IACHR Allows US Torture Claims to Proceed

In an opinion issued July 8, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruled that the claims of four victims of torture and rendition at the hands of the U.S. government can proceed. As described in the opinion, “[t]he petition alleges that each alleged victim was confronted by masked U.S. agents who beat them; forcibly stripped them by cutting off their clothes; photographed them while naked; dressed them in diapers; shackled them; aggressively forced them onto an aircraft; and immobilized them in painful positions for the duration of flight to various ‘black sites.’ In addition, some alleged victims report being forcibly drugged via an anal suppository. In all cases, each alleged victim was forbidden to speak or move, and attempts to do so resulted in more physical abuse. The petitioners allege that the severe torture and abuse inflicted on the alleged victims by the U.S. was part of a wide-reaching and systemic state-sponsored, anti-terrorism program.”

The opinion on July 8 determined that the petitioners had exhausted their domestic remedies (a fact conceded by the US government), and that their allegations raised colorable claims of rights violations, if proved. The matter will now proceed to an analysis of the merits.

Notably, the petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission in 2011, following lengthy domestic proceedings, but based on facts that occurred as early as 2002. While the litigants are rightly characterizing this as a victory for their clients, and a step toward accountability of the US government, the nine-year period from complaint to opinion is a reminder that very often, justice delayed is justice denied.