CIA inspector general asks DOJ to investigate overseas interrogation methods News
CIA inspector general asks DOJ to investigate overseas interrogation methods
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[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) office of the Inspector General has reportedly requested that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official websites] investigate CIA conduct in secret detention programs that was the focus of an unreleased US Senate [official website] study. Individuals reported to McClatchy Newspapers [official website] that this request may be based on monitoring by the CIA of various Senate Intelligence Committee computers that were used while preparing the study. The in-depth study concerns the CIA’s alleged use of harsh interrogation methods [UPI report] on certain suspected terrorists who are held in secret overseas prisons. The study also allegedly speaks of various ways in which the CIA misled the George W. Bush administration regarding the interrogation methods. Various senators have received inquiries regarding the study, however, have not provided much more information than that there is currently an internal review occurring within the CIA.

The CIA has received strong criticism regarding its overseas detention programs and techniques in recent years. Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [JURIST news archive], who was kidnapped in Milan as part of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program [JURIST news archive], was sentenced to six years in prison in December by an Italian court after being convicted in absentia of terror charges. In October the European Parliament chastised [JURIST report] EU member states’ complicity with the CIA’s rendition program, stating that the program has led to violations of fundamental rights and must end immediately. In April 2009 the US Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) declassified a report [JURIST report] that described to what extent high-ranking Bush administration officials were involved in subscribing to harsh interrogation policies used on prisoners of war. The release of the report followed the release of four top secret interrogation memos [JURIST report] from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) also describing controversial CIA interrogation techniques and the legal rationale behind them.

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