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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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March 10th,
2009 - UN Experts to Probe Secret CIA Detention Centres |
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UN Experts to Probe Secret
CIA Detention Centres From Agence France Presse March 10, 2009 Geneva - Two United Nations
special rapporteurs said Tuesday they would investigate secret detention
centres used by the CIA in counter-terrorism efforts. "We call on all
governments to cooperate, not just in clarifying the facts, but in ensuring
that such secret detention centres will no longer be used in the
future," Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said. Nowak and Martin Scheinin,
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism will study locations
alleged to have hosted such secret detention centres, including US military
bases. Besides secret jails run by
the CIA, the study would also probe alleged prisons run by other governments. Scheinin said such prisons
were "one of the most horrendous practices" that emerged after the
September 11 attacks in the US, while Nowak hoped that this "will stop,
and perhaps is in the process of being stopped." The results of the probe
should be ready in a year. The two independent experts
mandated by the UN Human Rights Council hailed US President Barack Obama's
decision to close the Guantanamo prison and all CIA prisons operating abroad. Nowak said he was also
"very encouraged" by the fact that Warsaw is probing allegations of
a secret CIA jail near Szymany in northeast Poland. Besides alleged detention
centres in Poland and Romania, the two experts will look into the role played
by over 10 American military bases in the world, which have been alleged to
have also sheltered secret jails. "We are fully
aware" of the problem, said Nowak, citing the military base of Tuzla in
Bosnia, which was suspected of having served as a temporary holding centre
for detainees before their transfer to Guantanamo. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gKkyolRWEOrDyZNiJCvUxONRz3kg U.N. to scrutinize Obama on
counter-terrorism By Stephanie Nebehay Reuters March 10, 2009 Geneva - U.N. human rights
investigators on Tuesday announced a global investigation into secret
detention and said they would not relax scrutiny of U.S. counter-terrorism
policies under President Barack Obama. The probe will look at CIA
'rendition' flights that secretly transferred suspects for interrogation,
mainly in North Africa and the Middle East, but will also investigate
countries' use of torture in secret prisons anywhere in the world. "We will not let the
United States off the hook simply because of the change in
administration," said Martin Scheinin, U.N. special rapporteur on
protecting human rights while countering terrorism. "It is certainly too
early to say that rendition will have stopped," he told reporters. Under President George W.
Bush, the United States confirmed it had used rendition to apprehend
terrorism suspects around the world and deliver them for interrogation in
third countries. It also acknowledged that the CIA had run secret
interrogation centers abroad, but denied employing torture. In a break with the previous
administration, Obama has issued orders to close the Guantanamo Bay prison on
Cuba and ensure interrogations adhere to the Geneva Conventions, guaranteeing
humane treatment. "We can at least hope
this is a real change that will put an end to the most horrendous forms of
extraordinary renditions," Scheinin said. He said he hoped the Obama
administration's policy would at least mean suspects abducted by U.S. agents
are tried in America. But he stressed that international law says countries
should seek extraditions through proper legal channels. Mark Storella, head of the
U.S. delegation, reminded the Council that Obama had pledged the United
States would confront terrorism "in a manner consistent with our values
and ideals." “War Paradigm” Manfred Nowak, the U.N.
torture envoy, said the Bush administration had transferred prisoners to
"countries known for torture practices" in cases where
"enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the CIA at Guantanamo
Bay and other detention centers had not succeeded in extracting information. "I am very confident
that this practice will stop," he said. But executive orders issued
by Obama on his second day in office were not totally satisfactory, as they
still reflected a "war paradigm," according to Nowak, an Austrian
law professor. "We are not in a
war," he added. Earlier, Scheinin, in an
annual report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, urged U.S. allies from
Britain to Pakistan to investigate whether they helped in secret renditions. He cited
"credible" reports that the United States sent suspects for
interrogation at covert detention centers in the Middle East, Asia and
Africa, as well as CIA-run "black sites" through at least May 2007.
Many cases of torture were reported. "Australian, British
and United States intelligence personnel have themselves interviewed detainees
who were held incommunicado by the Pakistani ISI in so-called safe houses,
where they were being tortured," he said, referring to Pakistan's spy
agency. Scheinin later told
reporters that such "wrongful acts" violated international law. The system, put in place by
the Bush administration following the September 11 2001 attacks in the United
States, had reflected a "dark page" in U.S. history, he said. But
"it was only possible through collaboration from many other
states." "Now that the witch hunt
is hopefully over, it is time for the law to step in," Scheinin told the
Council. Editing by Charles Dick. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52937Y20090310 |