Lawsuits Seek Details of CIA Cover Ups, Public Opinion Campaigns - Rights Group

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The family of Gul Rahman, who was tortured to death in CIA custody 16 years ago, seeks to discover what happened to the body, according to the first of two lawsuits filed against the spy agency by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday.

'The lawsuit filed on behalf of Rahman’s family seeks to compel the CIA to turn over records concerning Rahman’s body, including information about the location of the body, and any procedures, protocols, or guidelines to be followed in the event of a CIA detainee’s death while in US custody', an ACLU press release said.

Rahman died of hypothermia in November 2002 after two weeks of CIA interrogation in an Afghan prison after being kidnapped by US operatives while in Pakistan for a medical checkup, the release said.

To date, the CIA has not officially informed Rahman’s family of his death, nor returned his body to his family, the release noted.

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The second ACLU lawsuit targets what the release called 'unprecedented propaganda campaign to disseminate favourable information about Gina Haspel while refusing to disclose information about her role in torture and destruction of evidence', the release said.

Haspel was confirmed by the US Senate as CIA director in May 2018, despite reports she was in charge of a secret prison in Thailand in 2002, while a terror suspect was being waterboarded, and reports that she ordered the agency’s destruction of interrogation video recordings in 2005.

The lawsuit seeks disclosure of communications between current and former CIA personnel, journalists, former CIA employees and public relations firms; decisions to promote coverage deemed favourable of Haspel; and communications from CIA staff to the White House, according to the release.

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