Iran Special Report: The Attack on Civil Society and 19 Ways to Challenge It (Arseh Sevom)

Arseh Sevom (Third Sphere), a new NGO based in Holland "aiming to promote peace, democracy, and human rights", has published its first report, "Attacks on Civil Society in Iran, 2005-2010". The Executive Summary and Recommendations:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran are happening to individuals, but they are targeted at civil society. This is as true of the mistreatment and torture of those detained for protesting after the 2009 presidential elections as it is of the arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders. The abuses are designed to control an increasingly liberal population and to silence opposition and dissent.

Human rights discourse is marginalized and problematic in the IRI. In the past, many intellectuals have agreed in part with the regime that “human rights” has been used as a tool by the West to punish countries like Iran. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, head of Iran’s human rights council, has stated repeatedly that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in full compliance with human rights law. In 2008 he stated, “Tehran’s strategy is to conform international commitments on human rights to the Islamic concepts and then enforce them nationwide.”


This report looks at the ways in which civil society has been systematically undermined in Iran. The report does not deal with each individual or organizational case, but looks at the underlying patterns of abuses that are designed to target whole sectors of society through the harrassment of individuals and organizations. There are dozens of reports highlighting abuses and individual cases. We attempt to examine the internal situation that has led to the attacks on civil society activists and unravel the larger narrative underlying individual cases.

Our report begins with 2005, the year Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as president of Iran. At the time, civil society in Iran had experienced its first taste of relative freedom, which primarily arose from the tentative opening of society during two four-year terms of reformist president Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).

In 2005, the new administration took a hostile approach to civil society organizations, which resulted in limitations on their actions because of closures, travel restrictions, and other restrictions. The antagonist position towards civil society was the defining feature of Ahmadinejad’s first term, just as the struggle between societal reform and hardline elements had defined the administration of Khatami.

In this report we cover the following major topics:

- The tentative rise of civil society
- Struggle between reform and suppression
- The 2005 elections
- The emergence of a new political class
- Velvet revolution
- Struggle for the soul of Iran
- From green wave to civil rights: post-presidential elections (2009)
- Stifling women’s voices
- Reform is criminalized
- State control of workers
- The attack on human rights defenders
- Basij student movements are the only legitimate ones
- “Iran is the freest country in the world”
- Civil society, civil no more
- Recommendations

Recommendations

1) Civil society as a Social force: In today’s world civil society is one of the fundamental aspects of democracy as well as key player in the new geopolitics. Therefore, we ecommend that the Islamic Republic of Iran regard civil society as an effective factor in development and democracy, and not as a technocratic concept. The government must refrain from anti-civil society politics. We believe all of the aspects of the civil society must participate in proposal, decision making, execution and evaluation of all the policies, programs, in all fields and layers of the society.

2) Freedom of Association: Freedom of association is one of the main characteristics of stable democracy. Associations are important centers for practicing democracy.

Therefore we demand guarantees for the right of founding, acting, assembling, and protesting, according to Article 26 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Charter of the Human Rights, principles of civil-political rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, conventions and ratifications 87 and 98 of the International Labor Standards.

3) Autonomy: Autonomy is a fundamental necessity for longevity of civil society. We demand that according to Article 26 of the constitution, and the treaties of civil rights-political, economic, social and cultural-, conventions and ratifications 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization, to refrain from interference in their internal affairs that jeopardize the independence of associations.

4) Human Rights: Respecting human rights is the foundation of peace, democracy, and sustained development, and Iran is a signatory to the universal declaration of human rights. Therefore, we demand respect and complete implementation of all articles and clauses in the human rights declarations, and protection and support for all human right activists in Iran.

5) Education of human and civil rights: Continuous and public education about civil and human rights is a necessary condition for having responsible and committed citizens in any society. We demand that the Islamic Republic government provide necessary conditions for teaching human and citizen rights in all layers of the society.

6) Guarantee the Freedom of Press: Newspapers are known as the fourth foundation of democracy. They play an important role in sustaining democracy. Therefore, we demand guarantee and improvement of the freedom of press in Iran.

