ACLU Wins Access to Abu Ghraib Images; US Drops Appeal
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- Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 00:34:35 GMT
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ACLU Wins Access to Abu Ghraib Images; US Drops Appeal
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
CNN - Mar 29, 2006
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/28/abu.ghraib/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
U.S. agrees to issue Abu Ghraib images
Defense Department withdraws appeal challenging ACLU request
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Defense Department has withdrawn its appeal
challenging a district court order requiring it to turn over to civil rights
groups 74 photographs and three videotapes depicting images of abuse at Abu
Ghraib prison in Baghdad, officials said Tuesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups filed a Freedom
of Information Act lawsuit against the department in October 2003, before
the release of the first images from the prison nearly seven months later,
looking for documents related to abuse of detainees held in U.S. custody
abroad.
That lawsuit has resulted in the release of more than 90,000 pages of
government documents on issues of detainee treatment in Iraq, Afghanistan,
and at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The decision to abandon the appeal means that a September 2005 ruling by
Judge Alvin Hellerstein in the Southern District of New York ordering the
military to turn over the photographs and videotapes will stand.
In that ruling, Hellerstein wrote, "Publication of the photographs is
central to the purposes of [the Freedom of Information Act] because they
initiate debate, not only about the improper and unlawful conduct of
American soldiers, 'rogue' soldiers, as they have been characterized, but
also about other important questions as well.
"For example, the command structure whose failures in exercising supervision
may make them culpable along with the soldiers who were court-martialed for
perpetrating the wrongs."
Images and videos depicting abuse of detainees by U.S. military personnel at
Abu Ghraib were originally provided to Army investigators by Sgt. Joseph
Darby, a military policeman, who blew the whistle on the abuses.
Some of the images were later obtained and published by various news
organizations, creating outrage in the United States and around the world.
Asked to comment on the department's decision to give up the appeal, ACLU
attorney Amrit Singh told CNN, "The government never had a basis for
withholding the photographs under the law in the first place. So the
withdrawal of the appeal only confirms that the public is entitled to these
documents under the Freedom of Information Act."
Although the department had been challenging the court ruling for nearly six
months, the ACLU believes that the decision to challenge the ruling may have
led to previously unreleased photos and videos of abuse at Abu Ghraib being
leaked to and published by the Australian Broadcasting System and Salon.com
in February.
The ACLU said in a statement that most of the 74 images are believed to have
already been published on Salon.com.
Singh said the government has agreed to comply with the court's order to
turn over the images. The government will authenticate photos from Salon.com
in its possession, and any of the 74 photos it has that are not on Salon.com
will be turned over.
Singh added, "I think that this is a victory for the public's right to know
the full truth about the abuse of detainees held in U.S. custody abroad."
A Defense Department official, Lt. Col. John Skinner, told CNN, "We will
identify the images recently published on a media Web site that were at
issue in this appeal. If any images at issue are not posted on the Web site,
we will release those images, with portions redacted."
ACLU spokesperson Erica Pelletreau said she hopes that will be "sooner
rather than later."
In the aftermath of the initial revelations of detainee abuse, a Pentagon
official said, "There have been more than 12 major reports and over 600
criminal investigations.
"There have been thousands of interviews, dozens of congressional hearings.
Clearly, this is an issue that has been put under a microscope and looked at
from every possible angle," the official said.
The Defense Department's decision "only applies to the 74 photos and three
videos that were part of the litigation," another official said. "We reserve
the right to repeat arguments and to appeal future orders to release other
images."
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a written statement Tuesday
that the group "will press on with its lawsuit to hold high-level officials
accountable for creating policies that resulted in the abuse of detainees."
*
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