Secret Detentions, Extraordinary Rendition, Enhanced Interrogation, Systematic Torture

A new UN Committee Against Torture report criticizes serious US civil and human rights abuses. Including secret CIA detentions. Extraordinary renditions. Interrogation practices. Systematic use of torture. Immigration detention abuses. Criminal injustice. America’s death penalty. Police brutality. Racial profiling. Brutalizing longterm solitary confinement. Protection of prisoners against violence. Rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other civil society groups submitted shadow reports. Highlighting concerns about Washington failure to comply with human rights treaty obligations. Where’s the accountability, victims ask? Justice remains denied. CCR’s shadow report asked: “Does the United States have a specific plan and timetable for the closure of Guantanamo? What is that plan and timetable?” “Does the United States expect or intend, before the end of this year, to transfer Mohammed Al Hamiri, Ghaleb Al-Bihani, Fahd Ghazy, Tariq Ba Odah, or any other Yemeni detainees currently held at Guantánamo?” “Is the Periodic Review Board limited to making recommendations for transfer, or can it provide any concrete relief to Guantánamo detainees?” “Will the United States address the legitimate grievances of detainees on long-term hunger strike, and does it plan to adapt its detention protocol for artificial feeding in order to comply with relevant standards under the Convention against Torture?” “What are the measures used to ensure solitary confinement is only used as a temporary measure under exceptional circumstances, in accordance with international recommendations?” “Does the United States intend to ‘expand program content for intellectual stimulation, and provide for wider detainee access; maximize interaction between detainees, communal living and recreation interaction; approve and implement family visits; and consider inviting non-governmental organizations and appropriate international organizations to send representatives to visit Guantánamo,’ as recommended by the government’s review of conditions at Guantanamo in 2009?” CCR recommendations include: “Exercise authority under the 2014 NDAA to effect additional transfers without further delay.” “Close Guantánamo by transferring all men whom the government does not plan to charge to their home or resettlement countries.” “Provide the anticipated date by which the Administration expects to complete Periodic Review Board hearings for all detainees slated for review.” “Disclose the number of detainees currently on hunger strike and currently being forcibly fed.” “Disclose the number of detainees currently being held in solitary confinement at Guantánamo.” “Adapt procedures for treatment of detainees on hunger strike, including medical counseling, in accordance with international recommendations for ethical procedures in protest hunger strikes and limited use of solitary confinement.” “Ensure all detainees who express a fear of being subjected to torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment after transfer to their home country or a resettlement country, have access to meaningful judicial review of this decision.” The Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international bill of rights. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Obligating signatories to protect and preserve life. Human dignity. Equality. Free expression, assembly and association. Religious rights. Privacy. Freedom from torture and other forms of abuse. Arbitrary detention. Gender, ethnic and racial equality. The right to judicial fairness. America is a signatory. Making it the supreme law of the land under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2). It doesn’t matter. Washington systematically violates core international laws. Including prohibitions against torture. At all times. Under all circumstances. With no allowed exceptions. By the four Geneva Conventions. Common Article Three. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. European (torture) Convention. UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Bush administration officials made it official US policy. Obama continues what demands condemnation. At Guantanamo. In dozens of secret torture prisons. Operating globally. Governing like other tinpot despots. Heading America’s Murder, Inc. agenda. Appointing himself judge, jury and executioner. Deciding who’ll live or die. Targeting anyone for any reason. Including US citizens. As vulnerable as foreign nationals. Murdering them in cold blood. Doing so one Obama signature away. Locking others up indefinitely without charge or trial. Based on his say alone. America commits virtually every imaginable civil and human rights abuse. Its deplorable record unmatched anywhere. Last Wednesday, the UN Committee Against Torture reviewed America’s record. At Guantanamo. In US prisons. By police. In immigration facilities. For the first time in its history, the Committee heard directly from one of Washington’s victims. Murat Murnaz. Tortured at Guantanamo. Joined in Geneva by his lawyer. Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy. Delivering a powerful indictment of ongoing Guantanamo practices. Calling it “a prison for Muslim men and boys.” Victimized by torture and arbitrary detention. Violating US and international law. It’s inexcusable for the Obama administration “to blame Congress (for) mak(ing) it difficult to transfer detainees,” said Azmy. “The problem with Guantanamo is indefinite detention, not the location of the detention, and thus, would not be solved by any proposals to transfer detainees to the US in an effort to close the prison.” “Instead, the US should transfer detainees home or resettle them in third countries rather than expend its time, energy and political capital on the fraught process of bringing detainees to the US.” Kurnaz testified about his own detention and treatment, saying: “In 2001, while traveling in Pakistan, I was arrested by Pakistani police and sold to the US military for a $3,000 bounty.” “In Kandahar, the US military subjected me to electric shocks, stress positions, simulated drowning, and endless beatings.” “In Guantanamo, there was also psychological torture. I was stripped of my humanity, treated […] Read the rest below at the source link