Torturers should be prosecuted

TWO top United Nations human rights officials have demanded that the US government prosecute all high-level government officials involved in the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) torture program-me. The UN’s special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson stated on Dec 10, 2014 that the systematic torture revealed in the US Senate Report released on Dec 9, was a massive violation of the 1994 UN Convention Against Torture.

He urged the US Attorney-General to “bring criminal charges against those responsible”. He emphasised that the US is legally obliged to do so under international law. Another UN official, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, made a similar call.