Judge's anger at US torture

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Thu, 16 Feb 2006 20:28:56 -0800

[Zepps_News] Judge's anger at US torture

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1711833,00.html

 

 

 

*Judge's anger at US torture*

 

Stinging comments come as America dismisses UN report on Guantánamo

 

*Richard Norton-Taylor and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

Friday February 17, 2006

T

he Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>*

 

A high court judge yesterday delivered a stinging attack on America,

saying its idea of what constituted torture was out of step with that

of " most civilised nations " .

 

The criticism, directed at the Bush administration's approach to human

rights, was made by Mr Justice Collins during a hearing over the

refusal by ministers to request the release of three British residents

held at Guantánamo Bay.

 

The judge said: " America's idea of what is torture is not the same as

ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised

nations. " He made his comments, he said, after learning of the UN

report that said Guantánamo should be shut down without delay because

torture was still being carried out there.

 

Article continues

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1711833,00.html#article_continue>

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The report, by five inspectors for the UN human rights commissioner,

refers to shackling, hooding and forcing detainees to wear earphones

and goggles. In particular, it refers to interrogation techniques and

excessive violence used to forcefeed prisoners on hunger strike. Based

on interviews with detainees' lawyers, former inmates and written

exchanges with US officials, it calls on the US to put the 490 inmates

on trial or release them.

 

Last night, the secretary general, Kofi Annan, said: " Sooner or later

there will be a need to close the Guantánamo [camp]. " He added that

though he did not agree with everything in the report, he opposed

holding people " in perpetuity " .

 

The UN inspectors refused a US offer to tour Guantánamo after they

were barred from visiting the prisoners. The 40-page document is the

UN's first to address Guantánamo. Scott McClellan, the White House

press secretary, dismissed its findings as a " rehash of old

allegations " and " a discredit to the organisation " . " The detainees are

being treated humanely, " he said. " Remember these are terrorists. "

 

But in one of the strongest remarks yet by a British cabinet minister,

Peter Hain said last night that the government believed the camp

should be shut. Asked on the BBC's Question Time programme whether

Tony Blair supported that view he said " I think so, yes " .

 

The Bush administration has defined torture in narrow terms, referring

to intense physical injury and organ failure. Controversy about the

definition goes to the heart of allegations that the US has secretly

used Britain to transport detainees to interrogation centres in

countries where torture occurs, in the practice known as

" extraordinary rendition " .

 

Ministers have relied on US assurances that senior British lawyers

have repeatedly questioned. In a law lords judgment last year, Lord

Bingham referred to US techniques, including sensory deprivation and

inducing a perception of suffocation, which, he said, would be defined

as torture in British law.

 

Mr Justice Collins said three British residents in Guantánamo could

now seek a court order requiring the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, to

petition for their release. The case, brought by Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil

el-Banna, and Omar Deghayes, and relatives living in Britain, could be

heard as early as next week.

 

Responding to the judge's remarks about the US definition of torture,

Rabinder Singh QC, counsel for the three detainees and their families,

said Britain and the European court of human rights would " undoubtedly

condemn " many of the practices at Guantánamo. Mr Rawi is an Iraqi who

has lived in the UK since 1985. His business partner, Mr Banna, is a

Jordanian refugee, and Mr Deghayes is a Libyan refugee. All three were

taken to Guantánamo via Afghanistan.

 

Mr Rawi and Mr Banna were seized by CIA agents in Gambia in 2002.

Chris Mullin, a former Foreign Office minister for Africa, says

British agents helped the Americans seize the two men. They are

alleged to have had contacts with al-Qaida because of a connection

with the radical cleric Abu Qatada.

 

Mr Deghayes was detained in Pakistan. His name was said to be on the

FBI's " most wanted " list yet the photograph in his file was of a

different person, the court heard. Mr Deghayes was almost blind in one

eye through the use of pepper spray and gouging during his detention,

yet is still being constantly subjected to bright light.

 

 

 

 

--

" Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government

talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court

order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about

chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order

before we do so "

-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004

 

Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!

Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.

 

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