# Amnesty International

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Amnesty International," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/amnesty-international/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The human rights organization whose torture report forms part of John Kiriakou's core defense — the CIA's crimes were already public knowledge before he confirmed them on ABC, and the Justice Department's own declination letter said so — and the organization whose silence during his prosecution he cannot forgive. He begged Amnesty for a one-sentence statement and got a New Yorker subscription instead; it took Ai Weiwei to change their minds, and by then he was walking out of prison.*

- **What:** Global human rights organization, headquartered in London
- **Torture report:** Published 2006 in most tellings, 2007 in others
- **Cited by:** The FBI's declination letter, as proof the information was already public
- **Kiriakou's case:** Declined to issue even a one-sentence statement
- **The consolation:** A New Yorker subscription, delivered to him in prison
- **Changed its mind:** Only after [Ai Weiwei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-weiwei) vouched for him — the week he was released

**Amnesty International** plays two opposite roles in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s story: witness for his defense, and bystander at his prosecution.

## The torture report

Amnesty's report that the CIA was torturing prisoners — following [Human Rights Watch](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/human-rights-watch)'s and preceding or accompanying the International Committee of the Red Cross's — is a fixed point in Kiriakou's account of his 2007 [ABC interview](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/brian-ross): the torture was already public knowledge, so his confirmation *"added nothing, technically, to the debate."* What he added was being the first current or former CIA officer to say it.[1][2][3]

The ordering shifts between tellings and is worth recording rather than smoothing. The commonest version puts Human Rights Watch in 2005, Amnesty in 2006 and the Red Cross in 2007.[2][4] Another puts Human Rights Watch in 2006 and both Amnesty and the Red Cross in 2007.[5] A third has the Red Cross first, two years before he went public.[6] In the version he gives most often now, the point is not the sequence but the window: all three reports were out in the twelve months before he spoke, so *"I didn't think I was saying anything new."*[7][8][9]

That argument was not only his. The FBI investigated the ABC interview, watched the tape, and concluded the information was already common knowledge and no crime had been committed.[1][5] The declination letter sent to his attorney named the three organisations explicitly — Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Red Cross had all published papers saying the CIA was torturing prisoners — before the case was reopened.[10][11][12][13]

Kiriakou also cites Amnesty, alongside Human Rights Watch and the Red Cross, on the drone war: reports that some 90% of those killed were innocent civilians who happened to be near the strike site. The value he assigns them there is the same — independent voices against an agency asking the public to take its word that the dead were bad people.[14][15]

## The silence

Asked at a Berlin event why he never mentions Amnesty International, Kiriakou's answer was unsparing: *"I begged Amnesty International to release even a one-sentence statement about my case."* He wrote to headquarters in London, and to Zeke Johnson, director of Amnesty International USA — *"who was kind enough to send me a subscription to The New Yorker magazine, along with a letter saying I'm sorry, but they don't want to have anything to do with your case."* After about a year, he got tired of begging. *"I got zero help from Amnesty."*[16][17]

The refusal was not Amnesty's alone. *"When I was arrested they ran screaming from the room. I got literally no help from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or the ACLU — nothing."*[18] He extends the diagnosis: the organisations are *"very in favour of whistleblowers elsewhere in the world… not with American whistleblowers,"* and their statements tend to appear only once public support has already built, which he calls reactionary rather than leading.[19][20] In the same account of who stood where, the ACLU's national office would have supported him but the organisation decides regionally, and a member of its board resigned in protest at its refusal to make a statement during his trial.[21]

Kiriakou's account of Johnson himself has softened across tellings. The 2017 version has the New Yorker subscription arriving with a letter of refusal. In 2021 and again in 2025 he describes Johnson as *"an awesome guy"* who wrote to him in prison apologising for his bosses in London — *"hey, we think we made a mistake, we're sorry, just wanted you to know, we're pulling for you"* — and then bought the subscription *"to kind of dull the pain."*[19][22][23] The blame in the later versions sits with London, not with the American office.

## Ai Weiwei and the reversal

What eventually moved Amnesty was not Kiriakou. [Ai Weiwei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-weiwei) was making Lego portraits of political prisoners — 178 of them, in Kiriakou's count — and wanted the names cleared with Amnesty International first. Told that Amnesty did not believe Kiriakou was a political prisoner, the artist answered *"I know Kiriakou. I'm telling you, he is a political prisoner."* Amnesty agreed in the week Kiriakou was released, having been *"pulled kicking and screaming"* to it.[24][25][26] Human Rights Watch, he says, came round before they did.[18] He has placed the portrait exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in one telling and at Alcatraz in another.[26][24]

## The name a prisoner heard

The organisation's standing among prisoners surfaces in an anecdote Kiriakou tells about a Pakistani safe house. He had brought [Cofer Black](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cofer-black) in to see a detainee and introduced him as *"Mr Cofer Black of the Central Intelligence Agency"*; Black asked whether the man was getting enough food, sleeping well, being treated properly. Returning alone afterwards, Kiriakou was thanked: *"Sir, I have to thank you so much for bringing Amnesty International to come and check on me."* He did not correct him — *"I didn't say he was from Amnesty International, I said he was from the Central Intelligence Agency"* — and answered instead that *"we're not animals, we're treating you with respect."*[27][28][29]

