Two psychologists who helped design the CIA’s post-9/11 detainee interrogation program will stand trial in September for promoting the use of torture methods like water-boarding, starvation and chaining prisoners in extreme stress positions.
Federal judges in Washington state late Monday ordered a lawsuit on behalf of three former detainees — one of whom died in a CIA prison following harsh interrogation — to go to a jury trial, rejecting efforts to force a settlement and prevent a full hearing of the case.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the ex-detainees, will be the first involving the torture program to go to trial.
The government has headed off previous efforts, citing what is said is a need to protect sensitive intelligence.
The case targets psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who were recruited by the CIA in 2002 to design and help conduct interrogations of war-on-terror suspects captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The two were paid $80 million for their work, which included helping interrogate Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda, and Abu Zubaydah, another top Qaeda official.
— AFP
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