European Court of Human Rights Finally Uses the Word Torture to Describe CIA Treatment of DetaineeJoe Wright American courts have continued to throw out lawsuits brought against the U.S. government, and noted architects of interrogation policies such as John Yoo and Donald Rumsfeld. Even those brought by natural born U.S. citizens, as in the case of Jose Padilla, have been dismissed. Padillas family has now taken their fight to an international human rights tribunal for redress. The case of German citizen, Khalid El-Masri as seen in the video below, is finally a small light of hope for people who have suffered at the hands of the CIAs brutality. Khalid experienced some of the cruelties that others endured when caught in sweeping dragnets or false information given by paid informants, such as the case of German-born Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz (his horrific story of five years of torture in Guantanamo Bay can be read here). Now, after 9 years, El-Masri has been recognized as a victim of U.S. policy. The European Court of Human Rights unequivocally stated that the treatment El-Masri received after being picked up while on vacation in Macedonia was: Clearly, for full justice to be served there must be penalties levied against the CIA, the architects of their interrogation programs, as well as the U.S. government itself. Khalid El-Masris case is certainly to be celebrated as a small step in the right direction, and hopefully will serve as a precedent to be used in future cases brought against those responsible for their illegal and dehumanizing treatment of innocent people unlucky enough to draw their attention. http://www.alternet.org/innocent-man-kidnapped-stripped-beaten-and-drugged-secret-cia-jail-court-rules-his-favor-against-cia PDF Press Release of European Court Ruling: Read other articles by Joe Wright Here 