BRIEF: CIA Moves to Prevent the Release of 7,000 Documents

WASHINGTON, United States - Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU's Law School filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act in district court last year for the release of documents relating to the CIA torture program.  The CIA is refusing to release the documents and has filed a motion to avoid doing just that.  The documents are thought to contain memos, e-mails, and other various records all relating to a CIA program involving forced disappearances, secret detention and torture.

The CIA is arguing that the documents relate to communications between the CIA and Justice Department Attorneys and conversations with the White House.  The Centre for Research on Globalization stated the CIA is "seemingly protected behind an impenetrable wall of impunity built by the Bush Administration in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the CIA is now attempting to shield its top officers from legal and congressional scrutiny by refusing to release these documents."

The CIA apparently stated in its New York federal court filings that the programs of will continue.  The Center for Constitutional Rights says that at least thirty people are being held in secret by the CIA and their future is unknown.  The Washington Post says the Justice Department told Congress "that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law."  In a March 5th letter the Justice Department wrote, according to the Washington Post, the Bush administration has endorsed a case-by-case evaluation of which techniques violate the Geneva Convention standards and which do not.

For more information, please see:

Centre for Research on Globalization - CIA Stonewall:  Agency Won't Release 7,000 Documents Related to Torture Program - 27 April 2008

Washington Post - CIA Foresaw Interrogation Issues - 24 April 2008

New York Times - Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale - 27 April 2008