Report on Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody

Tweet Certainly 8, as many as 12, people were tortured to death.

The link above is to the press release for a detailed report, that includes the information on torture deaths. Below is Informed Comment's summary of the report:

In a detailed report, Human Rights First has used freedom of information laws to gain access to and document the US government's apalling lack of accountability for detainee deaths in custody:

98 detainee deaths in U.S. custody.

45 suspected or confirmed homicides. Thirty-four deaths were homicides under the U.S. military’s definition; Human Rights First found 11 additional cases where the facts suggest death as a result of physical abuse or harsh conditions of detention.

In 48 cases – close to half of all the cases – the cause of death remains officially undetermined or unannounced.

Certainly 8, as many as 12, people were tortured to death.

Only 12 deaths have resulted in any kind of punishment.

The highest punishment for a torture-related death: 5 months confinement.

How can a murderer be sentenced to only 60 days confined to base?

The cases also include that of Abed Hamed Mowhoush, a former Iraqi general beaten by U.S. Army, CIA and other non-military forces, stuffed into a sleeping bag, wrapped with electrical cord, and suffocated to death. In the recently concluded trial of a low-level military officer charged in Mowhoush’s death, the officer received a written reprimand, a fine, and 60 days with his movements limited to his work, home, and church.

And how can no-one be held accountable for deliberately obstructing justice in a murder investigation?

And they include cases like that of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, in which investigative failures have made accountability impossible. Hatab was killed while in U.S. custody at a camp close to Nasiriyah. Although a U.S. Army medical examiner found that Hatab had died of strangulation, the evidence that would have been required to secure accountability for his death – Hatab’s body – was rendered unusable in court. Hatab’s internal organs were left exposed on an airport tarmac for hours and the organs were destroyed; the throat bone that would have supported the Army medical examiner’s findings of strangulation was never found.