• Press Release

Vote to Adopt the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Findings is “a Good First Step”

December 13, 2012

Contact: Sharon Singh, [email protected], 202-675-8579, @spksingh

The vote today to adopt the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report was 9-6 in favor.

Adotei Akwei, Amnesty International USA managing director for government relations, said:

"The decision by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to adopt the findings of its investigation into torture and other ill treatment by the CIA is a good first step. Now, the committee must seek declassification of the report and release it publicly with as few redactions as possible."

"Public release of the report is a critical step toward shutting down those who continue to defend the torture program and preventing torture in the future. As debate continues to flare over the use of torture in the pursuit of Osama bin Laden—fueled by the forthcoming film Zero Dark Thirty–it's time to separate fact from fiction and tell the truth about torture. It is barbaric and unreliable, and it has no place in U.S. policy. Torture is always wrong, always prohibited under international law, and can never, ever be justified."

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.