{"id":466689,"date":"2014-12-29T19:38:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T19:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mecouncil.org\/?p=466689"},"modified":"2022-09-20T18:31:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T18:31:57","slug":"a-resounding-silence-regional-reactions-to-the-senates-report-on-u-s-use-of-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/a-resounding-silence-regional-reactions-to-the-senates-report-on-u-s-use-of-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"A Resounding Silence: Regional Reactions to the Senate\u2019s Report on U.S. Use of Torture"},"content":{"rendered":"

The release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s use of torture has drawn fairly muted reactions across the Middle East, despite initial White House concerns that it might provoke unrest as well as\u00a0possible retaliation against American interests<\/a> and facilities in the region.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State John Kerry sought to delay the report\u2019s release\u00a0on December 5<\/a> due to concerns over fall-out from the report\u2019s revelations, while Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, warned that \u201cforeign leaders have approached the government and said, \u2018You do this, this will cause violence and deaths\u2019.\u201d Security at U.S. military and diplomatic facilities was enhanced in the run-up to the report\u2019s release. However, few governments in the region released official statements on the issue, with news coverage similarly sparse. There were no significant protests surrounding the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

Despite the relative dearth of official coverage, information on the report was widely circulated on Twitter under the hashtags\u00a0#\u062a\u0642\u0631\u064a\u0631_\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0639\u0630\u064a\u0628<\/a>(#Torture_Report) or\u00a0\u062a\u0642\u0631\u064a\u0631_\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0648\u0646\u062c\u0631\u0633#<\/a> (#Congress_Report). Maps showing Arab countries\u2019 participation in the program were shared via Twitter<\/a>. Many Tweets criticized countries that participated in the program\u00a0\u2014 the Open Society Foundations has cited 54 countries<\/a>, including many in the region\u00a0\u2014 or praised those that apparently did not, including Oman, Qatar, Tunisia and Sudan.<\/p>\n

Iran and Afghanistan<\/b><\/p>\n

Iranian officials were among the few in the MENA region to comment publicly on the CIA torture report. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham condemned the program<\/a>, saying the report documented \u201cviolence, extremism, and secrecy as institutionalized in the US security system.\u201d Likewise, Iranian Parliamentarian Muhammad Saleh Jokar referred to the CIA report as \u201cthe final bullet in American human rights\u201d in\u00a0remarks<\/a> to the hard-line official Tasnim News Agency.\u00a0A Twitter account linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also published several tweets criticizing the United States\u00a0for hypocrisy<\/a> with respect to human rights,\u00a0in some cases<\/a> linking the torture report to demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice in Ferguson, Missouri: \u201cThey claim #humanrights &trample its basics in their prisons,in interactions w nations &even w their own ppl.#TortureReport #Ferguson\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

In another official reaction<\/a>, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the methods used against prisoners had \u201cviolated all accepted norms of human rights in the world.\u201d In addition to condemning the \u2018inhumane\u2019 and \u2018unjustifiable\u2019 actions revealed in the report, Ghani demanded to know how many Afghan people were subjected to torture at black sites inside the nation.<\/p>\n

Turkey<\/b><\/p>\n

The report received wide-ranging coverage in Turkey,\u00a0as noted by a report in al-Monitor.<\/i><\/a> In comments echoed by foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that \u201ctorture and other brutal, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishments are unacceptable under any circumstance.\u201d However, the statement called the report a \u201cpositive step in terms of transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro-government and Islamist writers generally criticized U.S. actions as well<\/a>. Prominent Islamist commentator Akef Emre, writing for Yeni Safak<\/i>, criticized American actions<\/a>, while Yeni Safak<\/i> editor Ibrahim Karagul argued that the Senate report\u00a0did not go far enough<\/a> in exposing U.S. officials\u2019 complicity. However, the Cumhuriyet <\/i>daily, whose editorial line is broadly critical of the ruling Justice and Development Party,\u00a0accused the government<\/a> of\u00a0failing to seriously address<\/a> allegations that it helped transit detainees across Turkish territory from 2002 to 2006.<\/p>\n

