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Prisoners detained by the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay still at risk of torture
by Open-Publishing - Saturday 14 May 20053 comments
Wars and conflicts International Prison USA
London - Prisoners detained by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere are still at risk of torture and ill-treatment, Amnesty International said on Friday.
A year after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal caused an international uproar when US guards were photographed abusing detainees, the human rights group said the Bush administration has shown a chilling disregard for international law.
"The conditions to facilitate torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, all of which are equally prohibited, remain in place," an Amnesty spokesperson said.
He added that basic safeguards against ill-treatment were not being met and cited secret detention and incommunicado detention as forms of inhuman treatment.
"Human dignity has fallen victim to the US’s ’war on terror’ and interrogation regime, as the administration has not only rejected international human rights law, but also adopted a selective disregard for international humanitarian law," Amnesty said in a report.
It added that United States’ approach to detentions is characterised by hypocrisy, an over-arching war mentality and a refusal to adhere to international obligations.
"The US’s policies and practices have led to serious human rights violations and have set a dangerous precedent internationally," Amnesty said.
The US State Department said in a report last week it was abiding by global anti-torture rules and any abuses of detainees in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were not systemic.
The US military says its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is humane and justified and says it has changed some of its policies in Iraq since the abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Amnesty said there is mounting evidence of torture by US forces but only a few, mainly low-ranking soldiers have been tried or sanctioned.
No American agent has been charged under the country’s Anti-Torture Act or War Crimes Act, it added.
"As the culture of impunity and military leniency grows, including in cases in which Afghan and Iraqi detainees have died as a result of abuses by US agents, the administration continues to seek to try members of the ’enemy’ for war crimes in front of military commissions or executive bodies, not independent or impartial courts," the report said.
Amnesty called on the US Congress to set up an independent commission to delve into the country’s detention and interrogation policies.
It also wants the United States to appoint an independent special counsel to conduct investigations into officials against whom there is evidence of involvement in crimes linked to torture, disappearances and inhuman and degrading treatment
Forum posts
16 May 2005, 15:59
I wondery why Amnesty International doesn’t look into the beheadings and executions that the terrorists subject their prisoners or the thousands of kidnappings of Iraqui citizens that these terrorists subject the country on a daily basis. But I guess Amnesty International doesn’t care about that.
18 May 2005, 16:54
They care very much.... but it’s kinda hard to get around Iraq thanks to the massive disaster over which you have presided. They also need your permission and probably find (like the Red Cross) that you’re unwilling to let them in in case they find out what you’re really doing over there.
25 May 2005, 14:16
Sure, the Red Cross is allowed into Guantanamo, but the Pentagon doesn’t want them visiting Fallujah basements where aid workers, truck drivers, and journalists get their heads cut off on videotape. That makes sense.