Court presses US gov't to release 2,100 Guantanamo photos

When gov't comes out with a law to invade civilians' privacy, some people say, "you should not worry if you have nothing to hide." Then, the question arises, doesn't the same statement apply to the gov't? US gov't should not worry, if it has nothing to hide.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A federal court insists it wants the Department of Defense to supplement the 2,100 pictures showing US military abuse of detainees in Iraq & Afghanistan with an individual reason for not making each of them public.

 

Judge Alvin Hellerstein gave a week to the government on Wednesday either to submit a written estimate of how long it might take to comply with the August 2014 ruling & list individual exemptions for the disclosure of the photographs, or to appeal the court’s decision.

 

The photographs in question depict abuse at US detention facilities in Iraq & Afghanistan following 9/11 attacks. They are believed to be more disturbing than the notorious images of torture & humiliation of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

 

The legal battle for making the classified cache of 2,100 abuse photos public has been led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 2004. The watchdog initiated the case after it was denied the release of photos under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

 

Hellerstein ruled in 2005 that the government had to make the pictures public. The ruling was supported by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2008.

 

However, a bill passed by the US Congress in 2009 made it possible for the Department of Defense to conceal images it deemed dangerous for Americans. That same year, President Obama denied the release of the photographs on the grounds they would “further inflame anti-American opinion & … put our troops in greater danger.”

 

The bulk concealment of abuse pictures is something judge Hellerstein believes wrong. That’s why he ruled in August 2014 that individual reasons should be given for the non-disclosure of each of the photos.

 

“I could give you more time to satisfy my ruling...but I am not changing my view,” Hellerstein told the government on Wednesday, as cited by Newsweek.

 

“Some are harmless” he said of the pictures, while describing others as “highly prejudicial.”

 

Hellerstein also offered looking through the images with the government, as a way of complying with the court ruling.

 

http://rt.com/usa/229459-us-photographs-detainees-abuse/