UN representative expresses "grave concern" over CIA torture, Guantánamo hearings

In a report to the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva December 13, Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Martin Scheinin said he believed the CIA continues to engage in so-called “extraordinary rendition,” secret detentions and torture. Scheinin suggested that hundreds of detainees held at Guantánamo were not being prosecuted to keep revelations of abuse from emerging. During his visit, he was not allowed to have unmonitored interaction with detainees.

Of the 305 Guantánamo detainees, about 80 have already been put through combatant status review tribunals (CSRT) and declared not to be “enemy combatants,” although they have not been released. The military has announced that it plans to hold these hearings for another 80 detainees, after which they could ostensibly be convicted by military trial. But for 150 so-called “high value” prisoners, Scheinin said, “There is not enough evidence that could be presented, even to a military commission chaired by a military judge. Partly there may not be evidence and partly the risk of issues of torture being raised is too high.”

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