http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/judge-rules-for-release-of-abu-ghraib-photos/article/2561848?utm_content=buffer5dc48&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=bufferFederal judge rules U.S. must release photos of abuse of war prisoners
By Joseph Lawler | March 21, 2015 | 12:33 pm
A federal judge ruled Friday that the U.S. government must release photos of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan mistreated by the U.S. military.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein for the Southern District of New York gave the government two months to file an appeal to stop the photos from being released, the Associated Press reported Saturday morning.
Otherwise, the public will see at least 29 and potentially thousands more photos of detainees at sites in Iraq and Afghanistan that could prove disturbing and controversial.
The federal government has sought to stop the release of the photos on the grounds that the images of prisoners being mistreated could provoke attacks against the military, a heightened concern amid the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
For years, the American Civil Liberties Union has tried to force the government to release photos of abuse to promote transparency and accountability.
The group argued after Friday's decision that allowing the photos to remain withheld from the public could set a bad precedent.
"To allow the government to suppress any image that might provoke someone, somewhere, to violence would be to give the government sweeping power to suppress evidence of its own agents' misconduct," American Civil Liberties Union deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer told the Associated Press.
