The Courage To Speak Out Against Torture

Yesterday was the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

In many ways, fighting against the use of torture around the world has been Amnesty’s signature issue over the past 50 years. In that time we have tried to shine a light both on the victims of torture and its perpetrators.

However, there is one group that has often been overlooked: Those rare individuals who display the courage to stand up against those who would use torture, regardless the cost to themselves.

Individuals like Military Policeman Joe Darby, who blew the whistle on the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib by referring pictures taken by Charles Graner to the US Army’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID):

“I’ve always had a moral sense of right and wrong. And I knew that you know, friends or not, it had to stop.”

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Troy Davis Case Featured on CNN

Despite the Supreme Court’s summer hiatus, the Troy Davis case continues to make news.  Tuesday night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, reporter Gary Tuchman covered the case.  His report includes interviews with some of the witnesses who have recanted their trial testimony, and well as one of the jurors who now says she would find Troy Davis not guilty.   Tuchman also interviews Officer Mark MacPhail’s widow, but was unsuccessful in scoring an interview with the alternative suspect, Sylvester “Red” Coles.

The US Supreme Court reconvenes on September 29, and may make a decision on his case at that time, but meanwhile the new District Attorney in Chatham County, Georgia, can still reopen the investigation into the case.