Rights
Investigation
Guantánamo
detentions enter fourth year
The
international community must redouble its efforts to persuade
the USA to end the human rights scandal at the Guantánamo
Bay prison camp, Amnesty International said on the eve
of the third anniversary of detentions at the US naval
base in Cuba.
"Over
the past three years, Guantánamo has become an
icon of lawlessness", Amnesty International said.
"In its more than 1,000 days of executive detentions,
it has become a symbol of a government's attempt to put
itself above the law. The example it sets is dangerous
to us all."
Full
judicial review of detention, and access to lawyers and
independent human rights monitors, are basic safeguards
against torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention,
and "disappearance". Evidence that Guantá
namo detainees have been tortured and ill-treated continues
to mount, with FBI agents now added to the list of those
making such allegations. Yesterday, the military announced
that it will carry out an internal investigation into
these latest allegations.
"Another
internal review is not enough," Amnesty International
said. "A comprehensive independent commission of
inquiry into all aspects of the USA's 'war on terror'
detention and interrogation policies and practices is
long overdue. No agency should be exempt from scrutiny
and no individual exempt from prosecution if the evidence
supports it."
The
administration of President George W. Bush has sanctioned
detention conditions and interrogation techniques in Guantá
namo that violate international standards. Previous military
reviews and inquiries, let alone the administration itself,
have yet to denounce such treatment.
Interrogation
techniques authorised for use in Guantánamo have
included stress positions, isolation, hooding, sensory
deprivation, and the use of dogs. Among the abuses reported
by FBI agents are the cruel and prolonged use of shackling,
and the use of loud music and strobe lights. They have
also reported witnessing the use of dogs to intimidate
detainees in Guantánamo. Yet military officials,
including those involved in earlier investigations, have
previously given assurances that no dogs have been used
in this way in the naval base. A full independent commission
of inquiry, as called for by Amnesty International since
last May, is clearly required.
President
Bush has made it a mantra of his time in office that the
USA is committed to the rule of law and the "non-negotiable
demands of human dignity." The USA's own National
Security Strategy and National Strategy for Combating
Terrorism stress that respect for such standards must
be central to the pursuit of security. The administration's
policy in Guantá
namo is now the most notorious symbol of its failure to
live up to its promises.
"The
administration's words alone, that it will remain wedded
to human rights and the rule of law even as it wages its
'war on terror', are no longer to be believed", Amnesty
International said. "It must show such commitment
by its actions and change course fully in line with international
law and standards."
Six
months after the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal
courts have jurisdiction to hear appeals from the detainees,
the administration is trying to keep any review of the
lawfulness of individual detentions as far from a judicial
process as possible. It has argued in federal court that
administrative review by so-called Combatant Status Review
Tribunals -- panels of military officers that may rely
on secret or coerced evidence to label as "enemy
combatants" detainees who have no access to legal
counsel -- is more than enough due process.
More
than 500 detainees of many nationalities remain detained
without charge or trial in Guantánamo. Four have
been charged for trial by military commission, trials
which would violate international law and standards. Commission
proceedings have been suspended since November following
a ruling by a federal judge. The administration has appealed
the ruling, intent on continuing with the military commissions,
bodies which entirely lack independence from the executive.
"Along
with the individual detainees and their families, the
rule of law is falling victim to this disdain for the
judiciary", Amnesty International said. "The
example being set by Guantánamo is of a world where
basic human rights are negotiable, and where arbitrary
detention and selective second-class justice become acceptable
in the name of security."
Amnesty
International reiterates its call for the Guantánamo
detainees to be brought to fair trial or released -- with
proposed trials by military commission terminated once
and for all. All allegations of torture or ill-treatment
in Guantá namo or elsewhere must be independently
investigated, and anyone responsible for torture or ill-treatment
brought to justice. All secret and incommunicado detention
must be ended immediately, as must secret transfers of
detainees between countries.
Source:
Amnesty International.
