Archive for category News & Clippings
Freedom from torture: a right for all
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings on 22/02/2012
Abu Qatada case shows how principles of human rights and freedom from torture extend to all – even the despised
The British press have been quite excitable in their coverage of Abu Qatada’s deportation case recently.
The 51-year-old preacher has been excused of providing religious backing to terrorism, including the September 11 attacks on the U.S.; others allege he has been closely connected with the Al Qaeda terror network.
He has lived in the UK since 1993, when he entered on a fraudulent passport. And many seem to want him out.
As such, for the last 10 years, the British government has been trying to deport Qatada to Jordan, where he stands accused in military trials of assisting in terrorism attacks.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan because of the risk he may be tortured and that evidence from torture may be used in his trial there.
And while many British newspapers have focused on the issue of torture – and many more on the millions of pounds it has cost the UK to monitor, detain, and process Qatada – the principles of ‘non-refoulement’ at the basis of the Courts decision remain hazy amidst the outcry.
Non-refoulement is proscribed in the UN Convention against Torture – which both the UK and Jordan have ratified. Basically, it means that a country may not deport a person to a country: where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
While the Prince of Jordan has made public assertions that it is “illogical” to believe Qatada would be tortured if deported to Jordan, the European Court is not of the same opinion.
Atlas of Torture, a project of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights in Vienna, provides profiles of countries human rights and torture records based on reports from UN Special Rapporteurs, the UN Committee against Torture, and the Sub-committee for the Prevention of Torture. Of Jordan, they state that: “It was alleged that torture was commonly practised to extract confessions or to obtain intelligence between the time of arrest and transfer to pre-trial detention… The Special Rapporteur thus concluded that the practice of torture was widespread in Jordan and that torture was routinely used…”
To circumvent its obligations as regards non-refoulment, the UK Home Office has sought assurances from Jordan that Qatada will not be tortured, a naïve undertaking at best. Some members of parliament have gone so far as to suggest that the UK should simply temporarily withdraw from the human rights treaty to thus continue with the deportation.
These are all outrageous suggestions. The UK has deported Tamils and Congolese to their home countries when there was evidence they would be tortured, when nearly at the same moment, during the announcement of the Detainee Inquiry, Prime Minister David Cameron stated, “Our reputation as a country that believes in human rights, fairness and the rule of law – indeed for much of what the services exist to protect – risks being tarnished.”
The rule of law, the UN Convention against Torture, is not something one can simply ignore – or withdraw from – temporarily.
Tessa is communications assistant at the IRCT
After the cloud of tear gas
Posted by IRCT in Middle East North Africa, News & Clippings on 14/02/2012
Focus on Bahrain needed to prevent more human rights violations
Today, as the protesters have made their way from the suburbs of Manama, Bahrain, undoubtedly heading to Pearl roundabout, the security forces quickly made it known – through their sheer presence, the eventual dispersal of tear gas – that they would try to stem the tide of demonstrators at the infamous site. And in the days leading up, the government has continued crackdown and suppression efforts, denying foreigners and foreign press access to Bahrain and hiring public relations firms.
Today marks a year since protesters gathered at Pearl roundabout in Manama, demonstrating against the undemocratic monarchy of Bahrain and calling for reform. Yet, unlike other Arab Spring movements, Bahrain’s demonstrators have often been ‘shouting in the dark’, to employ the title of an Al Jazeera English documentary that chronicled the protests and the resulting crackdown.
Instead of democratic reforms, Bahrainis have faced severe repression, torture, and arbitrary detention. Just last week, Bahrain and Danish citizen and human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja wrote a letter to the Danish Foreign Ministry from prison calling for them to push for his release:
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s letter to the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs from prison, 8 Feb 2012http://www.scribd.com/embeds/81440913/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list
In it, he points to an official 500-page government inquiry in Bahrain that documented cases of torture. In addition, there was the highly publicized cases of over a dozen doctors, surgeons, and nurses at a Manama hospital who were sentenced to several years in prison after being tortured to confess. Their alleged ‘crime’: Doing their job as doctors and treating the wounded and dying protesters coming from Pearl roundabout after security forces cracked down.
