Detainee abuse in CIA secret prisons documented in ICRC report News
Detainee abuse in CIA secret prisons documented in ICRC report

[JURIST] Detainees held in secret prisons operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] throughout the globe were subject to abuse and sleep deprivation, according to a confidential report prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website]. In interviews with former detainees, the ICRC reports that it learned that terror suspects were forced into "stress positions" and subjected to sleep deprivation in attempts by the CIA to gain information from them. According to anonymous US officials, the report is based solely upon interviews with detainees, and has yet to verified.

This is the first independent report to be prepared concerning the CIA prisons. Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on President George W. Bush to account for so-called "ghost prisoners" whose whereabouts and identities have been kept secret since September when Bush acknowledged [JURIST report] the existence of secret CIA prisons. HRW also released a supporting report [text; press release] Tuesday in which a former CIA detainee, Marwan Jabour, recounted his experiences in a secret CIA prison. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

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