The same expectation defines by its absence what Guantánamo withholds. Among the rights Kiriakou lists as denied there — no access to the Supreme Court, no due process — is the right to be visited by the Red Cross and by Amnesty International.[30]

## See also

- [Human Rights Watch](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/human-rights-watch)
- [Ai Weiwei](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ai-weiwei)
- [Brian Ross](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/brian-ross)
- [Senate torture report](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-torture-report)
- [Waterboarding](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/waterboarding)

## Sources

1. Why I Was Targeted by the CIA (RAI 9/10) (2015-05-06), at 09:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSl53qIE81I&t=565s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-05-06-the-real-news-network-why-i-was-targeted-by-the-cia-rai-9-10/
2. The Ripple Effect Podcast #129 (John Kiriakou — CIA-Whistl (2017-05-31), at 36:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkuwsEURRGw&t=2206s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-31-the-ripple-effect-podcast/
3. John Kiriakou about what can go wrong with spy agencies (2015-07-25), at 13:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXpClkw38CY&t=784s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2015-07-25-splendour-in-the-grass/
4. More Than Rich: S3E33 - John Kiriakou Exposes The Cost o (2024-10-06), at 30:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NCqVjUN4zw&t=1831s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-10-06-joecat/
5. John Kiriakou Addresses the 2016 NHLA Liberty Dinner (2016-07-11), at 24:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Un-IY3vlc&t=1489s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-07-11-adventures-in-the-free-sta/
6. Savage Joy and JOHN KIRIAKOU (2023-02-18), at 42:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsbNCBI434&t=2558s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-18-savage-joy-marie-mann-savage-joy-and-john-kiriakou/
7. Whistleblower Diaries #1 — John Kiriakou with Greg Barns S (2026-05-27), at 09:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AACmzGfitg&t=592s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-27-the-information-rights-pro/
8. SILENCED (2014) - The War on Whistleblowers (Feature Documentary) w/ John Kiriakou Tom Drake (2025-10-14), at 05:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7UXdr1l1lY&t=346s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-14-jspione-silenced-2014-the-war-on-whistleblowers-feature-documentary-/
9. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 33:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=2031s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
10. Rudy & Trump offered me a pardon for $2M (2023-07-22), at 03:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZh9W-TWV1o&t=187s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-07-22-david-pakman-show-rudy-trump-offered-me-a-pardon-for-2m/
11. Joe Rogan Experience #2392 — John Kiriakou (2025-10-10), at 33:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZqADzuu73g&t=2001s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-10-joe-rogan-experience-2392/
12. short clip of the full Dr. Phil ep (2025-04-27), at 13:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K5-zKDaDV8&t=783s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-27-the-dr-phil-podcast-short-clip-of-the-full-dr-phil-ep/
13. HispaUnidad (2025-11-03), at 28:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9P8F7quHFI&t=1711s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-03-hispaunidad-hispaunidad/
14. BEYOND THE HORIZON / S1 : E9 / JOHN KIRIAKOU (2016-04-26), at 10:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bFaSv86j4M&t=614s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-04-26-adelya-f-hako-beyond-the-horizon-s1-e9-john-kiriakou/
15. Lies and Torture of the CIA with John Kiriakou and Jared Leto (2017-06-30), at 10:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blxCVqUtj6E&t=606s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-06-30-ryot-lies-and-torture-of-the-cia-with-john-kiriako/
16. Locked up for Exposing Crimes · Kiriakou & Annie Machon (2017-06-06), at 1:30:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOxuJ8bpSv4&t=5403s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-06-06-disruption-network-lab-locked-up-for-exposing-crimes-kiriakou-annie/
17. Locked up for Exposing Crimes · Kiriakou & Annie Machon (2017-06-06), at 1:30:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOxuJ8bpSv4&t=5435s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-06-06-disruption-network-lab-locked-up-for-exposing-crimes-kiriakou-annie/
18. "FULL INTERVIEW" — probably solo, confirm (2018-08-07), at 52:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_wjzmlEWs&t=3173s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-08-07-unity4j-full-interview-probably-solo-confirm/
19. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 38:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=2307s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
20. "FULL INTERVIEW" — probably solo, confirm (2018-08-07), at 52:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_wjzmlEWs&t=3142s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-08-07-unity4j-full-interview-probably-solo-confirm/
21. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 49:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=2973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
22. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 38:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=2338s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
23. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 50:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3005s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
24. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 50:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3036s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
25. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-09-04), at 51:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPfeItwnb4&t=3066s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-04-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
26. "FULL INTERVIEW" — probably solo, confirm (2018-08-07), at 53:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_wjzmlEWs&t=3204s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-08-07-unity4j-full-interview-probably-solo-confirm/
27. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 13:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=785s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
28. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 13:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=815s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
29. CIA Spy on 9/11, Enhanced Interrogation, AI, Jeffrey Epstein | John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2023-11-19), at 14:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMg7-QfL10&t=848s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-11-19-dalton-fischer-kiriakou-part-2/
30. Ex CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks Torture, Terrorism, U (2023-12-07), at 24:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9miDzcUT9U&t=1480s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-12-07-truthovercomfort/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/amnesty-international/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt