DOJ Changes Stance on Using Evidence Obtained at CIA Black Sites

A guard tower stands at the entrance of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, also known as "Gitmo", at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Oct. 23, 2016. John Moore/Getty Images

Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys said in court filings on Jan. 31 that evidence extracted by torture is not admissible in military tribunals, reversing a posture that had worried civil libertarians and human rights activists.

The DOJ revealed its stance on torture-derived evidence in filings related to the matter of Abd Al-Rahim Hussein Al-Nashiri, the alleged terrorist mastermind of the 2000 U.S.S. Cole bombing that killed 17 U.S. Navy sailors and injured 37 others. Al-Nashiri has been detained Guantanamo Bay and other military facilities since 2002, while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.