The US Justice Department says it will not file criminal charges against CIA officials accused of destroying videotapes showing brutal torturing of detainees.
(November 10, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) US Attorney John Durham conducted "an exhaustive investigation" of the destruction of the tapes, but he "will not pursue criminal charges" against any of CIA officials involved in the agency's 2005 destruction of videotapes, which were recorded at secret prisons, AFP quoted the Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller as saying on Tuesday.
The issue of the destruction of video tapes came into the fore for the first time in 2007 when the then-CIA Director Michael Heyden revealed that his agency had liquidated all footage of aggressive interrogation, techniques including the use of torture against two suspected al-Qaeda members.
In the wake of the revelation, Heyden issued a statement, claiming that the tapes would have posed a serious threat to the country's security and national integrity.
He had pointed out that the agency ruined the tapes in a bid to protect CIA officials and their families against what he called "retaliation from al-Qaeda and its sympathizers."
However, in 2008, then US Attorney General Michael Mukasey launched a criminal investigation into the issue after the CIA acknowledged that it had liquidated 92 interrogation videos.
The revelation and subsequent efforts to determine who ordered the destruction of tapes cast a harsh spotlight on the ongoing practices and methods used in the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, where suspects are held in captivity without a fair trial.
Some US lawmakers and international rights groups have long criticized the waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods practiced during the presidency of George W. Bush.
They believe the destruction of the tapes was meant to cover up alleged detainee torture.
The issue has come under harsher scrutiny following the release of Bush's autobiography book in which he has defended his decision to authorize waterboarding of detainees.
HA/MGH
Post a Comment