7) Media Diversity: Multiplicity and diversity of media is representative of freedom of speech and thought. Therefore, we demand policies for diversification and the implementation of a private and non-governmental media sector across society.

8) Freedom of Speech and Thought: We demand guarantees for freedom of speech and thought and the lifting of restrictions from all social and artistic domains.

9) Revision and Reforms in all Rules and Regulations Pertinent to Civil Society: In the current situation, the absence of general laws, concentration of current laws, and legal vacuum in some domains and restrictive laws has led to underdevelopment and retardation of this immense social asset. Therefore, we demand corrections and revisions of all laws and rules overseeing the current civil society organizations.

10) Women: We demand revision and reforms of all discriminatory laws and rules, joining the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, and implementation of these rules by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

11) The Fundamental Labor Conventions: We demand ratification of conventions for freedom of association and assembly, the right to union formation and negotiation, minimum labor age, and prohibitions on child labor.

12) Revision of Educational Texts: Reform and revision of educational texts according to principles of human rights, civil rights, promotion of collaborative networks, volunteering and civil cultures, is another fundamental recommendation.

13) Supervision of Civil Society Organizations: Groups and organizations of the civil society oversee and reflect the needs and demands of people in different levels, especially those of the marginalized and disenfranchised groups. Therefore, we demand their official right to oversee their own affairs.

14) Social Exchange: Iranian civil society cannot flourish in a greenhouse, and without interactions with the outside world. Therefore, we demand that the government lift obstacles in the way of exchange, dialogue, and transfer of knowledge and experience among those inside and outside Iran.

15) Social Networks: Success and liveliness of social networks along with relations based on trust are key social assets of a society. There is a tight link between social assets and the development and sustainable democracy. Therefore, we demand that the government put aside the politics of destruction that deteriorate the real and virtual social networks.

16) Right to Access and Circulation of Information: To guarantee the right to access and circulate information is an important duty of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the signatories of the resolution and action plans of the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva (in 2003) and in Tunisia (2005). Therefore, we demand the right to access information and the lifting of the obstacles and broad filters on the transfer of information. Also, we demand the rights and civil freedom of citizens and associations in the virtual domain.

17) Professions and Professionalism: Professional organizations and professionalism are important foundations of a civil society. we demand that the government respect the independence of professional associations and to avoid interfering in their affairs, especially in the formulation and establishment of a code of ethics and conduct.

18) Culture, Language, Ethnicity: Cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity is a common human heritage. We demand, according to the articles 15 and 19 of the constitution, that cultural, linguistic, and ethnic identities be respected.

19) Accountability to Interest Groups: With attention to considerable growth of unions and social demands, we demand accountability to interest groups, particularly university students, teachers, workers, farmers, nurses, industrialists, employers, lawyers, physicians, journalists and others.

Read the full report....

The Latest from Iran (7 June): Mousavi-Karroubi Meeting

2145 GMT: The Khomeini Fall-Out. To end the day as we started it: despite the criticism of the Government over the harassment of Hassan Khomeini last Friday, "hardline" newspapers continue to press the campaign against Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson. Raja News continues to push the story of a "nasty encounter" between Hassan Khomeini and Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar (using the belittling name of "Hassan Mostafavi" for Khomeini), with President Ahmadinejad leading discussions on an appropriate response.

NEW Iran Analysis: The Unexpected Fight Over “Khomeini”
NEW Iran Analysis: One Year After the Election (Shafaee)
NEW Iran Feature: Music and Resistance (Fathi)
Iran Document: Mehdi Karroubi on Khomeini, the Rule of Law, and Protest in 2010 (4 June)
Iran Document: The Supreme Leader’s Speech (4 June)
The Latest from Iran (6 June): The Fallout from Friday

2130 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Badrosadat Mofidi has been released from detention.


2120 GMT: Larijani v. Ahmadinejad (cont.). Back from an academic break to find yet another development in the political contest between the President and Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani. Countering the assertion of Larijani that many Government actions were not in accordance with Parliament's legislation (other MPs have claimed up to 130 Government measures are in dispute), Ahmadinejad has claimed that three Parliamentary bills are in violation of the law: “the plan to make changes to the law of development and support of housing, the plan for admission of students in vocational and technical schools as well as teachers colleges, and finally miscellaneous accessions to budgets approved by the parliament without observing provisions set forth in the Islamic Republic Constitution".

