Department of Defense. It is shocking that people could face execution after such trials, which clearly fail to meet basic international standards. Commission proceedings were suspended in November 2004 after a federal judge concluded that those captured in Afghanistan should have been presumed to be prisoners of war, which precluded their trial by military commission. Even if they were found not to be POWS by a competent tribunal, the judge said, the commission rules allowing the use of secret evidence would still violate due process. The administration has appealed to a higher court arguing that the judge's ruling "constitutes an extraordinary intrusion into the Executive's power to conduct military operations". The outgoing Attorney General, presumably referring not only to this judge's ruling, but also that of the Supreme Court in June, condemned what he characterized as a "profoundly disturbing trend" of "intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations". With the US administration showing disdain for its own courts, the international community faces an uphill task to persuade it to change course. The USA should be reminded not only of the various aspects of unlawfulness raised by the Guantánamo detentions, but that this regime also contravenes the USA's National Security Strategy which proclaims that respect for human dignity and the rule of law is the route to security, as well as its National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, which asserts that a world in which such standards are embraced as the norm will be "the best antidote to the spread of terrorism". "This", the latter strategy concludes "is the world we must build today”. Instead, the USA built a prison camp which has become an affront to human rights and the rule of law. The international community must redouble its efforts to bring this intolerable situation to an end. INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WC1X 0DW, UNITED KINGDOM 1 Amnesty International delivered a shorter version of this text at a hearing on the Lawfulness of Detentions by the United Sates in Guantánamo Bay held by the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in Paris, France, on 17 December 2004. 2 Even the US Army's interrogation Field Manual FM 34-52 of 1992 states that "Captured insurgents and other detained personnel whose status is not clear, such as suspected terrorists, are entitled to (Prisoner of War] protection until their precise status has been determined by competent authority", See USA: Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the 'war on terror', Al Index: AMR 51/145/2004, October 2004, http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511452004. 4 Fresh details emerge on harsh methods at Guantánamo. New York Times, 1 January 2005. 5 Fact Sheet. Status of detainees at Guantánamo. The White House, 7 February 2002. 6 'ICRC meeting, 2 February 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/nation/documents/GitmoMemo02-02-04.pdf. Released Moroccan Guantánamo detainee tells Islamist paper of his ‘ordeal'. BBC, 30 December 2004. Fresh details emerge on harsh methods at Guantánamo. New York Times, 1 January 2005. 9 Major General George Fay. Testimony to Senate Armed Services Committee. 9 September 2004. 10 See page 94 of Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the war on terror'. 11 When doctors go to war. By M. Gregg Bloche and Jonathan H. Marks. The New England Medical Journal of Medicine, Volume 352:3-6, 6 January 2005, Number 1. 12 Southcom investigates abuse allegations at Guantánamo. United States Southern Command News Release, 5 January 2004. 13 See page 101-102 of Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the war on terror'. 14 Habib v Bush. Petitioner's memorandum of points and authorities in support of his application for injunctive relief. Civil Action No. 02-CV-1130 (CKK), in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 15 See page 186 of Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the 'war on terror'. REPORT, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, “HUMAN DIGNITY DENIED: TORTURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE WAR ON TERROR," OCTOBER 27, 2004 Summary. Part One: Overview....... TABLE OF CONTENTS ............ 1 I. A familiar path to torture A war mentality without commitment to the laws of war.. 6 9 14 18 II. Human dignity denied: torture or ill-treatment of the ‘other'.......................................................... 20 IV. Human rights: the route to security, not the obstacle to it............................ 46 Part Two: Agenda for action – Commission of inquiry and 12-Point Program.. 49 An independent commission of inquiry is called for..... Point 1 - Condemn torture........ 49 55 1.1 Words undone by deeds 55 1.2 The condemnation is paper thin - The 'torture memos' 57 Point 4 - Provide safeguards during detention and interrogation............. 4.4 Independent inspection: ICRC, UN and human rights monitors.... 4.5 Recommendations under Point 4. 130 133 2 USA: Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the war on terror' 11.2 UN Convention against Torture...... Point 5- Prohibit torture in law .............................................. 5.1 Putting the President above the law, detainees below the law Point 6 - Investigate. 6.1 Investigative record does not inspire confidence.. 6.2 Investigating deaths in custody...... 6.3 Recommendations under Point 6. Point 7-Prosecute. 7.1 No impunity: from contractors to commander-in-chief.. 7.2 Recommendations under Point 7........ Point 8- No use of statements extracted under torture. 8.1 The fruit of a poisonous tree... 8.2 Recommendations under Point 8. Point 9 - Provide effective training ....... 9.1 Training has been found wanting. 9.2 Recommendations under Point 9 Point 10 - Provide reparation 10.1 Reparation means more than just money 10.2 Recommendations under Point 10.. Point 11 - Ratify international treaties.......... 11.1 Playing fast and loose with international law 11.3 Geneva Conventions 134 134 139 141 142 142 146 152 153 153 160 161 161 164 164 164 166 167 167 169 169 169 170 173 11.4 Ignoring or misusing international expert opinion...... 175 11.5 Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture.. 11.6 International Criminal Court... 12.1 International security cooperation or outsourcing torture? UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Human dignity denied Torture and accountability in the 'war on terror' A report based on Amnesty International's 12-point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State Summary Then the guard brought a box of food and he made me stand on it, and he started punishing me. Then a tall black soldier came and put electrical wires on my fingers and toes and on my penis, and I had a bag over my head. Then he was saying 'which switch is on for electricity?' Iraqi detainee, Abu Ghraib prison, 16 January 20041 The image of New York's Twin Towers struck by hijacked airliners on 11 September 2001 has become an icon of a crime against humanity. It is tragic that the response to the atrocities of that day has resulted in its own iconography of torture, cruelty and degradation. A photograph of a naked young man captured in Afghanistan, blindfolded, handcuffed and shackled, and bound with duct tape to a stretcher. Pictures of hooded detainees strapped to the floor of military aircraft for transfer from Afghanistan to the other side of the world. Photographs of caged detainees in the United States (US) Naval Base in Cuba, kneeling before soldiers, shackled, handcuffed, masked and blindfolded. Television images of orangeclad shackled detainees shuffling to interrogations, or being wheeled there on mobile stretchers. A hooded Iraqi detainee sitting on the sand, surrounded by barbed wire, clutching his four-year-old son. And the photos from Abu Ghraib - a detainee, hooded, balanced on a box, arms outstretched, wires dangling from his hands with electric torture threatened; a naked man cowering in terror against the bars of a cell as soldiers threaten him with snarling dogs; and soldiers smiling, apparently confident of their impunity, over detainees forced into sexually humiliating poses. The United States of America (USA), and the world, will be haunted by these and other images for years to come, icons of a government's failure to put human rights at its heart. 2 1 Abdou, 16 January 2004. Statement given to US military investigators. Obtained by The Washington Post. http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/abughraib/18170.pdf. This technique is said to be "a standard torture. It's called the 'Vietnam'. But it's not common knowledge. Ordinary American soldiers did this, but someone taught them." Darius Rejali, quoted in The Roots of Torture. Newsweek, 24 May 2004. World Press Photo of 2003. Jean-Marc Bouju, AP. http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/contest/winner.jsp 2 USA: Human dignity denied: Torture and accountability in the 'war on terror' The struggle against torture and ill-treatment by agents of the state requires absolute commitment and constant vigilance. It requires stringent adherence to safeguards. It demands a policy of zero tolerance: The US government has manifestly failed in this regard. At best, it set the conditions for torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by lowering safeguards and failing to respond adequately to allegations of abuse raised by Amnesty International and others from carly in the "war on terror". At worst, it has authorized interrogation techniques which flouted the country's international obligation to reject torture and ill-treatment under any circumstances and at all times. The US administration has said that it is "strongly committed" to working with nongovernmental organizations “to improve compliance with international human rights standards." President George W. Bush has recently said that the USA "support[s] the work of non-governmental organizations to end torture and assist the victims". With this in mind, Amnesty International seeks to provide a framework in this report by which there can be a full accounting for any torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by US agents, and to prevent future violations of international law and standards. Part One gives an overview, describing how the US administration has fallen into an historically familiar pattern of abuse to respond to the "new paradigm" it says has been set by the atrocities of 11 September 2001. The war mentality the government has adopted has not been matched with a commitment to the laws of war, and it has discarded fundamental human rights principles along the way. While there are undoubtedly complex challenges and threats in the current situation, the simple fact is that the USA has stepped onto a well-trodden path of violating basic rights in the name of national security or "military necessity". Throughout history, torture has often occurred against those considered as "the other", and a second section of Part One traces the thread of dehumanization of detainees in US custody from Afghanistan to Abu Ghraib. A third section in Part One outlines the unequivocal and non-derogable international legal prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The final section stresses that respect for human rights is the route to security, as the US government itself claims, not the obstacle to security, as appears to be the administration's true belief if its detention and interrogation policies are the yardstick. Part Two is entitled Agenda for Action, and begins with a reiteration of Amnesty International's call for a full commission of inquiry into all US “war on terror" detention and interrogation practices and policies. While the organization welcomes the recent official investigations that have taken place, it believes that a more comprehensive and genuinely independent inquiry is needed to ensure full accountability and non-repetition of abuse. This commission of experts must have all the necessary powers to carry out such an investigation. The remainder of Part Two is structured around Amnesty International's 12-point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State. The organization has been 3 Remarks at Briefing on the State Department's 2002 Country Reports on Iluman Rights Practices. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Washington, DC. 31 March 2003. President's statement on the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. White House, 26 June 2004. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040626-19.html. |