All these cases, and yet it seems the torture continues in Bahrain. Within the last year, demonstrators have continued to take to the streets; and many are apprehended, detained, and torture by security forces. We hope on this anniversary that the international world focuses on Bahrain.
“What Bahrainis need is international pressure, international attention to stop the torture, stop the human rights violations; then, we can fight for democracy ourselves,” said Maryam Al-Khawaja, daugher of Abdulhadi and current foreign affairs officer from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, during a panel discussion last year.
In Haiti – and U.S. – impunity must end
Posted by IRCT in Justice, Latin America & the Caribbean, News & Clippings, North America on 06/02/2012
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier was president of Haiti from 1971-1986, during which thousands of Haitians were brutally tortured, killed, or 'disappeared' during his 15-year regime. Photo under Creative Commons license, by a-birdie.
“Moving forward” and “learning lessons” cannot be done without holding perpetrators of torture to account
After 25 years in exile, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the former ‘president for life’ responsible for the deaths of over 30,000 Haitians, returned to his country and was promptly put on trial.
However, much to the likely devastation of the survivors of his torturous regime and the families of victims killed during his term, he has only been charged with corruption and embezzlement. There are to be no charges for the torture, extrajudicial killings, and ‘disappearances’ that the victims of his crimes deserve to see him held accountable for.
And both expectantly and deservedly, the condemnations of the Haitian decision have come flooding in. From the Washington Post Editorial Board to the UN High Commission for Human Rights, the magistrate responsible for the decision has been unanimously vilified for allowing Duvalier impunity for his most heinous crimes and human rights violations. I agree that Duvalier should be held accountable and that this recent decision was rightfully worthy of condemnation.
However, a common from Haiti’s current president caught my attention: Asked about the Duvalier case, President Martelly told The Washington Post: “It is part of the past. We need to learn our lessons and move forward.”
President Martelly’s language is markedly similar to another leader a little to the north of the island nation. The current U.S. administration has refused to pursue an investigation or charges against top Bush Administration officials for allegations of torture committed during the so-called ‘war on terror’, with Obama saying in a statement that it is a “time for reflection, not retribution”. These crimes too have been swept under the carpet, despite international obligations to properly investigate and hold perpetrators to account.
Yet both Duvalier and U.S. government officials need to be held to account for their crimes. Sweeping the responsibility for these crimes under the rug not only fails the state’s obligations to the survivors and victims’ families; it perpetuates a cycle of impunity, and gives a free rein for torturers to continue.
Tessa is a communications assistant at the IRCT.
Global crime: The horror of child torture
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings, Voices on 31/01/2012
A Google search on “child torture” today, the 31st of January 2012 yields headlines like these: Children tortured, killed during Syrian regime’s crackdown: UN; UN: ‘Numerous’ reports of child torture by Syria; UN: Syrian forces killed, tortured 256 children.
Torture of children is not a “new” thing, but a thing that rarely surfaces in such a clear form as in the news on Syria. The situation in Syria has attracted the attention of high-level segments in the international community – with good reason. Syria is in the hot spot, so hot that headlines have (finally) placed the words “children and torture” in the same sentence. In the world of international politics and policies, this connection is not a common sight – especially in headlines.
One of the aims of the IRCT’s ongoing project on children is to bring more attention to the fact that children are being tortured, and headlines like those on Syria make one want to grasp the opportunity to raise the issue: torture of children is not only happening in Syria but in many places of the world. Everyday. It needs to be said loud and clear and more and more. If not, I worry that we will not be able to address it for what it is.
