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Stories tagged: torture
Fri., Dec. 6, 2019
Shawn Vestal: Mitchell and Jessen, with waterboards and PowerPoints, stand at center of new film
Film about post-9/11 torture program paints Spokane psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen as the bad guys.
Wed., Oct. 16, 2019
Shawn Vestal: New project puts torture program, and its Spokane architects, on silver screen
“The Report,” a new film that aims to be in the tradition of 1970s political thrillers like “All the President’s Men,” is set for a theatrical release in November.
UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 19, 2019
9th Circuit sends ‘torture’ case involving Mitchell and Jessen back to Spokane judge
In a split decision, federal appellate judges have ruled that a federal judge in Spokane must reconsider his dismissal of a lawsuit seeking to interview former Spokane psychologists James Mitchell …
UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 29, 2019
Judge dismisses felony cruelty charges in squirrel deaths
A Greenacres woman is no longer facing nine felony charges for her efforts to prevent squirrels from raiding her beloved walnut tree. But for the nine squirrels, the death penalty …
Fri., Aug. 16, 2019
California man convicted of torture of pot dispensary owner
A California man who previously escaped from jail and was on the run for a week was convicted of kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner who he mistakenly believed …
UPDATED: Tue., April 2, 2019
Spokane prosecutors decline to file charges in ‘child torture’ case
A man suspected of breaking his 3-year-old son’s leg and splinting it with a Pringles potato chip can, which was among a list of injuries discovered on three children that …
Sat., May 12, 2018
Ruth Marcus: Haspel failed to show she’s learned from history
The nomination of Gina Haspel to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency presents an exquisitely difficult choice for senators weighing her confirmation. It is one that should tip, on …
UPDATED: Fri., May 11, 2018
Dick Cheney: U.S. should restart harsh interrogations, back CIA nominee Haspel
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart the harsh detention and interrogation practices used on terror suspects after 9/11, and called on the Senate to confirm CIA …
UPDATED: Wed., May 9, 2018
Shawn Vestal: The Spokane torture case keeps its secrets about Haspel
Gina Haspel, a CIA officer who worked with the Spokane torture team of James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, has said something about the Bush administration’s post-9/11 interrogation program that few …
UPDATED: Wed., May 9, 2018
CIA nominee says torture doesn’t work as interrogation tool
President Donald Trump’s CIA nominee said Wednesday at her confirmation hearing that she doesn’t believe torture works as an interrogation technique and that her “strong moral compass” would prevent her …
UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 18, 2018
Prosecutor: Parents chained children for months at a time
The parents of 13 siblings who were allegedly held in captivity in their family’s Southern California home were charged Thursday with committing years of torture and abuse that left their …
UPDATED: Tue., Nov. 28, 2017
Woman sentenced for holding another woman captive for weeks
An Oregon woman was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for beating a woman with a wooden closet rod while she was held captive in her home, a newspaper …
UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 15, 2017
At U.N. rights body, Sri Lanka vows new steps to fight torture
Government envoys from Sri Lanka told the U.N.’s top human rights body Wednesday that their country is taking new steps to battle torture, a move that an advocacy group attributed …
UPDATED: Tue., Nov. 14, 2017
Sri Lanka official denies allegations of torture, rape
Sri Lanka’s defense minister denied Tuesday that his country committed torture and rape of suspected rebels, as charged by more than 50 men of the island’s Tamil ethnic minority who …
Fri., Nov. 10, 2017
Sri Lanka government faces pressure over torture, rape allegations
Sri Lanka’s government faced increasing pressure Friday to answer for alleged human rights violations following an Associated Press investigation that found more than 50 men who said they were raped, …
Tue., Nov. 7, 2017
Men report rape, torture under Sri Lankan government
Raped, branded and beaten, Witness #205 is one of more than 50 men who say they were abducted and tortured under Sri Lanka’s current government. The men’s previously unpublished accounts …
Sat., Oct. 7, 2017
Man guilty in torture death of girlfriend’s son gets prison
A man convicted of torturing his girlfriend’s son by forcing him to take ice baths, wrapping his head in duct tape and rubbing cayenne pepper into his eyes was sentenced …
Fri., Aug. 11, 2017
Shawn Vestal: In the torture case, big decisions rest on small points
In the ongoing trial of the two former Fairchild Air Force Base psychologists whose company earned more than $80 million to develop and carry out the enhanced-interrogation program, one slap …
UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 7, 2017
Judge clears path for torture trial against Spokane psychologists involved in CIA waterboarding
A visibly shaken Dror Ladin labored in court as he tried on July 28 to convince U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush why the ACLU’s lawsuit on behalf of three …
UPDATED: Fri., July 28, 2017
Federal judge questions civil torture suit against Spokane psychologists Mitchell and Jessen
The torture civil suit against two Spokane psychologists will continue to the next round, but a federal judge cast doubt Friday as to whether he’ll let the case proceed without …
UPDATED: Tue., July 25, 2017
Spokane psychologists turn to Nuremberg trial ruling on Nazi gas killings to defend role in torture
The attorneys defending Spokane psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen are arguing that the successful defense of the “gas technician” of the firm that developed Zyklon B used by Nazis …
Fri., June 23, 2017
Senators ask military to review Yemen abuse reported by AP
Two senior U.S. senators are asking Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to investigate reports that U.S. military interrogators worked with forces from the United Arab Emirates accused of torturing detainees in …
UPDATED: Thu., June 8, 2017
Federal judge in Spokane asked to provide Poland with CIA torture evidence from Mitchell and Jessen
A federal judge in Spokane has been asked to turn over evidence needed to determine a legal dispute in Poland regarding whether laws were broken when that country allowed the …
Fri., June 2, 2017
Democrats worry GOP trying to bury torture report
Democratic lawmakers and rights groups criticized the Republican head of the Senate intelligence committee on Friday for seeking the return of copies of a report on CIA treatment of detainees …
Mon., May 1, 2017
Gay activists detained in Russia at protest against torture
Russian police have detained several gay rights activists in St. Petersburg during a protest against the reported abuse of homosexuals in Chechnya.
Fri., April 14, 2017
Russia asked to end alleged killings of gays in Chechnya
International organizations on Thursday urged the Russian government to investigate the reported abuse and killings of gay men in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya.
UPDATED: Thu., March 23, 2017
Mitchell and Jessen attorneys seek judge to unlock CIA records of torture program
The attorneys for former Spokane psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen argued this week that the Trump Administration’s decision to keep some records secret in the name of national security …
UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 20, 2017
Federal judge sets records deadline in torture suit against Spokane psychologists Mitchell and Jessen
A federal judge gave a hard deadline Monday for U.S. government attorneys to decide whether they will keep some records secret about the relationship between the CIA and two psychologists …
UPDATED: Tue., Feb. 14, 2017
Torture suit against Spokane psychologists Mitchell and Jessen could face more delays
A federal judge appears to be growing weary of continued delays in the complex legal battle by three men who claim they were victims of torture that was designed, and …
Thu., Feb. 9, 2017
Egypt shuts down organization treating torture victims
Egyptian police on Thursday morning shuttered an organization that treats victims of torture and trauma, said a prominent psychiatrist who founded the center, describing it as part of the latest …