Egypt and North Africa<\/b><\/p>\n

Across much of North Africa, the CIA report received little coverage beyond wire stories on the subject. In Algeria, for example, major dailies such as al-Shorouq<\/i> carried successive stories from AFP<\/i> on the release of the report<\/a>, the response of the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism<\/a>, and former Vice President Dick Cheney\u2019s\u00a0criticisms of the report<\/a> yet did not comment on the Algerian government\u2019s reported participation in the program. Only the independent and often-critical paper al-Khabar<\/i> carried\u00a0a detailed examination<\/a> of Algeria\u2019s role, though it noted that Algeria was only a \u201ctransit point\u201d for detainees.<\/p>\n

The report drew more attention in Egyptian print and broadcast media. Cairo University Professor Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyid, speaking to OnTV\u2019s Lillian Dawud for the program al-Sura al-Kamila<\/i><\/a>, suggested that prior revelations had shaped regional reaction to the report. <\/i>\u201cThere were cases of torture in Abu Ghraib prison [in 2003] that were photographed, so this is nothing new for the United States, U.S. forces, or American intelligence services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other commentaries condemned the United States for what was described as a double standard on human rights abuses and criticized Egypt\u2019s involvement in the torture program. Muhammad Salmawy, president of the Egyptian Writers\u2019 Union,\u00a0implicitly criticized<\/a> the United States\u2019 ability to denounce human rights abuses in Egypt and elsewhere in the independent daily al-Masry al-Yawm<\/i>. Recounting documented abuses, he noted: \u201cThis is the state of human rights in the United States, according to the testimony of the U.S. Congress. Can America still play innocent and condemn others?\u201d<\/p>\n

One early report in\u00a0Tahrir News<\/i><\/a> examined Egypt\u2019s role in receiving several dozen detainees\u00a0\u2014 as well as subjecting them to methods of torture such as electrical shocks and mock burials\u00a0\u2014 beginning as early as 1995. The report emphasized Hosni Mubarak\u2019s \u201cstrong relationship with America at the time\u201d as a key factor. Likewise, both Rotana Masriya<\/em>\u2019s Tamer Amin on\u00a0Min al-Akher<\/i><\/a> and al-Nahar<\/em>\u2019s Mahmoud Saad on\u00a0Akher al-Nahar<\/i><\/a> criticized the role of \u201cMubarak\u2019s Egypt\u201d in receiving and torturing detainees \u201cfor the benefit of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Ahram<\/i> columnist Muhammad Amin al-Masri wrote to counter this trend<\/a>, noting that\u00a0\u201cThe strangest thing is that some writers have taken advantage of this report to simply to address new accusations to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak as if he were the only devil ruling Egypt\u2026If the American press described the report as a stain on the nation\u2019s honor, then it is also a stain on the honor of every Egyptian official who participated in these crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syria and Lebanon<\/b><\/p>\n

In Syria, the Senate report made headlines at al-Ba\u2019ath<\/i><\/a>, the official newspaper for Syria\u2019s ruling party, where Ma\u2018an Suleiman linked the CIA\u2019s actions to America\u2019s Syria policy, claiming that Washington \u201craises the banner of freedom and human rights as a pretext to interfere in Syria\u2019s internal affairs.\u201d The Syrian Arab National News Agency (SANA)\u00a0highlighted<\/a> CIA black site locations in Poland, Lithuania Thailand, and Afghanistan, but failed to comment on Syria\u2019s role in cooperating with the U.S. rendition and interrogation program. There were no official statements from Syrian officials.<\/p>\n

The torture report prompted little reaction from the Islamic State group, although a relatively small number of tweets from affiliated accounts drew\u00a0coverage<\/a> in Western media outlets. Aleppo-based journalist Edward Dark (pseudonym) noted that, at the very least, the report indicated that the United States was willing to admit a mistake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Writing for Lebanon\u2019s\u00a0al-Safir<\/i><\/a> daily, columnist Nur Abu Farraj noted simply that \u201cnothing related to \u2018the Central Intelligence Agency scandal\u2019 is new.\u201d There was no public comment from Hizballah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Israel<\/b><\/p>\n

