The State Department could not say if the US is living up to its international legal obligations the day after an unclassified version of the Senate Intelligence Committee torture report was released to the public.
Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Wednesday afternoon that she would have to consult with diplomatic legal consultants after reporters asked multiple questions on the issue.
“We’re committed to complying with our international obligations,” Psaki said. When pressed by a reporter about the difference between commitment and compliance, she said that she “will check with our legal team and see if there’s more to add.”
On Tuesday, Ben Emmerson, the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said that the US will be in violation of international law if it extends “immunities to public officials who have engaged in acts of torture.”
“The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the US Government provides no excuse whatsoever,” he said in a written statement. “Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability.”
He added that prosecutors should not refrain from bringing charges against “senior officials within the US Government who devised, planned and authorised these crimes.”
Emmerson, a British national, claimed a failure to prosecute the overseers and purveyors of the Bush-era program would put the US in violation of UN conventions on torture and enforced disappearances.
While he said that the US Attorney General has the “primary responsibility” for indicting those officials, he warned that “perpetrators may be prosecuted by any other country they may travel to.”
Psaki said, however, that the State Department backs whatever decisions are made–or aren’t made–by the Justice Department, in response to a question about potential investigations by European allies.
“Broadly speaking, we obviously believe that our own legal authorities are appropriate with dealing with issues here,” she commented.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department said it would not re-open its investigation of Bush officials for criminal activities evidenced by the report.
The only Bush administration official to be prosecuted for activity related to the torture program was imprisoned for disclosing classified information about the regime to reporters. Former CIA operative John Kiriakou was convicted of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. In January 2013, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
