Special Prosecutor Durham May Soon Issue Subpoenas in Torture Investigation

U.S. Attorney John Durham has begun to subpoena witnesses before a grand jury as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged acts of CIA Bush-era torture, according to TIME Magazine. In 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder instructed Durham to investigate approximately 12 instances of interrogation involving torture of suspected terrorists, some of which were fatal.

Although the name of the individual(s) who may be prosecuted remains unknown, TIME reports rumors that CIA interrogator Mark Swanner may be the subject of the prosecution. While pursuing the case marks a positive step towards justice for Bush-era war crimes, Alliance for Justice believes that accountability must extend to the orchestrators of the torture at the highest levels, including the authors of the torture memos, like John Yoo and Jay Bybee.

AFJ has long believed that accountability for torture is necessary to ensure that these gross human rights abuses do not happen again and to restore our country’s reputation as a nation of laws. The AFJ film Tortured Law explores the role government lawyers played in authorizing torture, and calls for a full-scale investigation of those who ordered and justified torture.

To read the full TIME article, click here.