Snowden calls CIA torture techniques 'inexcusable crimes'
NSA leaker Edward Snowden spoke from Russia on Wednesday to a gathering in Paris.
Thu Dec 11, 2014 10:3AM GMT
US
whistleblower Edward Snowden says he was “deeply saddened” by a new
report that revealed the CIA’s torture programs after 9/11, calling them
“inexcusable crimes.”
Snowden, a former system administrator for the CIA who leaked
thousands of classified information from the National Security Agency,
said on Wednesday a new Senate report describing CIA’s brutal techniques
is "deeply corrosive to the morals of the United States."“Individuals actually lost their lives — they died — after being chained to a concrete floor in an unheated room, half naked," Snowden said during a webcast from Russia hosted by a branch of Amnesty International in Paris to recognize International Human Rights Day.
"And rather than having the officer who ordered that behavior be prosecuted, he actually received a monetary bonus from the Central Intelligence Agency of $2,500. These are things that leave a stain on the moral authority of the United States government,” he added.
Snowden’s disclosures of US spying programs inside the US and around the world have led to a global uproar. His release of NSA files has been called the most significant leak in US history.
On Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a drastically redacted summary of its voluminous report on the CIA’s torture program during the George W. Bush administration.
According to the report, the CIA misled Congress and the White House about the harsh methods such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, mock executions and threats that the relatives of the prisoners would be sexually abused.
AHT/AGB