1605 GMT: The Dissent Within (cont. --- see 0955 GMT): Rooz Online follows up on stories of Principlist discontent with President Ahmadinejad.

The website starts from alleged remarks by Ahmadinejad that “political parties should not interfere in government affairs” and his chief aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, that “the principlists have crossed Ahmadinejad”.

Seyed Reza Akrami, a member of the Combatant Clergy Association, responded to Rahim Mashai, “One year has passed since the election, and officials shouldn’t make such statements that only fuel differences....Such statements from the nation’s executive officials have no benefit and only creates problems, divisions and difference among the principlists....Instead of talking about scenarios such as ‘crossing Ahmadinejad’, the officials should be trying to find solutions to problems that are rampant in society.”

Rooz claims the political director of the Iran Hezbollah Society, Hossein Kanani-Moghaddam, asserted, “Many principlists are no longer with Ahmadinejad. On the other hand, people who weren’t with him before are now supporting him for their own benefit.”

1550 GMT: The 22 Khordaad Marches. Rah-e-Sabz reports that the Ministry of the Interior has rejected two applications --- from the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution --- for demonstrations on 12 June and have asked for further information from six other reformist groups.

1420 GMT: Mousavi & Karroubi Meet. From Advar News, via the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi met with each other....In this meeting the two Green leaders discussed the incident [which] happened on June 4th in the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s passing when a group of organized pro-government thugs insulted Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of late Ayatollah Khomeini, so that he had to end his speech and leave the podium. Also, according to reports in this meeting, the two leaders made some new decisions regarding the protest on June 12th for the anniversary of rigged presidential election. Details of this meeting will be published soon.

1315 GMT: Executions. A 14th hanging today (see 0940 GMT) has taken place in Isfahan.

1310 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Poet, human rights activist & blogger Reza Akvanian has been sentenced to one year in prison with five more years suspended.

1300 GMT: Khomeini Fall-Out. The reformist Assembly of Combatant Clergymen, in a meeting last night chaired by former President Mohammad Khatami, issued a statement strongly condemning "the insults made on Seyyed Hassan Khomeini" at last Friday's ceremony. The clerics asked, "How is it, that when someone makes a slightest comment or does an interview criticizing the government, they will be arrested instantly, but that the authorities do nothing to stop these kinds of attacks...by a group of organized plainclothes individuals?"

1045 GMT: Conversation of the Day. From an article by Ali Chenar, “The Meaning of ‘V’: Reflections on a Moral Triumph”:

TAXI DRIVER: "Agha, do you remember what people did last year here?"
CHENAR: "Yes, yes I do!"
TAXI DRIVER: "I could not believe my eyes."
CHENAR: "True, many couldn't.... Here is my stop. Thank you…."
As Chenar hands a few notes to the driver for the fare, he pauses for a moment and asks:

CHENAR: "Do you think it is over, sir?"
TAXI DRIVER: "Hell no! It is not over. Do not think like that, my lad. It has just begun!"

1030 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. There are reports that teachers’ union activist Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi, recently released from detention, has been re-arrested.

1000 GMT: The Executions. More than 200 women’s rights and human rights activists have issued a statement condemning the executions of five Iranians, four of them Kurdish, on 9 May and demanding a halt to further hangings of Kurds on death row.

0955 GMT: The Dissent Within. The Green website Rah-e-Sabz offers more details of the warning handed out by the Principlist party, primarily by MP Hamid Rasaie, to Ali Motahari over Motahari’s condemnation of President Ahmadinejad. Complementing the line offered by some clerics and reformists, Motahari said that Friday’s furour over Seyed Hassan Khomeini emanated from problems with the 2009 election.

And, in an extraordinary remark if true, pro-Ahmadinejad Hojatoleslam Ali Asghari has referred to “white-bearded hardliners” and continued with a message to Mahdavi Kani to Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani: “Tell him the time of grandpas is long over.”

