Washington: CIA employed doctors and
psychologists in US detention sites like Guantanamo camp to
monitor its "enhanced interrogation" of terror suspects
including "unlawful human experimentation", a medical ethics
group has alleged.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a not-for-profit group
in its latest report on investigating the role of medical
personnel in alleged incidents of torture at Guantanamo, Abu
Ghraib, Bagram and other US detention sites, accuses doctors
of participating at every stage in the the CIA's secret
"torture programme", the Guardian reported.
The American Medical Association, the largest body of
physicians in the US, said it was discussing the issue with
the Obama administration.
"The participation of physicians in torture and
interrogation is a violation of core ethical values," it said.
The PHR's latest report, Aiding Torture claims that
doctors actively monitored the CIA's interrogation techniques
with a view to determining their effectiveness, using
detainees as human subjects without their consent. The report
concludes that such data gathering was "a practice that
approaches unlawful experimentation".
These techniques include facial slaps, sleep deprivation,
walling, where the prisoners padded heads are banged against
walls, and waterboarding or simulated drowning.
US President Barack Obama has already ordered closure of
the controversial Guantanamo camp.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, September 03, 2009, 20:12