For Immediate Release
The CIA today released a trove of documents related to its rendition, detention, and interrogation programs, and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is appalled that the agency redacted nearly all details concerning the CIA’s Office of Medical Services, the entity ostensibly charged with detainee care.
The following response can be attributed to Dr. Vincent Iacopino, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights:
“We continue to be stunned by the CIA’s audacity in suppressing all details related to the role medical officials played in the agency’s brutal torture program. This blanket redaction of details relating to medical records, medical treatment, and any role played by CIA medical professionals is part of the CIA’s ongoing effort to cover up responsibility for torture and for violations of medicine’s central principal: do no harm.
“This wholesale redaction is part of the CIA’s pattern of concealing evidence of its crimes, and it suggests U.S. government officials are still trying to avoid any and all liability for torturing detainees. As Physicians for Human Rights has established, psychologists, doctors, and other health professionals were central to the CIA’s torture program. They designed the methods, medically monitored torture victims, engaged in unethical research and experimentation, and helped the CIA legitimize practices any responsible medical professional would consider beyond the pale.
“National security laws were never intended to hide the evidence of crimes. Health personnel involved in torture at every level must be held accountable for their actions.”
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.