0940 GMT: Executions. Reports are coming in that 13 prisoners were hung this morning at Ghezelhesar Prison. Another 13 people are still in “quarantine” awaiting possible execution.

Those put to death were convicted of drug offences.

0935 GMT: Reformist member of Parliament Mohammad Reza Tabesh, referring to the shout-down of Seyed Hassan Khomeini, has suggested that “if [the Government] cannot control this small group, they should at least apologize”. Claiming that the Supreme Leader “is not amused” about the incident, Tabesh suggested that Friday’s “violations are due to electoral quarrels”.

Even the firmly pro-Government Resalat has declared that accusing Hassan Khomeini of being against velayat –e-faqih (ultimate clerical authority) is an “injustice”. MP Mohammad Kousari has warned, “Without [Ayatollah] Khomeini, we lose our identity.”

0930 GMT: Activists claim that Hassan Khomeini has rejected allegations that he attacked Minister of Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar. To our knowledge, there has been no corroboration of the story from Javan, the publication connected to the Revolutionary Guards.

0925 GMT: Green websites are circulating the call of students of Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Lahijan, and Mashaad Universities for rallies on 22 Khordaad (12 June), the anniversary of the election.

0720 GMT:  We open this morning with three specials: Nazila Fathi writes about music and resistance, Masoud Shafaee looks at Iran one year after the election, and Scott Lucas assesses "the fight over Khomeini".

Gaza Flotilla LiveBlog (7 June): Moving Beyond the Attack

2045 GMT: Back from an academic break to find that Israel has tried to set out the lines of an internal enquiry into last Monday's attack. Gregg Carlstrom reports, "IDF [Israel Defense Forces announces internal 'team of experts' to review flotilla operation, led by reserve general; other three members are high-ranking officers."

Gaza Flotilla: Israel “Passengers Linked to Hamas, Al Qa’eda, Terrorist Organisations”
Gaza Flotilla LiveBlog (6 June): Israel Blames “Islamist Mercenaries”

1330 GMT: More on the Turkish Line. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) gathered in Istanbul today; Israel, one of the 20 members, was absent. In his public briefing, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "Israel has the responsibility of accountability in front of international law. We have nothing to hide. It is Israel that has to give response to the international commission. If some countries are privileged and out of international law, let us know so."

Then Davutoglu made Ankara's next move in the chess game both over the Flotilla and over regional politics, "If Israel gives the green light to the formation of an international committee and is ready to answer questions of the committee, Turkish-Israeli relations will have a different course. Otherwise, Turkish-Israeli relations cannot be normalized."

Davutoglu reiterated, "If Israel thinks it has protected its national interests and rights, it should declare that it accepts formation of an international committee. Otherwise, it means that they are hiding some facts."

Pretty strong stuff, but gentle compared to the opinion of Israel's former Deputy Chief of General Staff, Uzi Dayan: "If the Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan joins such a flotilla, we should make clear beforehand this would be an act of war, and we would not try to take over the ship he was on, but would sink it.”

1325 GMT: Sorry (Sort Of) for the Satire. The Israeli Government has apologised for a spoof video e-mailed by its press office to international media.

To the tune of US LiveAid's 1985 "We Are the World", the video shows "peace activists" singing, "We Con the World".

Mark Regev, the main spokesman for the Israeli Government, clarified, "I thought it was funny. It is what Israelis feel, but the government has nothing to do with it."

1230 GMT: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad came together for a public briefing in Istanbul. Erdogan said:

Thank you for accepting our invitation. We talked about the provocative attack against the humanitarian aid ship in which our people were there. And we cursed it once more.

The attack's targeting unarmed peace attendants increases the importance of the situation.

This shame of humanity against innocent civilians is violating international laws.

If one is to talk about terror in Mediterranean, it is Israel's state terrorism.

1200 GMT: Turkish President Abdullah Gul talked to Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, a joint committee agreement was signed between Palestinian leader on foreign affairs, Riad El Maliki and Ahmet Davutoglu. According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, this agreement consolidates Turkey's political support and organizes the operational structure of Turkish aid to Palestine indefinitely.

1100 GMT: When asked whether military agreements with Israel are to be suspended or canceled, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said, "All agreements, including the military ones, are still in place."