The report garnered some coverage within Israel, with Yedioth Ahronoth<\/i><\/a>\u2019s <\/i>Yitzakh Ben-Horin publishing an original article outlining the report\u2019s findings, while\u00a0Ma\u2019ariv<\/i><\/a> sufficed with AP<\/em> wire reports.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s English-language press featured more prominent discussion of the report,\u00a0focusing primarily on the CIA\u2019s citation of the \u2018Israeli example\u2019\u00a0\u2014 a reference to an Israeli Supreme Court ruling on torture and imminent threats to security\u00a0\u2014 in constructing its legal case to justify the use of enhanced interrogation methods.<\/p>\n

In English language edition of Haaretz<\/i><\/a>, a left-liberal Israeli newspaper, Anshel Pfeffer outlined this aspect of the report while noting that the CIA\u2019s enhanced interrogation of terrorist suspects often failed to produce valuable and accurate intelligence. An article in The Jerusalem Post<\/i><\/a>, meanwhile, brought the CIA\u2019s use of Israeli actions as legal precedent under further scrutiny. Yonah Bob Jeremy argued that the torture techniques used by the CIA went far beyond the standard permitted by Israeli courts, and were used even in cases where there were no imminent threats to security.<\/p>\n

The Gulf States<\/b><\/p>\n

Among the Arab Gulf states, the limited media coverage of the report did not address references to Saudi and Emirati participation in the CIA\u2019s activities. Saudi academic and former minister Ali bin Talal al-Juhani, writing in pan-Arab daily al-Hayat<\/i><\/a>, wrote that the report only confirmed \u201cthe fact known to security agencies in Saudi Arabia more than others, which is that torture hurts more than it harms.\u201d In doing so, he claimed that Interior Minister Muhammad bin Nayef\u2019s had rejected the use of torture in the Ministry\u2019s campaign against extremism within the Kingdom, despite reports to the contrary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Qatari legal scholar Abdel Hamid al-Ansari, writing for the Emirati daily al-Ittihad<\/i><\/a>, deplored the damage that the torture program had dealt to America\u2019s reputation while taking time to praise \u201cthat unique model in the Arab region and the world for protecting and upholding the rights and dignity of the imprisoned\u00a0\u2014 the model of the United Arab Emirates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Kuwait University Professor Ghanem al-Najjar reminded readers of the Kuwaiti daily\u00a0al-Jarida<\/i><\/a> that the country\u2019s 1962 constitution bans torture. In the Bahraini Arab nationalist daily Akhbar al-Khaleej<\/i><\/a>, assistant editor al-Sayyid Zahra charged that the United States has lost all credibility as a \u201cdefender of democracy and human rights,\u201d adding \u201cwhether for Bahrain, Egypt, or any Arab nation, our countries should pay little attention to those others with their racist, colonialist stances towards us.\u201d Omani media generally noted that, according to the report, the Sultanate played no role in the program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Columnist Reem al-Harby was one of the few regional commentators to highlight the use of torture by Arab governments against their own citizens. She slammed Arab countries\u2019 use of torture\u00a0\u2014 both in cooperation with the CIA and independently\u00a0\u2014 in the Qatari daily al-Raya<\/i><\/a>. \u201cWho will hold these Arab nations accountable for taking up with the American torture program?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lina Raslan contributed to this report.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s use of torture has drawn fairly muted reactions across the Middle East, despite initial White House concerns that it might provoke unrest as well as\u00a0possible retaliation against American interests and facilities in the region. Secretary of State John Kerry sought to delay… Continue reading A Resounding Silence: Regional Reactions to the Senate\u2019s Report on U.S. Use of Torture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":466690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication_archive_type":[297],"class_list":["post-466689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_archive_type-issue-brief","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466692,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466689\/revisions\/466692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466689"},{"taxonomy":"publication_archive_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_archive_type?post=466689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}