Federal judge tells CIA to investigate destruction of interrogation tapes News
Federal judge tells CIA to investigate destruction of interrogation tapes
Photo source or description

[JURIST] A federal judge on Friday told the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] that it must investigate the destruction of interrogation tapes [AP report] related to 9/11 [JURIST news archive] and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] made the statement while considering a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] seeking to have the CIA found in contempt of court [AP report] for destroying the tapes. After the judge spoke, Assistant US Attorney Tara LaMorte said that the government prosecutor who investigated the incident was willing to meet with the judge to discuss his findings. Hellerstein agreed to meet with the prosecutor and said he would make as much of the meeting public as possible.

Internal CIA documents [part 1, PDF; part 2, PDF; part 3, PDF] released last April reveal that the former head of the agency Porter Goss may have agreed to the destruction [JURIST report] of videotapes [JURIST news archive] showing harsh interrogations of terror suspects. According to redacted documents [text, PDF] filed in March 2009, 12 of 92 videotapes destroyed by the CIA [JURIST report] contained evidence of “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] had acknowledged in March 2009 that the CIA destroyed [letter, PDF] 92 videotapes of high value terrorism suspect interrogations, in response to an August 2008 judicial order [text, PDF] that the CIA turn over information regarding the tapes or provide specific justifications on why it could not release the information. The August 2008 order came in response to a December 2007 ACLU motion [text, PDF] that the CIA be held in contempt of court for not providing information on the tapes during a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text] lawsuit [ACLU materials] brought by the organization in an effort to access government materials on the interrogations.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.