When the to defend its human rights record, State Department legal advisor Harold Koh assured the world that the U.S. had 鈥渢horoughly investigated鈥 alleged abuses of detainees in U.S. custody, and that 鈥渁ppropriate corrective action has been taken.鈥 Koh also asserted that the Justice Department鈥檚 initial investigation into torture was actively looking into allegations of abuse by the CIA and other civilian agencies.
Drawing largely from material that has been covered in , we have come up with 10 follow-up questions for the U.S. about its compliance with domestic and international prohibitions against torture.
As we will see in the next installment of Chapter 5鈥攚hich we'll post next week鈥 military interrogators in Guant谩namo followed the brutal interrogation of Mohammed Al Qahtani with a similar 鈥渟pecial interrogation鈥 of another detainee, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this one involving threats of torture against his family, a mock rendition, and threatened execution.
In Slahi's case, , the navy prosecutor assigned to prepare his case for the military commissions, . Earlier this year, a federal judge hearing Slahi's habeas corpus petition similarly concluded that many of his statements were extracted through torture, and ultimately found that the government had failed to prove its case against Slahi, ordering him released. The government attempted to reverse that decision on appeal, but the appellate court agreed only to for additional proceedings.
As with Qahtani, can you list the names and ranks of all military personnel who have been investigated for ordering and carrying out Mohamedou Ould Slahi's interrogation, and the status and results of any court-martial or other disciplinary proceedings that resulted from those investigations?