Torture Topics

Torture

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

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  • Danny_chen

    Death of Private Danny Chen: Military Admits Chen was Target of Race-Based Hazing on Daily Basis

    U.S. Army investigators have released explosive new details about the death of Private Danny Chen, who allegedly took his own life just weeks after he was deployed to Afghanistan last October. The family of the 19-year-old Chinese-American soldier says the Army told them Chen had been abused by comrades on an almost daily basis, including racist hazing, with soldiers throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him to do push-ups...
    Jan 09, 2012 | Story
  • Detainees_senate_defense_bill

    Battlefield America: U.S. Citizens Face Indefinite Military Detention in Defense Bill Before Senate

    The Senate is set to vote this week on a Pentagon spending bill that could usher in a radical expansion of indefinite detention under the U.S. government. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect—anywhere in the world—without charge or trial. The measure would effectively extend the definition of what is considered the military’s "battlefield"...
    Nov 29, 2011 | Story
  • Gitmo_prisoner_web

    Former Guantánamo Prisoner Speaks Out on Lawsuit Seeking Bush's Arrest in Canada for Torture

    Police in British Columbia have taken extra security measures ahead of today’s visit by former President George W. Bush, who is set to speak at an economic summit. The security is to handle hundreds of protesters, but Amnesty International has also called on the Canadian government to arrest Bush and either prosecute or extradite him for the torture of prisoners in the so-called "war on terror." Meanwhile, four men who say they...
    Oct 20, 2011 | Story
  • General_abdul_raziq_web

    U.S. Continues to Back Afghan Warlord Linked to 2006 Massacre and Torture of Prisoners

    New revelations about a U.S.-backed warlord in Afghanistan are raising questions about whether the United States has violated its own laws in its aim to defeat the Taliban. The Atlantic magazine reports the United States, under both former President George W. Bush and President Obama, has actively supported the police commander in Kandahar, General Abdul Raziq, despite knowing of his involvement not just in corruption and drug smuggling, but also...
    Sep 27, 2011 | Story
  • Perez-molina_web

    Genocide-Linked General Otto Pérez Molina Poised to Become Guatemala's Next President

    A retired military general has won the first round in Guatemala’s presidential election, leading to a runoff election in November. If elected, General Otto Pérez Molina would become the first former military official to win the presidency since the end of the military dictatorships in 1986. Human rights groups have accused Pérez of being directly involved in the systematic use of torture and acts of genocide in Guatemala in the 1980s....
    Sep 15, 2011 | Story
  • Granito_web

    "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator": New Film Tracks Struggle for Justice After Guatemalan Genocide

    A new documentary links Guatemala’s turbulent past with those who are active players in its present. The film, "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator," which is part political thriller and part memoir, spans four decades, following several people as they search for the details that can be used to hold accountable those responsible for the genocide in which Guatemalan military and paramilitary soldiers killed more than 200,000 people....
    Sep 15, 2011 | Story
  • 911_relations

    A Fateful Day: 9/11 Also Marks Important Anniversaries in India, Guatemala, Haiti and Attica, NY

    On the anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we look back at several national and international events linked to that day. This year on September 11, India will mark the 105th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi launching the modern nonviolent resistance movement. We play part of a 2003 interview with Gandhi’s grandson, Arun. On September 11, 1990, renowned Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack was assassinated...
    Sep 08, 2011 | Story
  • Libya_cia

    Discovered Files Show U.S., Britain Had Extensive Ties with Gaddafi Regime on Rendition, Torture

    Human Rights Watch has uncovered hundreds of letters in the Libyan foreign ministry proving the Gaddafi government directly aided the extraordinary rendition program carried out by the CIA and the MI6 in Britain after the 9/11 attacks. The documents expose how the CIA rendered suspects to Libyan authorities knowing they would be tortured. One of the most prominent suspects rendered to Libya was an Islamic militant named Abdelhakim Belhaj, who...
    Sep 07, 2011 | Story
  • Rumsfeld_suit_button

    U.S. Navy Vet Sues Donald Rumsfeld for Torture in Iraq, Court Allows Case to Move Forward

    On Monday, a federal appeals court refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two U.S. citizens against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and unnamed others for developing, authorizing and using harsh interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq. Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel were working for a private U.S. government contractor, Shield Group Security, in 2006 when they witnessed the sale of U.S. government weapons to Iraqi rebel groups...
    Aug 11, 2011 | Story
  • Guatemala_trial_button

    Guatemalan Soldiers Sentenced to 6,060 Years in Prison for Role in 1982 Massacre

    On Tuesday, a national court in Guatemala handed down the first convictions for a notorious massacre. It was 1982 when Guatemalan soldiers attacked the village of Las Dos Erres and killed more than 200 people — many of them women, children and the elderly — who were assaulted and beaten before they were shot or bludgeoned to death and then thrown down a well. Now a Guatemalan judge has sentenced four of the soldiers who carried out the Dos...
    Aug 04, 2011 | Story