Earlier this month, we marked 10 years since the release of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report (PDF) about the CIA’s post-9/11 torture programme, which revealed that abuse was far more brutal than previously known.

While the full text of the 6,700-page report remains secret, its heavily redacted executive summary nevertheless represents the high-water mark of official US recognition of its role in one of the most egregious recent examples of systemic state torture.

The report, compiled following a three-year investigation, made it clear beyond dispute that the US repeatedly breached its obligations under the UN Convention against Torture, that US officials lied about the programme, and that it had held far more detainees than previously thought. Whereas it was hoped at the time that the publication of the report would lead to a full official investigation, accountability of the perpetrators and reparation for the victims, it is to the shame of the global community – the vast majority of whom agree with the prohibition of torture – that none of these hopes has been fulfilled.

Indeed, while the CIA played the lead role in the torture, personnel from other powerful liberal democracies, including those in Europe, have........

© Al Jazeera