Tortures

Federal judge orders top CIA officials to give depositions

A federal judge has ordered former top CIA officials to sit for depositions in a lawsuit brought against two psychologists who designed the agency’s harsh interrogation methods in the war on terror, an action the federal government called unprecedented.

U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush in Spokane, Washington, issued the order Tuesday.

Among those ordered to give depositions under oath in the next few months are John Rizzo and Jose Rodriguez. Rizzo was the CIA’s chief lawyer, and Rodriguez was the head of the CIA Counterterrorism Center.

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three men — Gul Rahman, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud. They contend they were tortured using methods developed by CIA-contracted psychologists James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen.