-Caveat Lector- Americans make a note: "Torture does not stop terror. Torture is terror."
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=244422&area=/insight/insight__international/ Outrage over US terror policies Haider Rizvi 04 July 2005 07:14 Activists in front of the White House protest against alleged abuses by the US at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons. (Photograph: AP) The Bush administrations policies on indefinite detention and extraordinary rendition are coming under fire from a number of institutions, including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and members of the United States Congress itself. The prohibition of torture is non-negotiable, said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26. Without naming the US, he added: That includes an absolute ban on transferring anybody to another jurisdiction where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person is at risk of torture. Currently, the US administration is pursuing a policy it calls extraordinary rendition, which involves seizing suspects and taking them to a third country without court approval. Human rights groups have documented a number of cases in which US authorities secretly transferred individuals to countries where they were held without charge and routinely tortured. One such case that came to the medias attention last weekend is now testing diplomatic relations between the US and Italy, with the issuance of arrest warrants for 13 agents of the CIA accused of abducting an Egyptian cleric on the streets of Milan and sending him to Egypt. Hassan Mustafa Nasr (42) was seized from the streets of Milan in February 2003. His abductors sprayed his eyes with a chemical substance and threw him into a van. He was first flown to a US base in Germany and from there to Egypt. Published reports say last year he was briefly released from prison. That was when he telephoned his family and told them he had been subjected to electric shocks to his genitals and had lost hearing in one ear. He has since disappeared again. The prosecution of CIA agents in Italy is the first-ever such action against US officials in connection with the war on terror. Officials in both countries are tightlipped, but human rights groups and prosecutors in Europe are growing angry over the US practice of renditions. They are also upset over Washingtons refusal to let independent observers visit its military prisons. On June 24 Amnesty International demanded the US open up all its detention centres around the world to UN experts who specialise in monitoring prisoner abuse and torture. Annan said torture, in all its forms and contexts, is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. He emphasised Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture, which entails an absolute ban on transferring people to other jurisdictions where they could face torture. The US had ratified the treaty in 1994. Before 9/11, the US followed the treaty against torture and the Geneva Conventions on rules of war. But the Bush regime now argues that the US faces an unprecedented situation in which it finds itself confronted with an enemy that violates the rules of war. Describing independent scrutiny by human right groups as essential, Amnesty said the less contact detainees have with the outside world, the greater risk of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The group is also urging the US Congress to set up an independent commission to investigate US detention and interrogation policies and practices in the war on terror and seek UN experts advice to ensure impartiality in the eyes of the world. Torture does not stop terror, it said. Torture is terror. -- IPS www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
