The New York Times reports that Iran is obtaining false confessions of treason by utilizing torture enhanced interrogation techniques on reformers they have in custody.
The government has made it a practice to publicize confessions from political prisoners held without charge or legal representation, often subjected to pressure tactics like sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and torture, according to human rights groups and former political prisoners. Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people have been detained.
They fear the confessions are part of a concerted effort to lay the groundwork for banning existing reformist political parties and preventing any organized reform movement in the future. “They hope with this scenario they can expunge them completely from the political process,” said Hadi Ghaemi, coordinator of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based group. “They don’t want them to come back as part of a political party.”
Cheney and Rumsfeld were definitely a bit more subtle, but they didn’t shy away from using these techniques on at least two American citizens. They also thought they could prevent the opposition party from coming back, although their approach was indirect. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had any ground to stand on in protesting Iran’s behavior?
Something to think about on this Independence Day.
