City
Epaper

NZ received intel from torture victims in Afghanistan

By IANS | Updated: September 9, 2019 10:00 IST

New Zealand's intelligence agencies received information from detainees who were subjected to torture by the US' CIA during the war in Afghanistan and even provided questions for interrogations, according to an official report released on Monday.

Open in App

Madeleine Laracy of the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, clarified, however, that the New Zealand agencies "were not complicit or otherwise involved in torture or ill-treatment of detainees" during the US' detention and rendition program in Afghanistan between 2001-2009, Efe news reported.

Laracy analyzed whether the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) were complicit in the CIA's illegal activities.

According to the report, both agencies, though mainly the NZSIS, received "many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, it was subsequently revealed, had been subject to torture."

"On one occasion, the NZSIS asked the CIA questions for a detainee," the report found.

"While the NZSIS was not aware that detainee interrogations involved torture, it was known that the individual was being held by the CIA in an undisclosed location," the report added, before stressing that these activities were considered unlawful in New Zealand and under international law.

Investigations began a year after the US Senate Intelligence Committee issued a critical report in 2014 on CIA activities during the war in Afghanistan.

The document analyzed the use of controversial interrogation processes, which included torture, on suspects and members of the Al Qaeda terror network held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia for eight years after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: CIANew ZealandusAfghanistan
Open in App

Related Stories

InternationalIran-Israel Conflict: Israel Attacks Iran's Sole Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr; Tensions Escalate

MumbaiMumbai: Bomb Threat Call to US Consulate Traced to Mentally Unstable Youth Upset Over Visa Rejection

InternationalOrganic Ground Beef Recalled Over E. Coli Fears in US - Is Yours Affected?

InternationalTennessee: One Killed, Several Injured After Woman Suffers Seizure While Driving, Hits Pedestrians and Vehicles in Gatlinburg

InternationalUS: 250 Million Bees Escape After Semi-Truck Overturns in Whatcom County; Weidkamp Road Closed to Traffic

International Realted Stories

International"Bharat Mata Ki Jai!": Evacuees chant as 290 Indians return from Iran under Operation Sindhu, thank govt for safe rescue

InternationalOperation Sindhu: 290 Indians evacuated from Iran arrive in Delhi

InternationalIndian defence delegation meets French officials in Paris; Rafale marine programme formally launched

International"BRICS currency is a very complex discussion": Brazil's Ambassador to India

International"Multilateral economic system should be inclusive for emerging economies": Indonesian Ambassador to India