Contact: Lisa Cohen, 310-395-2544
lisa@lisacohen.org
The Senate today voted for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that makes the Army Field Manual the single standard for interrogation by all agencies under the Detainee Treatment Act. The move comes after the Senate Intelligence Committee published a 500-page executive summary of an exhaustive study detailing severe human rights abuses committed by the CIA after 9/11, including waterboarding and rectal feeding.
CJA Executive Director Dixon Osburn said: “Torture violates international and domestic law, and the U.S. broke those laws. This amendment makes clear to those who would break the law again that there are some interrogation tactics that cannot be condoned, and in fact harm our security. Senator Feinstein and Senator McCain should be commended for their leadership.”
The vote for the amendment on torture will not become law unless it is approved in a conference by Senate and House leaders on their respective defense committees. We urge those leaders to make the amendment law.
About the Center for Justice and Accountability
CJA is a San Francisco-based human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress. CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries transitioning from periods of abuse. www.cja.org