This is not to say that no-one is saying anything about children being tortured – data on the torture of children exists (all PDFs). However, it is often drowned in a wider discourse on violence against children in which distinctions between child abuse and child torture are blurred. All violence against children is inexcusable and horrific, no doubt about that, but we need to call it what it is in order to better fight it. Violence against children in detention, care and justice institutions, and police lock-ups amounts to torture because these institutions are run by public authorities.
The controversy of placing the words children and torture in the same sentence makes the issue a delicate and difficult one to address – this also makes it difficult to fundraise for. It is alarming to say that children are being tortured. The uneven balance of power that exists between a torturer and the tortured becomes incomprehensible when imagining that the tortured is a child.
Children are in a developmental stage of their lives and have yet to develop the coping skills of adults. The threshold of pain and suffering in particular makes this horrific act, when committed against a child, all the more chilling. It is commonly held that the special vulnerability of children renders them more susceptible to the physical and psychological effects of torture. Younger children, in particular, have a lower threshold of pain; and physical or mental abuse may have a much more profound impact on the body and mind of a developing child than on an adult.
The deployment of a Special Representative on Violence Against Children in 2009 has generated new and needed attention to the scope of violence committed against children in the world of today. This said, a review of NGO reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded that the availability of information from NGOs on violence against children is “uneven“. There is need to improve the reporting of this crime. And it needs to happen now.
Children are also fighters and survivors – and children who have been tortured can overcome the horrors, if they receive proper and timely treatment. The main objectives of IRCT’s project on children and torture is to raise awareness of the fact we need to improve documentation on cases of child torture and to develop child-appropriate rehabilitation for child survivors of torture. Not least we need to prevent it from happening. In order to do this, we first need to recognize the awful truth: that it exists and is widespread.
Line, a sociologist specialising in human rights, implements the research project on children and torture in Asia.
(Not) “Only incompetent investigation officers believe in torture”
Posted by IRCT in Asia, News & Clippings on 24/01/2012
While the HRW reports a disastrous year for human rights in Pakistan, positive signals are arriving from Punjab. The province’s police have been instructed to stop torturing suspects in custody after the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights took note of media reports of an ‘increasing trend of police torture’ in the province. Read the news here.
We welcome the news that the committee seem to have convinced the police to revise their investigation methods and concentrate on collecting physical evidence using forensic techniques rather than coercing suspects into making confessions. It also called for improvements in the recruitment and training of police and other law enforcement personnel.
According to the committee “Only incompetent investigation officers believe in torture”. Yet sadly, it’s not just incompetent police officers who torture. Despite being a gross violation of human rights, which has many times been proved inefficient, many prison officers and detention staff, military personnel, paramilitary forces, state-controlled contra-guerilla forces, and even some health and legal professionals still believe in it. Read more about who the perpetrators of torture are.
No more shameful anniversaries – 10 years of Guantánamo
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings, North America on 11/01/2012
London protesters demand the closure of Guantanamo, which has been open 10 years today. Photo by casmaron through Creative Commons license.
Ten years ago today, the first detainees arrived in Guantánamo. Between now and then, the detention centre has become more than just a symbol of human rights violations, but the site of crimes of torture and arbitrary, indefinite detention. Look at the figures provided here by the American Civil Liberties Union, a US-based organisation that focuses on civil rights.
Compiled by the ACLU, source.
As such, we have released a statement condemning the prison, requesting its immediate closure, and the trying or release of the current 171 detainees (note: no detainees have been released in the last year despite almost 90 being cleared for release).
The naval base and prison, which sits on less than 120 square kilometers of land at the southern tip of Cuba, is more than just a symbol of the continued human rights violations of the United States, but the site of “continuous crimes of torture and ill-treatment amounting to shocking human rights concerns,” says IRCT Secretary General Brita Sydhoff.
As today marks 10 years after the first detainees arrived at the base, the IRCT joins other organisations and human rights defenders around the world in calling for the closure of Guantánamo Bay, and either trying detainees or releasing them.
Despite President Obama’s pledge to close the infamous prison, two years have passed since his deadline, and there is no indication from authorities or Congress that they will do so. Instead, on 31 January 2011, Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included an amendment that authorized indefinite detention.