1045 GMT: The Israel Defense Forces’ Operations Directorate has issued an order forbidding all IDF personnel from traveling to Turkey “out of fear for Israelis being attacked”.

1015 GMT: So when does the Flotilla crisis stop being a crisis? Well, it could well be when “new” news intervenes.

This morning last week’s events have been overtaken by reports that Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians on a boat off the coast of Gaza. The Israelis claim the men were wearing diving gear. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah [note: not Hamas], have told Al Jazeera the men were members of the group and were only conducting "training exercises".

Hamas security forces say a fifth man is missing and a sixth --- a senior member of the Brigades --- escaped.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep the Flotilla issue alive (and perhaps to make political capital from it?), Tehran is now saying that two aid ships of Iran’s Red Crescent will set sail with food, medicine, and appliances for Gaza in the near future. Iranian doctors and relief workers will be on board.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had announced earlier that it would provide naval escorts for any ships trying to reach Gaza, an offer rejected by Hamas.

Meanwhile….

An Israeli Parliamentary Committee has recommended, by a 7-1 vote, that Knesset member Haneen Zoabi should be stripped of special privileges to go abroad, the right to carry a diplomatic passport, and the right to have the state cover litigation fees incurred while serving in the Knesset.

A battle of words and videos continues over Ken O’Keefe, one of five passengers on the Mavi Marmara accused by Israel of having links to “terrorist organisations”.

An injured O’Keefe appeared in a video claiming that Israelis were aggressors during the Monday attack and that passengers seized weapons to stop the killing.  He has also been interviewed by Al Jazeera about his relationship with Palestinian groups.

Iran Analysis: The Unexpected Fight Over "Khomeini"

Occasionally, in this crisis of almost a year, there is an unexpected twist of events. On the surface, that development may not fit the narrative of Green Movement v. regime, but its significance intersects with it and may propel even wider shifts in Iranian politics.

So it is with the Friday incident when the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, Seyed Hassan Khomeini (pictured), was shouted down at the commemoration ceremony of his grandfather's death. Having watched the episode live, we soon noted that it might overshadow the regime's efforts --- through the speeches of President Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei --- to bolster its legitimacy. We could not have expected, however, that by yesterday the episode would be the dominant story in Iranian politics.

The attempt to use the legacy of Khomeini --- by all sides --- has now become a fight over Khomeini.



A stream of clerics, reformist parties, and opposition figures defending Hassan Khomeini became a torrent yesterday. Equally significant, that defense of Khomeini --- from Grand Ayatollah Sane'i to Mehdi Karroubi to key Principlist MP Ali Motahari --- was also a sharp attack on the Ahmadinejad Government.

Even if the most dramatic of the allegations --- that the President encouraged the shout-down of Hassan Khomeini on Friday to humiliate him --- is not substantiated, how can a government which claims to take its ideals and principles from Imam Khomeini stand by while his descendant is forced to sit down and shut up by a group of unnamed hecklers?

The countering argument would be that Hassan Khomeini has thrown in his lot with the Green Movement and thus has abandoned the regime that his grandfather founded. That, however, is a risky course to take publicly --- the named attacks on Hassan Khomeini usually come from "hard-line" publications and not from officials in the Iranian Government. A regime which spent so much time trying to degrade the Green Movement by claiming that it burned photographs of Ayatollah Khomeini may not get away with, even if it took the chance, the public burning of his grandson's reputation.

The weekend, however, poses an even more imminent challenge for the regime: dare it say nothing at all? As the defences of Hassan Khomeini mounted, there was a loud silence. No words from the Supreme Leader, who had sought to use Friday Prayers as a high-profile exaltation of his position --- and denunciation of the opposition --- through Ayatollah Khomeini's image. Not a sound from the President. No utterance from the "security forces" who purportedly were keeping order at the Khomeini Shrine.

Not all in the opposition are comfortable embracing the legacy of Ayatollah Khomeini; there was also a silence over the weekend from activists in the Green Movement beyond the reformist parties and dissident clerics. Throughout this crisis, however, they have had an ally in Seyed Hassan Khomeini, who has signalled that he will not ostracise opposition figures (and that he will not allow his grandfather's Shrine and foundations to be used in that mission).

