Full ICRC Report Further Underscores Extent Of Torture And Abuse By U.S. Officials

In light of this report – the newly revealed portions of which emphasize the role played by medical personnel in torture and abuse – the American Civil Liberties Union renews its call for the Justice Department to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate the authorization of torture at CIA prisons and for the release of several legal memoranda used by the Bush administration to justify it. The memos, authored by former Office of Legal Counsel officials Steven Bradbury and Jay Bybee and demanded as part of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, supplied the legal framework for the Bush administration's interrogation program. The deadline for the government to release the memos or justify withholding them is April 16.

The ACLU, through its John Adams Project with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, has worked with under-resourced military lawyers to provide legal counsel for several of the Guantánamo detainees whose treatment was addressed in the ICRC report.

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project:

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