New Events

International

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link What Fresh Hell is This? The Climate and Nature Bill Mon Dec 23, 2024 09:00 | Paul Homewood
If you thought eco zealot Ed Miliband was bad, wait until you get a load of the Climate Change and Nature Bill, which seeks to turbocharge the Net Zero agenda and already has the support of 192 MPs. Paul Homewood has the skinny.
The post What Fresh Hell is This? The Climate and Nature Bill appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Daily Sceptic Christmas Appeal Mon Dec 23, 2024 07:00 | Toby Young
The Daily Sceptic's Christmas Appeal launches today ? an opportunity for readers to show their appreciation of the work we do. Remember, donating just ?5/month or ?50/year will give you access to a range of premium perks.
The post The Daily Sceptic Christmas Appeal appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Dec 23, 2024 01:12 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Staff at ?100 Million Alan Turing Institute Attack ?Chaotic? Management Amid Diversity Row Sun Dec 22, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred
Staff at the ?100 million Alan Turing Institute have erupted in protest over a diversity row, accusing leadership of "tokenistic" hiring and sparking fears that the organisation's credibility is at risk.
The post Staff at ?100 Million Alan Turing Institute Attack ?Chaotic? Management Amid Diversity Row appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link ?Our Irish Leaders Have Contributed to Hatred Against Jews? Sun Dec 22, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
Ireland's Chief Rabbi has blasted the country's leaders for fuelling antisemitism, leaving Jewish children hiding their identities and many others afraid to wear symbols of their faith.
The post ?Our Irish Leaders Have Contributed to Hatred Against Jews? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

offsite link Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en

offsite link How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en

offsite link Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Press Release: US Senate Report on CIA Torture Shows its Time for the Irish Government to Act

category international | anti-war / imperialism | press release author Thursday December 11, 2014 14:22author by shannonwatchauthor email shannonwatch at gmail dot com Report this post to the editors

Press Release - Shannonwatch, 11 Dec 2014

Shannonwatch are appalled at the shocking revelations about CIA torture of detainees in the US Senate intelligence committee report released on Tuesday Dec 9th. Details of the methods used, the extent of the torture and the scale of lies and deceit from a government agency are even worse than was already known. Ireland's complicity has already been documented by other reports, but given this new information it is now well past time for a full investigation of the role played by Shannon in the brutal and illegal interrogation undertaken by the CIA.

Shannonwatch are appalled at the shocking revelations about CIA torture of detainees in the US Senate intelligence committee report released on Tuesday Dec 9th. Details of the methods used, the extent of the torture and the scale of lies and deceit from a government agency are even worse than was already known. Ireland's complicity has already been documented by other reports, but given this new information it is now well past time for a full investigation of the role played by Shannon in the brutal and illegal interrogation undertaken by the CIA.

"Since George Bush authorised the use of torture after 9/11, Shannon Airport has been a part of the global torture networks operated by the CIA" said John Lannon of Shannonwatch. "This has been well documented by a range of international bodies but yet the Department of Foreign Affairs continue to pretend Ireland is not implicated in rendition or torture. They base this on assurances from the US government that no prisoners were transported through Irish territory. But we know now that the CIA and the US government lied about their torture programme."

"It is very likely that prisoners were transported through Shannon because we know the oversight of US government and CIA aircraft has always been extremely lax there" said John Lannon.

"Even if prisoners weren't taken through Irish territory, the fact that the torture planes came through Shannon is enough to make Ireland complicit in torture."

"It is now time for the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish government to start living up to its responsibilities under the UN Convention Against Torture" continued the Shannonwatch spokesperson. "History will judge them very poorly when their failure to act on the many reports of suspect rendition planes made to the Gardai is examined."

Much of the torture report remains classified but it is nonetheless clear that the CIA used physically and psychologically harmful torture practices including waterboarding and sensory deprivation. These were so bad that they left one detainee "completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth". The report also alleges instances of sleep deprivation, slaps and slamming detainees against the wall.

Shannonwatch have established that one man in particular Ramzi bin al-Shibh who is mentioned in the CIA torture report was moved from detention in Afghanistan to Morocco in Sept 2002 where he was tortured for 5 months. Their records show that the plane that transported him then landed for refueling at Shannon on it's way back to the US.

"That alone makes Ireland complicit in torture." said John Lannon.

In Feb 2003 Ramzi bin al-Shibh was brought back into CIA custody and a special torture plan was drawn up for him that became a template for other detainees. It included being kept naked in a freezing cold room with white lights and loud noise, being shackled in painful stress positions including being shackled to the ceiling, cramped confinement, sleep deprivation of more than 72 hours. He was kept in solitary confinement for more than two years and has been in Guantanamo Bay since 2006.

"The Irish State and its authorities were part of that process." said John Lannon. "We were part of the appalling human rights abuse that men like him are still being subjected to."

The CIA torture report will be probed by Scots police looking into claims that Scottish airports were used to transport terror suspects. Shannonwatch emphasise the urgent need for the Gardai to do the same.

Full US Senate Report is available here: http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf.

For more information or interviews phone 087 8225087 or email shannonwatch@gmail.com. See also www.shannonwatch.org.

© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy