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Guantanamo Bay: Help Illegal Prisoners
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» moondancer replied on Wed May 17, 2006 @ 1:30pm |
 Coolness: 92245 | 
Abu Ghraib torture victims still seeking redress AI Poland demonstrates against Abu Ghraib prison © Bartosz Konarzynski Two years ago the release of photographs showing detainees being tortured and ill-treated by US military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shocked and horrified the world. Despite repeated calls, US authorities have failed to conduct proper investigations to ensure that all those responsible, including at the highest levels, are held to account. The second anniversary of the outbreak of the scandal also serves as a haunting reminder two years on that the torture and abuse of Iraqis by their own authorities and the US-led coalition forces is still an issue. This timely reminder comes when the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has argued that US service members who see torture and inhumane treatment do not have an obligation to “physically stop it”, but only “to report it”. Testimony gathered by AI from former detainees reportedly tortured in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere indicates that victims have not received any compensation and are apparently unaware of the ways of making claims and, in many cases, lack the means and resources to do so. The case of Abdel-Jabbar Al-Azzawi © AI Abdel-Jabbar Al-Azzawi, a 50-year-old Iraqi, was detained and tortured by US forces and civilian interrogators hired by the US government in Iraq. He told AI that about 30 US soldiers burst into his house on 20 November 2003, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him. US troops allegedly took money, jewellery and other personal belongings from his house at the time of his arrest, which were never returned. He also alleges that a US soldier beat his wife over the head with the butt of a gun during the raid, causing the loss of sight in one of her eyes. They made me lie on the wooden floor... they tied each of my hands to a winch... they placed me like this. They started taking pictures of me. With every question... they would tighten the winch. Until I was stretched flat. Abdel-Jabbar Al-Azzawi, March 2006 At Baghdad airport, where he was initially interned, US personnel reportedly tortured Abdel-Jabbar Al-Azzawi during interrogation. He described how he was insulted, blindfolded, beaten, stripped, doused with water, tied in a crucifix position and suspended in the air. He was then transferred to Abu Ghraib prison, where he was held as a “ghost detainee” – i.e. without being registered - and in solitary confinement for almost a month. He says that pictures where taken of him as he was naked and while he was forced to adopt humiliating positions similar to those to which other detainees were subjected, as shown in the published Abu Ghraib scandal images. He was released on 6 June 2004 after spending almost seven months in detention without charge or trial. Abdel-Jabbar Al-Azzawi, who reportedly suffers physical and physicological disorders that allegedly developed during his detention, has not received any compensation from the US authorities. Documents related Informe: Más allá de Abu Ghraib: reclusión y tortura en Irak Report: Iraq: One year on the human rights situation remains dire Open letter to President George W. Bush on the question of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment Survivors still seeking redress US investigations into the abuses have resulted in prosecutions only of junior military personnel and one senior officer; the sentences in those cases generally have failed to reflect the gravity of the offences. © AP Graphics Bank Since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 US-led coalition forces have detained tens of thousands of people. In defiance of international humanitarian law, most have been held without charge, trial, or access to lawyers or courts. Some of the detainees have been interned for over two years; others have been released without explanation or apology after months in detention. Two years on, the US government must condemn all forms of torture and other ill-treatment, establish an independent investigation into the abuses, bring the perpetrators to justice, and create a adequate mechanism for redress; this should include compensation, restitution, satisfaction, guarantees of non-repetition and rehabilitation. ---------------------------------------------------------------- but still on-going... Guantánamo detainees: 4 years without justice Detainee rests inside his cell, Camp Delta, Guantánamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba. © AP GraphicsBank Four years ago, the USA transferred the first “war on terror” detainees – hooded and shackled - to the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. As the detention regime at Guantánamo Bay enters its fifth year, around 500 people from 35 countries continue to be held without charge or trial. Denied their rights under international law, there are mounting allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees at the camp. Detainees effectively remain in a legal black hole, many with no access to any court, legal counsel, or family visits. Many are subjected to confinement in small cells for up to 24 hours a day with minimal opportunity for exercise. Detainees are often kept in isolation, sometimes for months, as punishment for the infraction of strict camp rules. Several of the detainees have attempted suicide. Most recently Bahraini Jumah al Dossari attempted suicide, reportedly for the tenth time. Other detainees have in desperation embarked on hunger strikes, being kept alive, sometimes against their will, through painful force feeding procedures. Appalling conditions, allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, detention of individuals in Guantánamo for up to four years without justice: these are alarming violations of human rights. US plans to try detainees by military commission will bring even more injustice. These commissions are not independent and allow statements extracted under torture or coercion, and hearsay evidence. Guantánamo detainees must be released, unless charged with recognizable criminal offences and brought to fair trial. Take action! Write to US President George W. Bush demanding that he close down the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, and either charge and try the detainees in line with international standards, or release them. Action works: Since AI started highlighting specific cases of Guantánamo detainees, 16 of them have been released from US detention. Of those detainees transferred to their home countries, 1 remain in detention and 13 have been released. Please send appeals to: George W. Bush The President The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC 20500 USA Fax: +1 202 456 2461 E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Please note that this address has been responding erratically and is occasionally unavailable. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» BA_Baracus replied on Wed May 17, 2006 @ 3:20pm |
 Coolness: 121015 | free john walker lindh or whatever his name was
hahahah weeeeak |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» greatjob replied on Wed May 17, 2006 @ 3:58pm |
 Coolness: 282435 | Originally posted by B.A. BARACUS...
free john walker lindh or whatever his name was hahahah weeeeak good one benji, laugh. |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» PitaGore replied on Wed May 17, 2006 @ 4:15pm |
 Coolness: 471785 | at least u 2 guys got a few things in common |
Guantanamo Bay: Help Illegal Prisoners
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