We shall see if --- perhaps inadvertently --- Hassan Khomeini, as he endured his public torment, did that opposition an even greater service on the anniversary of his grandfather's death.

Three days after that anniversary, five days to 22 Khordaad.

"Experiments in Torture": Text of Physicians for Human Rights Report

 Physicians for Human Rights have released a 27-page report:

Executive Summary

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration initiated new human intelligence collection programs. To that end, it detained and questioned an unknown number of people suspected of having links to terrorist organizations. As part of these programs, the Bush administration redefined acts, such as waterboarding, forced nudity, sleep deprivation, temperature extremes, stress positions and prolonged isolation, that had previously been recognized as illegal, to be “safe, legal and effective” “enhanced” interrogationtechniques (EITs).

War on Terror Analysis: Was Bush Detention Programme “Human Experimentation”? (Leopold)

Bush administration lawyers at the Department of Justice’s (DoJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) accomplished this redefinition by establishing legal thresholds for torture, which required medical monitoring of every application of “enhanced” interrogation. Medical personnel were ostensibly responsible for ensuring that the legal threshold for “severe physical and mental pain” was not crossed by interrogators, but their presence and complicity in intentionally harmful interrogation practices were not only apparently intended to enable the routine practice of torture, but also to serve as a potential legal defense against criminal liability for torture.



Investigation and analysis of US government documents by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) provides evidence indicating that the Bush administration, in the period after Sept. 11, conducted human research and experimentation on prisoners in US custody as part of this monitoring role. Health professionals working for and on behalf of the CIA monitored the interrogations of detainees, collected and analyzed the results of those interrogations, and sought to derive generalizable inferences to be applied to subsequent interrogations. Such acts may be seen as the conduct of research and experimentation by health professionals on prisoners, which could violate accepted standards of medical ethics, as well as domestic and international law. These practices could, in some cases, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The knowledge obtained through this process appears to have been motivated by a need to justify and to shape future interrogation policy and procedure, as well as to justify and to shape the legal environment in which the interrogation program operated.

PHR analyzes three instances of apparent illegal and unethical human subject research for this report:

1. Medical personnel were required to monitor all waterboarding practices and collect detailed medical information that was used to design, develop, and deploy subsequent waterboarding procedures;

2. Information on the effects of simultaneous versus sequential application of the interrogation techniques on detainees was collected and used to establish the policy for using tactics in combination. These data were gathered through an assessment of the presumed “susceptibility” of the subjects to severe pain;

3. Information collected by health professionals on the effects of sleep deprivation on detainees was used to establish the “enhanced” interrogation program’s (EIP) sleep deprivation policy.

The human subject research apparently served several purposes. It increased information on the physical and psychological impact of the CIA’s application of the “enhanced” interrogation techniques, which previously had been limited mostly to data from experiments using US military volunteers under very limited, simulated conditions of torture. It served to calibrate the level of pain experienced by detainees during interrogation, ostensibly to keep it from crossing the administration’s legal threshold of what it claimed constituted torture. It also served as an attempt to provide a basis for a legal defense against possible torture charges against those who carried out the interrogations, since medical monitoring would demonstrate, according to the Office of Legal Counsel memos, a lack of intent to cause harm to the subjects of interrogations.

Yet the Bush administration’s legal framework to protect CIA interrogators from violating US statutory and treaty obligations prohibiting torture effectively contravened well-established legal and ethical codes, that, had they been enforced, should have protected prisoners against human experimentation, and should have prevented the “enhanced” interrogation program from being initiated in the first place.

There is no evidence that the Office of Legal Counsel ever assessed the lawfulness of the medical monitoring of torture, as it did with the use of the “enhanced” techniques themselves.

The use of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment in interrogations of detainees in US custody has been well-documented by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and others. The role of health professionals in designing, monitoring and participating in torture also has been investigated and publicly documented. This current report provides evidence that in addition to medical complicity in torture, health professionals participated in research and experimentation on detainees in US custody.

