The Wire

The US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is being sued by two human rights groups that are seeking damages on behalf of eight men that were of tortured at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and in other US facilities. The lawsuit, filed last week by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First, represents the first case to name a top US official in conjunction with the torture allegations that shocked the world. While US Secretary of Defense has apologized for the incidents of torture that were carried out in facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has been the subject of no disciplinary proceedings over practices that saw detainees intimidated by dogs, stripped, placed in so-called stress positions, interrogated for long periods and be subject to sexual humiliation. However, so far 100 members of the defense department have faced court proceedings over their involvement in torture. Hina Shamsi is the senior counsel at Human Rights First. She outlined to The Wire the aims of her clients’case.