Amnesty slams terror suspect abuse

[cal04]

RIGHTS group Amnesty International has condemned the abuse of terrorist suspects caught in Pakistan, saying hundreds had "disappeared", while others were tortured or sold on to US authorities.

In a report the London-based group said bounty hunters routinely help arrest suspects, who are then sold on abroad including to the United States' infamous prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The road to Guantanamo very literally starts in Pakistan," said Amnesty's Claudio Cordone, commenting on the report.

"Hundreds of people have been picked up in mass arrests, many have been sold to the USA as 'terrorists' simply on the word of their captor, and hundreds have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Airbase (a US base in Afghanistan) or secret detention centres run by the USA," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20496534-1702,00.html

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. "Bounty hunters...mass arrests..sold to the USA as terrorists simply on...

the word of their captors..."

This is HUGE! Millions of Americans seem to tolerate abuse of "terrorists". But have they asked themselves exactly how people get BRANDED with that label, and what proportion of the brandees may have been mislabeled?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

2. cal04: This is such an important story I reposted it at GD and it's gotten

two recommendations in a short time, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2253704 .Solly Mack added a couple of other links to the pot. "Trafficking in mislabeled 'terrorists' at $5,000 a head" needs a lot more exposure. Do Keith Olbermann, Joe Conason, Robyn Blumner, and other MSM columnists listed at http://www.buzzflash.com know about this?

helen thomas
greg palast
arianna huffington
molly ivins
paul krugman
frank rich
david corn
eric alterman
maureen dowd
e.j. dionne
ellen goodman
thom hartmann
bob herbert
jim hightower
mark morford
james ridgeway
robert scheer

[ProgressiveEconomist]

3. Well, my GD repost has made it to the 'Greatest' page:

'Terrorist'='Trafficked to the US for a $78k a head Pakistani-equivalent bounty'?

Would knowing about huge money incentives for mislabeling people as 'terrorists', and about hundreds of 'terrorists' already released from Guantanamo because it was decided they had been wrongly charged, change any minds about torturing 'terrorists'?

Amnesty International says (see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20496534-1702,00.html , an Amnesty International press release at http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGASA330382006 , and a GD thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2253704 ):

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'"The road to Guantanamo very literally starts in Pakistan," said Amnesty's Claudio Cordone, commenting on the report. "Hundreds of people have been picked up in mass arrests, many have been sold to the USA as 'terrorists' simply on the word of their captor, and hundreds have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Airbase (a US base in Afghanistan) or secret detention centres run by the USA," he said....

"A large number of war on terror detainees have been literally sold into US hands by bounty hunters who have received cash payments in return, typically $US5000 ... ," it said....

The report said that 300 people - previously labelled as "terrorists" and "killers" by the US government - have since been released from Guantanamo Bay without charge, the majority to Pakistan or Afghanistan. "Many detainees remain unaccounted for, their fate and whereabouts unknown," it said, saying they include a baby and a 13-year-old Saudi boy called Talha, according to reports. "More than two years later, nothing is known about the fate and whereabouts of Talha and the other children and women," said Amnesty."'

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GDP per capita at purchasing power parity in the US ($41,399) is 15.6 times what it is in Pakistan ($2,653), according to IMF estamates for 2005 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita.

Multiplying the typical $5,000 bounty for a so-called terrorist makes the Pakistani equivalent amount $78,023.