The use of human beings as research subjects has a long and disturbing history filled with misguided and often willfully unethical experimentation. Ethical codes and federal
regulations have been established to protect human subjects from harm and include clear standards for informed consent of participants in research, an absence of coercion, and a requirement for rigorous scientific procedures. The essence of the ethical and legal protections for human subjects is that the subjects, especially vulnerable populations such as prisoners, must be treated with the dignity befitting human beings and not simply as experimental guinea pigs.

The use of health professionals to monitor intentionally harmful interrogation techniques places them in the service of national security objectives which are in conflict with the interests of those who they are monitoring. The result has been a co-opting of health professionals by the national security apparatus and a violation of the highest medical admonition to “do no harm.” Until the questions examined in this paper are answered and, if ethical violations or crimes were committed, those responsible are held accountable, the misuse of medical and scientific expertise for expedient and non-therapeutic goals jeopardizes the ethical integrity of the profession, and the public trust in the healing professions risks being seriously compromised.

Methods and Limitations

This PHR report draws primarily upon US government documents in the public record, including memoranda from the Office of Legal Counsel and the CIA’s Office of Inspector General Special Review of the CIA Enhanced Interrogation Program.

Most of these documents are heavily redacted and many additional, relevant documents remain classified. While the observational medical monitoring data are not publicly available for the instances indicating human experimentation cited by PHR, and while the specific extent to which medical personnel complied with requirements of the CIA’s Office of Medical Services (OMS) monitoring requirements is not known, there is clear evidence that medical personnel were required to monitor and document all EIT practices and that generalizable knowledge derived therefrom subsequently was used to refine harmful EIT practices.

While this report provides evidence that data from human research were compiled, apparently analyzed, and used to affect subsequent interrogations and to set policy, a comprehensive federal investigation is required to answer the questions this evidence raises.

Recommendations

Physicians for Human Rights calls on the White House and Congress to investigate thoroughly the full scope of the possible human experimentation designed and implemented in the post-Sept. 11 period. The War Crimes Act must be amended to restore traditional human subject protections. Those who authorized, designed, implemented and supervised these alleged practices of human experimentation — whether health professionals, uniformed personnel, or civilian national security officials — must be held to account for their actions if they are found to have violated what international tribunals previously have held to constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

If any victims of research and experimentation perpetrated by the United States are found, they must be offered compensation, including health care services, to address ongoing health effects related to the experimentation, and a formal apology. Based on the findings of this investigation, the United States should take the following actions:

1. President Obama must order the attorney general to undertake an immediate criminal investigation of alleged illegal human experimentation and research on detainees conducted by the CIA and other government agencies following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

2. The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services must instruct the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) to begin an investigation of alleged violations of the Common Rule by the CIA and other government agencies as part of the “enhanced” interrogation program.

3. Congress must amend the War Crimes Act to eliminate changes made to the Act in 2006 which weaken the prohibition on biological experimentation on detainees, and ensure that the War Crimes Act definition of the grave breach of biological experimentation is consistent with the definition of that crime under the Geneva Conventions.

4. Congress should convene a joint select committee comprising members of the House and Senate committees responsible for oversight on intelligence, military, judiciary and health and human services matters to conduct a full investigation of alleged human research and experimentation activities on detainees in US custody.

5. President Obama should issue an executive order immediately suspending any federally funded human subject research currently occurring in secret — regardless of whether or not it involves detainees.

6. The Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility should commence an investigation into alleged professional misconduct by OLC lawyers related to violations of domestic and international law and regulations governing prohibitions on human subject
experimentation and research on detainees.

7. President Obama should appoint a presidential task force to restore the integrity of the US regime of protections for human research subjects. This task force, comprising current and former officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the human rights community, and leading health professional associations, should review current human subject protections for detainees, and recommend changes to ensure that the human rights of those in US custody are upheld.

8. States should adopt policies specifically prohibiting participation in torture and improper treatment of prisoners by health care professionals. Such participation is considered professional misconduct and is grounds for loss of professional licensure. Proposed legislation in New York State provides a model for such policy.

9. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture should undertake an investigation of allegations that the United States engaged in gross violations of international human rights law by engaging in human subject research and experimentation on detainees in its custody.

Read rest of report....