Alleged CIA Prisoner Abuse May Be Probed
Source: CBC News
Posted: 08/24/09 12:18PM
Filed Under: World
The U.S. Justice Department has recommended that the Attorney General reopen and investigate a number of alleged CIA prisoner-abuse cases, a government official said Monday in Washington.
The move would reverse the Bush administration's policy of closing the cases, and could expose CIA employees and agency contractors to criminal prosecution for allegedly mistreating terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Office of Professional Responsibility made the recommendation to Attorney General Eric Holder, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity, just as the Justice Department was set to disclose a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse allegations.
The report is expected to reveal how interrogators conducted mock executions and threatened at least one man with a gun and a power drill. Threatening a prisoner with death violates U.S. anti-torture laws.
A federal judge ordered the report be made public Monday, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama signed off on setting up a special terrorism interrogation team that would be placed at the FBI but report directly to the White House-based National Security Council.
The new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group would be comprised of law enforcement and intelligence experts.
The unit would not alter the Obama administration's decision banning harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, that were authorized by the Bush administration. The team was examining what other techniques could be used.
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With files from The Associated Press
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