“Rather than make good on his promise to close Guantánamo, the NDAA has codified the abhorrent practices in place for the last 10 years,” Sydhoff says. “This anniversary, the ongoing arbitrary detention of prisoners, and the complete lack of accountability for the crimes committed within the last decade speak to the failure of the U.S. and the Obama administration to live up to their human rights obligations.”
“No more unfortunate anniversaries should pass before the U.S. affirms its commitment to human rights, closing the doors on Guantánamo and bringing the perpetrators of crimes committed there to justice.”
To get to the truth, there needs to be reform
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings on 09/01/2012
If you have been following the sprawling UK inquiry into detainees rendered during the so-called ‘war on terror’, you may have noticed the announcement this Friday that Abdul Hakim Belhadj, a former Libyan rebel leader who just last month announced he would take legal action against the UK government for his alleged torture, would not take part in the inquiry.
He says the inquiry lacks sufficient powers “to get to the truth of Britain’s involvement” in abuses. We agree.
The IRCT has joined other human rights organisations, two former UN special rapporteurs on torture, and other international experts in calling for reform of the UK ‘Detainee Inquiry’:
We contend that fundamental problems plague the inquiry, thus, leaving it open for a lack of credibility.
“Without substantial changes, it will not get to the truth of Britain’s involvement or ensure such abuses do not occur again,” the letter states.
Read our entire statement here, and the open letter to UK Prime Minister Cameron here (PDF).
#torture: Do you mean it?
Posted by IRCT in Voices, News & Clippings on 05/01/2012
Editor’s Note: The following contains brief descriptions of torture methods.
Logging onto to Twitter, I pull up the search tab for all Tweets marked with #torture. Some describe the upcoming trials of Bahrain police officers for torture; some link to news stories on rendition. But by far the majority of them feature some variations of the following:
Lying in bed counting down the minutes until I have to actually get up. #torture
Rain + wind #torture
I’ve been putting my alarm on snooze for a minute since half 6?! And managed to fall asleep every minute just to be woken up! #torture
When your feet are freezing and you have to take a hot shower. #torture
Of course, people are apt to hyperbole on Twitter, and it’s not uncommon to hear the word ‘torture’ used colloquially to simply mean an uncomfortable experience. On Twitter, more often than not, ‘torture’ simply means getting up early.
Misuse of the term ‘torture’ is rife in the media, too. Reading the daily clippings – sent to us by email through a search of the word ‘torture’ – part of my job is to search and filter the results to send out to our member network and the staff at the Secretariat. I search for stories regarding incidences (or circumstances that may lead to) torture, as defined by the United Nations:
… Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
So what would a Tweet look like from a torture victim?
Lying on a cold floor, in a cell 1X1 meter, haven’t been allowed to sleep for 8 days #sleepdeprivation
Water + covered face + reclined + feel as though I’m drowning #waterboarding
I’ve been forced to stand in an extremely bright room, loud music played for weeks, completely alone #longtermisolation #solitaryconfinement
When your feet are bull whipped #falanga #torture
When government officials, often police or prison guards in places of detention, inflict such violent and painful acts, many that leave long-lasting mental and physical damages to the victim, this is torture. It’s done often to extract confessions, obtain bribes, retribution, or simply because someone was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Misuse and exaggerated use of this term simply muddles it’s true meaning and the horrible experiences behind it.
Tessa is communications assistant, focusing on social media and the women and girls projects.
2011 – We look back at a year of human rights
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings on 02/01/2012
Happy New Year, to all our readers from World Without Torture.
As we look to start 2012, we would like to take a moment to look back at 2011 – the events, revolutions, human rights defenders, and victorious moments that shaped us and will undoubtedly shape this upcoming year.
Note: These are in no particular order. Click any photo for slideshow view.
