Physicians and other medical personnel were involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorists suspects held overseas by the CIA, according to a secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The report was obtained by journalist Mark Danner, who has written extensively about torture. The conclusions of the report point to a serious breach of medical ethics.
The report also confirms that torture was carried out in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where medical professionals working for the CIA were in charge of monitoring prisoners who underwent water boarding and other torture methods. Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights have stated that the conditions in Guantanamo amounted to the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners and, as such, are prohibited by international conventions to which the United States is a party.
The ICRC report states that prisoners have been subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment, including forced feedings to hunger strikers through tubes painfully inserted in their nose. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Physicians for Human Rights, force feeding of hunger strikers is in direct violation of international codes of medical ethics.