Doctors in the US have taken part in experiments on detainees to refine alleged torture techniques, claim human rights activists.
The alleged experiments relate to sleep deprivation, interrogation techniques and waterboarding 鈥� the practice of simulating drowning by pouring water over a detainee鈥檚 face. The CIA has admitted that it used , the self-confessed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the US.
Researchers at (PHR), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, say they have found in declassified documents. The waterboarding experiments supposedly demonstrated that giving salty water instead of plain water would reduce the likelihood of coma. The researchers also found evidence of sleep deprivation studies on 25 detainees, and investigations of the effects of multiple interrogation techniques.
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鈥淭hese three examples clearly constitute examples of research,鈥� says of New York University School of Medicine, co-author of the report. The aim, he says, was to identify thresholds of pain and suffering that would achieve results without legally qualifying as torture.
Steven Reissner, PHR鈥檚 adviser on ethics, says the CIA鈥檚 experiments breach international codes of research, because these demand that subjects give informed consent and that harm to subjects should be minimised. 鈥淏oth of these were egregiously violated,鈥� he says.
The CIA has denied that such experiments were conducted. The PHR has demanded an official investigation and condemned the CIA鈥檚 response. 鈥淸In the past] we got denials every time there was evidence torture had occurred,鈥� said a spokesman. Former president George W. Bush has admitted detainees were waterboarded.
