Federal
Court Blocks 'Truth About Torture' in Ruling on Senate Report
Friday, May 13, 2016
ACLU considering appeal to force release of
final 6,000-page report on CIA's torture program
"This decision has the disappointing
result of keeping the full truth about the CIA torture program from the
American public, and we're considering our options for appeal." (Photo:
Justin Norman/flickr/cc)
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a
lawsuit that called for the full release of the U.S. Senate's report on the
CIA's post-September 11 abuse and torture of detainees.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit said the report isn't subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests—ruling against the ACLU, which filed the lawsuit seeking publication
of the 6,000-page document.
"This decision has the disappointing
result of keeping the full truth about the CIA torture program from the
American public, and we're considering our options for appeal," said Hina
Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security project.
Congressional documents are exempt from FOIA
rules, but the ACLU argued that the Senate Intelligence Committee gave up
control over the report when it handed it over to the White House and other
agencies.
The court disagreed. Judge Harry
Edwards wrote for
the unanimous three-member panel that there was "clear intent by the
Senate committee to maintain continuous control over its work product."
Shamsi added that the judges
should have "credited the committee's clear intent to disseminate the
torture report widely to the executive branch. Instead, the opinion wrongly
relies on a years-old agreement between the committee and the CIA that didn't
apply to the final version of the report. The committee later sent the report
to agencies, with express instructions that it be read and used."
An executive summary of the document, often
referred to as the "torture report," was released in
2014. Among its key findings, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that
the CIA misled policymakers and the public about the nature of the program. The
report detailed the agency's brutal treatment of detainees, including through
beatings, shackling, death threats, sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and
sexual assault.
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