Denounce Torture

Human Rights First has organized for a group of 20 former generals and admirals to engage in informal discussions concerning US policy on detention and interrogation issues in the war on terrorism with 2008 presidential hopefuls in New Hamshire this weekend.

"These retired officers believe those who seek to be Commander in Chief should be well conversant with issues related to the Geneva Conventions and the rules governing treatment of detainees," Human Rights First, formerly known as the Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights, said in a press release. "This group of experienced military leaders...intend to have a candid discussion with the candidates, which they hope will help to ensure that the candidates are better informed as they speak about these issues on the campaign trail, and ultimately as one of them assumes the highest office in the nation."

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(Washington, DC) Many detainees who remain in the U.S.-controlled detention center in Guantánamo Bay are held in cruel conditions of isolation, Amnesty International charged today in its new report, USA: Cruel and Inhuman – Conditions of Isolation for Detainees in Guantánamo Bay.

Most detainees have suffered harsh treatment throughout their detention, confined to mesh cages or maximum security cells. Moreover, a new facility that opened in December 2006, known as Camp 6, has created even harsher and apparently more permanent conditions of extreme isolation and sensory deprivation.

“Guantánamo Bay is the festering symbol of the Bush administration’s continued contempt for international law and disregard for human rights – further diminishing our country’s moral standing,” said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director. “The administration continues to think that it can justify ongoing human rights violations in the name of national security. Perhaps President Bush needs to think again, because the voices calling for the closure of this disgrace to American values are only getting louder.”

Detainees are reportedly confined for 22 hours a day to individual, enclosed, steel cells where they are almost completely cut off from human contact. The cells have no windows to the outside or access to natural light or fresh air. No activities are provided, and detainees are subjected to 24-hour lighting and constant observation by guards through the narrow windows in the cell doors. They exercise alone in a high-walled yard where little sunlight filters through; detainees are often only offered exercise at night and may not see daylight for days at a time.

The U.S authorities have described Camp 6 as a “state of the art modern facility” that is safer for guards and “more comfortable” for the detainees. However, Amnesty International believes that the conditions, as shown in photographs and described by detainees and their attorneys, contravene international standards for humane treatment. In some respects, they appear more severe than the most restrictive levels of “super-maximum” custody on the U.S. mainland, which have been criticized by international bodies as incompatible with human rights treaties and standards.

It appears that around 80 percent of the approximately 385 men currently held at Guantánamo are in isolation – a reversal of earlier moves to ease conditions and allow more socializing among detainees. According to the Pentagon, 165 detainees had been transferred to Camp 6 from other facilities on the base by mid-January 2007. A further 100 detainees are held in solitary confinement in Camp 5, another maximum security facility.

As many as 20 detainees are also believed to be held in solitary confinement in Camp Echo, a facility set apart from others on the base, where conditions have been described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as “extremely harsh.”

While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens and those living within its borders from attacks by armed groups, that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights and the rule of law. By rounding up men from all over the world and transporting them to an isolated penal colony, holding them without charge or trial, the United States has violated several U.S. and international laws and treaties. Statements by the Bush administration that these men are “enemy combatants,” “terrorists” or “very bad people” do not justify the complete lack of due process rights.

Shaker Aamer, a U.K. resident and former camp negotiator, has been held in total isolation in Camp Echo since September 2005. Saber Lahmer, an Algerian seized in Bosnia, has also spent the last 10 months in Camp Echo. Both men are reportedly confined to small, windowless cells with little exercise and no possessions apart from a copy of the Koran. Saber Lahmer reportedly refused to leave his cell for a pre-arranged visit with his attorneys in March, causing grave concern for his mental health.

“It seems that detainees are being placed in extreme lockdown conditions not because of their individual behavior, but because of harsher camp operating procedures,” said Jumana Musa, Amnesty International USA advocacy director for international justice and domestic human rights. “Even men who have been cleared for release are being held in isolation.”

Amnesty International urges the Bush administration to close the facility and either charge and try detainees under international fair trial norms or else release them. U.S. authorities must take immediate steps to ensure that no detainee is subjected to prolonged isolation in conditions of reduced sensory stimulation and allow detainees more association and activities as well as regular contact with their families with opportunities for phone calls and visits. In addition, independent health care professionals and human rights experts should be able to examine and visit detainees in private.

“Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is the latest U.S. official, including President Bush, to say that Guantánamo should be closed. There’s no reason to dawdle … there’s no reason to delay … but there are many reasons to end one of the worst blemishes on the United States’ human rights record,” said Cox.

For a copy of the new 26-page report, USA: Cruel and Inhuman – Conditions of Isolation for Detainees in Guantánamo Bay, please contact the AIUSA press office at 202.544.0200 x302.

Do you agree with Amnesty International Director, Larry Cox, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that Guantánamo should be shut down immediately? Post your comments below and Help close Guantánamo today! Visit the Close Guantánamo action page to learn how! You can also download the Guantánamo Action Guide that includes info to help you plan public events, materials to start letter writing campaign, and the America I Believe In pledge.

According to an investigation by the Associated Press, U.S. CIA and FBI agents have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held in secret prisons in Ethiopia, a country notorious for torture and abuse.  It is believed that many of the prisoners include women and children and are being kept without charge or access to lawyers and families.

US officials insisted that agents would not be witness or party to any questioning that involved abuse and that the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania would be a major focus of their work. 

Nevertheless John Sifton, a Human Rights Watch expert on counter-terrorism insisted that the United States has acted as "ringleader" in what he labeled a "decentralized, outsourced Guantanamo." 

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How do you feel about United States officials visiting secret prisons in Ethiopia? Is this yet another instance where the United States is turning its back on International Law? Is this the America You Believe In? 

Post your comments below and take action at believe.amnestyusa.org

Source: Guardian Unlimited