U.N. rights envoys condemn Bush plan on interrogation

[ProSense]

U.N. rights envoys condemn Bush plan on interrogation

By Stephanie Nebehay
16 minutes ago

GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators said on Thursday that legislation proposed by President Bush for tough interrogations of foreign terrorism suspects would breach the Geneva Conventions.

In a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the five independent envoys also said Washington's admission of secret detention centers abroad pointed to "very serious human rights violations in relation to the hunt for alleged terrorists."

They again called for the closure of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of foreign terrorism suspects are being held, alleging continued violations of international law on torture and arbitrary detention.

Despite U.S. declarations of intent to shut Guantanamo, Washington had done nothing yet and was even planning to open a new cell bloc at the end of this month, they said.

"We call on the government to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention center and, until that time, to refrain from any practice amounting to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," they said.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060921/ts_nm/rights_un_usa_dc_1

:wow:

[ProSense]

1. Justice Dept. Amends Remark on Torture Case (Gonzales caught in a lie)

September 21, 2006

Justice Dept. Amends Remark on Torture Case

By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — In an embarrassing turnabout, the Department of Justice backed away Wednesday from a denial by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales of responsibility for the treatment of a Canadian who was seized by American authorities in 2002. The man was deported to Syria, where he was imprisoned and beaten.

Asked at a news conference on Tuesday about a Canadian commission’s finding that the man, Maher Arar, was wrongly sent to Syria and tortured there, Mr. Gonzales replied, “Well, we were not responsible for his removal to Syria.” He added, “I’m not aware that he was tortured.”

The attorney general’s comments caused puzzlement because they followed front-page news articles of the findings of the Canadian commission. It reported that based on inaccurate information from Canada about Mr. Arar’s supposed terrorist ties, American officials ordered him taken to Syria, an action documented in public records.

On Wednesday, a Justice Department spokesman said Mr. Gonzales had intended to make only a narrow point: that deportations are now handled by the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Justice.

The spokesman, Charles Miller, said the attorney general forgot that at the time of Mr. Arar’s deportation, such matters were still handled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was part of the Department of Justice.

“He had his timeline mixed up,” Mr. Miller said.

more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/world/americas/21canada.html?ex=1316491200&en=c41819e94cf561a8&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[ProSense]

2. What's the U.S. response to this? Bush sanctioned torture! n/t