US Justice Dept advises pursuing CIA abuses

The US Justice Department has recommended reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, which could expose CIA employees and contractors to prosecution for their treatment of terrorism suspects, the New York Times said on Monday. The recommendation, reversing the Bush administration, came from the Justice Department's ethics office and has been presented to US Attorney General Eric Holder. The department is due to disclose later on Monday details of prisoner abuse that were gathered in 2004 by the CIA's inspector general but have never been released, according to the Times report, which cited an unnamed person officially briefed on matter.

When the CIA first referred its inspector general's findings, it decided that none of the cases merited prosecution. But when Holder took office and saw the allegations included deaths of people in custody and other cases of physical or mental torment, he reconsidered, the newspaper said. "With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow, posing significant new problems for the CIA," the paper said.

The recommendation to review the cases centres mainly on allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. In some examples of abuse that have just been publicized, the CIA report describes how its officers carried out mock executions and threatened at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill -- possible violations of a federal torture statute. The Times quoted a CIA spokesperson, Paul Gimigliano, as saying that the Justice Department recommendation to open the closed cases had not been sent to the intelligence agency. "Decisions on whether or not to pursue action in court were made after careful consideration by career prosecutors at the Justice Department. The CIA itself brought these matters -- facts and allegations alike -- to the department's attention," he was quoted as saying. "There has never been any public explanation of why the Justice Department under President George W Bush decided not to bring charges in nearly two dozen abuse cases known to be referred to a team of federal prosecutors ... and in some instances not even details of the cases have been made public," the Times said.

Source: Mail & Guardian