I warmly welcome the responsible decision by the US government to open a preliminary investigation into whether US laws were violated by CIA officers and contractors during the interrogation of detainees at places outside the United States, including Guantanamo Bay. The United States Attorney-General has announced the decision to appoint a special prosecutor to undertake this preliminary review. I hope there is a swift examination of the various allegations of abuse made by former and current detainees in Guantanamo and other US-run prisons, and if they are verified, that the next steps will involve accountability for anyone who has violated the law.
My concern all along has been that there should not be impunity for torture or any other unlawful treatment of detainees, whether it is in the United States or anywhere else in the world. While we now have some idea of what occurred in Guantanamo, and to a lesser extent places like Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, we still need more transparency about secret places of detention, and what went on in them.
The use of secret places of detention must be curbed, and the names of detainees currently held in these detention centres must be released. Secrecy has been a major part of the problem with this type of detention regime. When guards and interrogators think they are safe from outside scrutiny, and legal safeguards are circumvented, laws become all too easy to ignore.
I am delighted to hear that Mohammed Jawad has been allowed to return to his family in Afghanistan folowing the recent decision to release him from Guantanamo. Mohammed Jawad was taken prisoner in 2002 when he may only have been 12 years old. Most of the charges against him were ruled inadmissible in 2008, and last month a US District Court ordered his release from Guantanamo. It has taken an extraordinarily long time, but the US justice system - once it was able to operate properly in his case - has, I believe, finally delivered justice.
However, in Jawad's case and those of other people held in detention for unacceptably long periods, without any charges being proven, or who were tortured or otherwise treated unlawfully, compensation and other remedies are essential. Some people have lost seven years of their lives, and may have been severely psychologically, physically or financially scarred by their experience, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I support the US President's commitment to close the Guantanamo camp by 2010 and ask him to urgently review the status of detainees at the Bagram facility in Afghanistan. All states should rigorously review their interrogation techniques to ensure they do not contravene the international laws relating to the treatment of detainees, including the absolute prohibition on the use of torture in all places at all times.
All measures to combat terrorism must comply with States' obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, in particular protection from torture. These laws are fundamental, and should once again be seen as sacrosanct.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky: My Trip to Guantanamo: It Must Be Closed
Decisions about placement of prisoners are made based on their level of compliance. It has nothing to do with alleged terrorist activities or crimes, since no one -- you got it -- no one has been convicted of anything.
Jameel Jaffer: The Torture Report
Five years after Abu Ghraib, the Defense Department is still withholding photographs showing prisoners being abused at other facilities, as well as interrogation directives used by special forces.
Robert Greenwald: Can Obama Avoid Another Abu Ghraib?
The president's recent objection to a provision in the 2010 defense funding bill that would make interrogation an "inherently governmental function" is a huge step backwards.
Ok, I give you one. The dog leash on the detainee; that was torture. No one should be treated like a dog.
Talk about intelligence, it sounds like we are just out for blood here. I do not believe the guys in the white house or the military were taping live video’s of cutting detainees head’s off!
Now we want to compare our interrogation tactics to those of the middle east. You hypocrites, why do you go after those you committed the true torture.
You just want blood! Just like the terrorist.
There is not much difference in your character.
Be honest, it might help you get rid of the hatred inside of you.
By the way have you seen Kahlid new crib? Talk about stepping up in the world. Moving from a snack and bat invested cave in the middle of no were to a Caribbean paradise island where you are feed every day, now that is what I call a smart move. Vladimir Lenin couldn't be prouder. George Jefferson, look out!!