The Things We Know

I really have too many e-mail accounts. I also am subscribed to too many e-mail lists on these e-mail accounts. The end result is that I sometimes miss it when I’m sent stories such as this one:

CIA photos ’show UK Guantanamo detainee was tortured’

By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

Published: 10 December 2007

Lawyers for a British resident who the US government refuses to release from Guantanamo Bay have identified the existence of photographs taken by CIA agents that they say show their client suffered horrific injuries under torture.

The photographic evidence will be vital to clear Binyam Mohammed, 27, who the Americans want to bring before a Military Commission on charges of terrorism, say his lawyers.

Last week it emerged that Britain had negotiated the release of four detainees who have British residence status but Mr Mohammed, who speaks with a London accent, and at least three others are being held back.

In a letter sent to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Britain is urged to ask the US to stop the CIA destroying the pictures.

Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve representing Mr Mohammed, said that he also knows the identity of the agents who were present when his client was allegedly beaten and tortured. Writing to Mr Miliband, he said: "Given the opportunity, we can prove that the evidence was the fruit of torture. Indeed, we can prove that a photographic record was made of this by the CIA. Through diligent investigation we know when the CIA took pictures of Mr Mohammed’s brutalised genitalia, we know the identity of the CIA agents who were present including the person who took the pictures (we know both their false identities and their true names), and we know what those pictures show."

The wounds to Mr. Mohammed allegedly include a "slashed" penis, among other things.

Now, one would think that the mere accusation of such brutal treatment — especially in the midst of the Democrats in Congress probing the CIA’s destruction of videotapes documenting torture — would have immediately made it to the front pages of America’s newspapers, as well as the lead-news slot on our evening TV news programs.

But one would be wrong. Google News turned up bupkis on this for the past week:

What does that tell you about our wonderful media, friends?

Related posts:

1. Rendition, Coffins, Torture, Guantanamo – The Too Familiar Case of Mohammed Madni
2. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Be Tried in NYC, al-Nashiri by Military Commission, No Mention of Abu Zubaydah; WH Counsel Craig to Resign
3. And If He Doesn’t Confess to Being a CIA Agent, Waterboard the Shit out of Him
4. With Pressure Growing over Torture Pics, Obama Turns to Supreme Court to Stop Release
5. With His Children Still Missing, KSM’s Torture Continues