Category: human rights violations

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Rep. Yassamin Ansari ripped the Justice Department’s “indefensible and horrifying disregard for the victims,” and stressed that “rich and powerful men continue to evade accountability for their heinous crimes.”

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari on Sunday called for the impeachment of US Attorney General Pam Bondi after the Department of Justice published dozens of unredacted nude photos of young women or teenagers as part of its legally required release of files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The DOJ released the final batch of documents on Friday, well beyond the December 19 deadline established by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Although President Donald Trump signed the law, his ties to the late billionaire and heavy redactions of previously released records have fueled concerns about the process.

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While reviewing the more than 3 million pages published last week, New York Times journalists found “nearly 40 unredacted images” of “nude bodies and the faces of the people portrayed,” the newspaper reported. “The people in the photos appeared to be young, although it was unclear whether they were minors. Some of the images seemed to show Mr. Epstein’s private island, including a beach. Others were taken in bedrooms and other private spaces.”

The paper continued:

The Times notified the Justice Department on Saturday of nude images that journalists had encountered and flagged more of them on Sunday. A spokeswoman said that the department was “working around the clock to address any victim concerns, additional redactions of personally identifiable information, as well as any files that require further redactions under the act, to include images of a sexual nature.”

“Once proper redactions have been made, any responsive documents will repopulate online,” the spokeswoman said.

Officials have largely removed or redacted the images that the Times flagged for them. The images appeared to show at least seven different people, although the Times did not seek to identify them.

Flagging the report on social media late Sunday, Ansari (D-Ariz.) declared that “this is an indefensible and horrifying disregard for the victims by Trump’s US Department of Justice. They are still withholding the full Epstein Files, and rich and powerful men continue to evade accountability for their heinous crimes. Attorney General Pam Bondi should be impeached.”

Even before the nude photos were discovered, progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) similarly called for Bondi’s impeachment on Friday, pointing to not only her DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files, but also its efforts to force Minnesota to turn over voter data and the arrest of journalists, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon.

Since Friday, survivors of Epstein’s abuse have also slammed the DOJ, with 18 of them saying in a joint statement that the latest release “is being sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose survivors. Once again, survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected. That is outrageous.”

“As survivors, we should never be the ones named, scrutinized, and retraumatized while Epstein’s enablers continue to benefit from secrecy. This is a betrayal of the very people this process is supposed to serve,” they continued. “This is not over. We will not stop until the truth is fully revealed and every perpetrator is finally held accountable.”

CNN reported Monday that lawyers Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards requested “immediate judicial intervention” by US Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to address at least “thousands of redaction failures on behalf of nearly 100 individual survivors whose lives have been turned upside down by DOJ’s latest release.”

“There is no conceivable degree of institutional incompetence sufficient to explain the scale, consistency, and persistence of the failures that occurred—particularly where the sole task ordered by the court and repeatedly emphasized by DOJ was simple: Redact known victim names before publication,” the attorneys wrote.

While the DOJ didn’t reply to the outlet’s request for comment, Henderson said in a statement to CNN that “with every second that passes, additional harm is being caused to these women. They are scared, they are devastated, and they are begging for our government to protect them from further harm.”

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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