and probing the abuse of U.S. prisoners at Guantánamo Bay....
    Feb 10, 2012 | Story
  • Baltasar_garzon_showbutton

    Baltasar Garzón, Trailblazing Judge Who Pursued War Criminals, Faces Trial of His Own in Spain

    Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón is known for ordering the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and seeking to indict members of the George W. Bush administration for their role in torturing prisoners. Now Garzón is facing trial himself, in Madrid, after right-wing groups objected to his investigation of atrocities committed by supporters of the dictator Francisco Franco. Garzón has used the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to investigate...
    Feb 01, 2012 | Story

  • "Guantanamo at 10: The Prisoner and the Prosecutor." By Amy Goodman

    Ten years ago, Omar Deghayes and Morris Davis would have struck anyone as an odd pair. While they have never met, they now share a profound connection, cemented through their time at the notorious U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
    Jan 12, 2012 | Columns & Articles