US Given New Deadline for Torture Photos 'More Disturbing' Than Abu Ghraib

October 13, 2020 by SOMINSFASHIONBLOG

A federal judge has given the Obama administration less than two additional months to make its case why photos of abuse and torture by U.S. military forces against detainees captured following the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan should not be released to the public.

As The Guardian‘s Spencer Ackerman reports, Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Tuesday told government lawyers they must present a written argument for keeping more than 2,100 photographs secret even as many of them are thought to show graphic examples of mistreatment worse even than that shown in the infamous photos that depicted torture of prisoners in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in late 2003.

According to Ackerman:

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Responding to that latest developments, ACLU attorney Marcellene Hearn said, “It’s disappointing that the government continues to fight to keep these photographs from the public.”

She added, “The American people deserve to know the truth about what happened in our detention centers abroad. Yet the government is suppressing as many as 2,100 photographs of detainee abuse in Iraq and elsewhere. We will continue to press for the release of the photos in the courts.”

President Obama has faced intense criticism throughout his two terms for refusing to hold Bush officials accountable for the torture that took place in the aftermath of 9/11 and during the occupations of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Reporting over the weeked by the New York Times revealed that the White House is now considering reaffirming his predecessor’s position that the “ban on cruel treatment” doesn’t apply when the United States is operating overseas.

On Tuesday, the ACLU released an interactive infographic showing the top architects of the U.S. torture program under President Bush, none of whom have ever been held accountable for the abuse authorized by the program. In a blog post accompanying the new graphic, Jamil Dakwar, director of the group’s Human Rights Program, indicated that the Obama administration’s refusal to shine a light on the torture has become a stain on his own record and said that White House backing of the “fabricated” torture loophole would do “terrible damage to one of the world’s most important human rights instruments.” He continued:

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