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Torture

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

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  • Greenwald_weiner

    Glenn Greenwald: Why Was Rep. Weiner Forced to Resign While Bush and Cheney Walk Free?

    Former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) resigned Thursday after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and others said the scandal he created by sending lewd photographs of himself over Twitter had caused a distraction to Democrats preparing for the 2012 election. “He was forced out of office over—it wasn’t even rising to the level of a sex scandal,” says our guest, Salon.com political blogger Glenn Greenwald. “The Democratic leadership ......
    Jun 20, 2011 | Story
  • Bush_torture_button

    A Debate on Human Rights Watch's Call for Bush Administration Officials to be Tried for Torture

    Human Rights Watch has released a new report calling on the U.S. government to launch a broad criminal investigation into alleged crimes of torture committed by former President George W. Bush and other top officials under his administration. It comes on the heels of a Department of Justice investigation into alleged torture, abuse and murder during the interrogation of detainees in CIA custody. Earlier this month, the DOJ announced it would launch...
    Jul 12, 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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