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- While the election will only happen in 2012, the Republican primary season in the U.S. led to a shocking statement of consensus among the candidates – almost all of them declared their support of torture in U.S. interrogation policy. Sadly, the year also ended with a New Year’s Eve signing by Obama of the National Defence Authorisation Act, which allows the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.
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- In the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, protesters joined the Arab Spring movement, taking to the streets throughout early spring to demonstrate against their undemocratic government. What followed was one of the most brutal crackdowns in the Middle East, with hundreds of allegations of torture and extra-judicial killings. Shockingly, even several doctors and surgeons were arrested, tortured, and sentenced for doing their jobs – treating the injured and wounded protesters. The situation in Bahrain continues today.
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- The second trial against the main authorities of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia began this year for thousands of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture. Pictured here is Nuon Chea, one of the four on trial currently.
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- 2011 marked the final year of our project on forensic evidence in the fight against torture, and we were able to make huge strides in this – our forensic expert team were used in several cases, in particular in Egypt with Khaled Said and in Iraq. Pictured here is Dr. Maria Dolores Morccillo Mendez, a forensic medical doctor from the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences in Colombia who won the IRCT’s competition for best poster or oral presentation on human rights or torture related issues at the recent joint conference.
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- This year, UN torture investigator Juan Mendez declared long-term solitary confinement as a form of torture. Pictured here are two of three American hikers who were detained and tortured by Iran. The final two were released this year, while the third, Sarah Shourd (left) wrote about her experience in Iranian prison and the torture she endured through long-term solitary confinement there.
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- In another example of the impact of Arab Spring revolutions, rebel forces took control of Tripoli by the end of the summer 2011, and led to the removal and killed of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. We look to the next year with hopes for the rehabilitation of the several thousand torture survivors.
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- Despite the ouster of several dictators in the MENA region, Syria’s Assad has held firm, doing so through a brutal crackdown on protesters. Experts estimate that 5,000 people have been killed, and several hundred have been detained and tortured. We will continue to monitor this situation as it progresses to the new year.
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- While it may be for only a handful of cases, nonetheless, several perpetrators of heinous crimes of torture were brought to justice this year. This included some high-level authorities during Argentina’s ‘dirty war’. Pictured at left is one of the Mother of La Plaza de Mayo, whose family members are among the estimated 30,000 tortured or disappeared victims of the junta. At left is Ratko Mladic, the former Serbian Army general who was arrested and extradited to the Hague for crimes, including the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men.
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- Khaled Said was the face of a revolution. The 28-year-old Egyptian was tortured and killed by police in 2010, but his face lent fire to the fury – protests and demonstrations beginning in January eventually led to the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak, currently on trial for the deaths of several thousand protesters. The Arab Spring, seen most vividly in Egypt, was in part an outcry against state abuse and torture.
Forensic evidence confirms torture of Iraqis after handover from Danish troops
Posted by IRCT in News & Clippings, Forensics - Project Work on 21/12/2011
Although we had this posted to our website over the weekend, we haven’t yet included this news on our blog.
The results of forensic examinations of Iraqi citizens detained by Danish troops and transferred to Iraqi security forces have revealed that they were tortured.
The forensic examinations were performed in Jordan earlier this month by three clinical experts coordinated by the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
Five Iraqi citizens – all detained and released without charge in late 2004 – had alleged torture following their transfer by Danish troops to Iraqi forces following random arrest. The preliminary findings indicate that all five had been subjected to ill-treatment amounting to torture.
Through our FEAT project (Forensic Evidence against Torture), Jørgen Lange Thomsen, a medical examiner and head of the forensic department at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense (you can also hear more about Dr. Thomsen’s work in our short film) , examined two Iraqis last week while accompanied by journalists from Danish newspaper Politiken (you can read the English version of their story here).
Following random arrest by Danish soldiers during the occupation in Iraq, approximately 30 detainees were handed over to Iraqi police, who abused and tortured them, the evidence confirms. Five of the Iraqis plan to sue the Danish government.
