Parliamentary oversight of security and intelligence agencies in the EU

One of the reasons for the lack of posts on this blog the past months is that I co-authored this large study (446 pages), together with Aidan Wills, for the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE). The study came out today, and also includes a number of attachments written by national [...]

New details emerge about CIA agents involved in rendition and secret detention operations

Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo have new insights about the role of CIA officials who were involved in extraordinary renditions and secret detentions. 1. El Masri The article describes how Frances, a “counterterrorism analyst with no field experience pushed ahead” with El Masri’s rendition, despite the doubts some at the CIA’s Counterterrorism center had whether [...]

South Carolina judge rules that Padilla has no right to pursue torture charges in Padilla v. Rumsfeld

[ASIL] The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina has dismissed all claims of torture and abuse by Jose Padilla against several current and former government officials stemming from his capture, interrogation, and subsequent classification as enemy combatant. The judge also ruled that, even if Padilla were allowed to sue, the current and [...]

George Bush calls off trip to Switzerland amid fear of violence at demonstration… or an arrest warrant

The Guardian reports that George W Bush has had to call off a trip to Switzerland next weekend amid planned protests by human rights groups over the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and the threat of a warrant for his arrest. The visit would have been Bush’s first to Europe since he admitted in [...]

El Masri sues Macedonia over alleged CIA kidnapping

Khaled el-Masri is seeking 50,000 euro in compensation — and an apology — from the government in Macedonia, where he says he was abducted while on a trip in 2003. His action follows failed attempts to have his case heard in court in the United States and Germany. El-Masri, who is of Lebanese descent, says [...]

UN report confirms gap between law and reality, torture, secret detentions and police harassment in Tunisia under Ben Ali

The United Nations just published a report on its website which describes the fact-finding mission of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism in January 2010. On the basis of the evidence he gathered, he observed a pattern of unacknowledged detention being used vis-à-vis terrorist suspects. During the [...]

Interview with ex CIA head Michael Hayden

Hayden acknowledges some inefficiencies in the rapid post-9/11 scaling up of the intelligence community, but says the effectiveness of its efforts are reflected in the absence of an attack against the homeland. “How can you say we’ve not been successful?” he asks. This is the edited transcript of an interview conducted by PBS on Aug. [...]

Rights Groups Urge Spanish Judge to Subpoena Former Guantánamo Commander for Role in Detainee Torture

Today, the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) asked a Spanish Judge to subpoena the former commanding officer at Guantánamo Bay to explain his role in the torture of four former detainees.  CCR and ECCHR filed a 12-page dossier detailing the key role of Major [...]

New JSOC centre must oversee growing use of special anti-terrorism operations

AP reports that the Obama administration has ramped up its secret war on terror groups with a new military targeting center to oversee the growing use of special operations strikes against suspected militants in hot spots around the world. Run by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, the new center would be a significant step [...]

Israeli High Court Justices deny petition requesting Shin Bet statistics about extent of regulation

The Israeli High Court of Justice denied on Tuesday a petition filed against the Shin Bet and the Prime Minister’s Office requesting information regarding the extent to which a regulation preventing Palestinian detainees from consulting with an attorney is being applied. The High Court justices agreed with the State’s stance that revealing such information has [...]