The U.S. is Helping Pakistan Torture 'Terror' Suspects

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Terror suspects tortured, claims Amnesty report

Declan Walsh in Kabul
Friday September 29, 2006
The Guardian

Amnesty International accused Pakistan of widespread human rights violations in support of America's "war on terror" as the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, visited the UK today.

Hundreds of terrorism suspects have been arbitrarily detained since 2001, many of whom have been tortured or forcibly "disappeared", according to Amnesty. The allegations add to the controversy surrounding Gen Musharraf.

The Amnesty report focuses on Pakistan's capture of more than 600 al-Qaida suspects since 2001. Gen Musharraf has boasted of the arrests as proof of his commitment to the fight against al-Qaida. In his new memoirs, In the Line of Fire, he claims that the CIA has paid Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollars in bounty payments for the capture of 369 al-Qaida suspects since 2001.

The US justice department has denied making the payments.

This year Gen Musharraf and his chief spokesman have variously claimed 500-1,000 arrests. But Amnesty says the arrests were outside the law and led into the world of secretive detention, where torture and extrajudicial killing are rife.

Typically detainees are held at safe houses in Pakistan run by the ISI intelligence agency before being moved to US-controlled facilities in Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay or Middle Eastern countries.

American officials participated in some arrests and may have been involved in torture, according to Amnesty.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1883693,00.html


from Amnesty: (http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA330362006)

Pakistan
Human rights ignored in the "war on terror"

29 September 2006

1. Introduction

"I cannot believe that there can be a trade between the effective fight against terrorism and the protection of civil liberties. If as individuals we are asked to give up our freedom, our liberties, our human rights, as protection against terrorism, do we in the end have protection?" UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, September 2006.(1)

In its pursuit of the US-led "war on terror", the Pakistani government has committed numerous violations of human rights protected in the Constitution of Pakistan and in international human rights law. They include the right to life and the security of the person; to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (ill-treatment); to be free from enforced disappearance and to challenge the lawfulness of detention. Victims of human rights violations in the "war on terror" include Pakistani and non-Pakistani terror suspects, men and some women, children of terror suspects, sometimes held as hostages, journalists who have reported on the "war on terror" and medical personnel who allegedly treated terror suspects.

To this dismal human rights record, Pakistan’s actions in the "war on terror" have added a further layer of violations. Hundreds of people suspected of links to al-Qa’ida or the Taleban have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. Scores have become victims of enforced disappearance (for a definition see section 6); some of these have been unlawfully transferred (sometimes in return for money) to the custody of other countries, notably the USA.

Many people have been detained incommunicado in undisclosed places of detention and tortured or ill-treated. Their families, distressed about the lack of information on the whereabouts and fate of their loved ones, have been harassed and threatened when seeking information. The right to habeas corpus has been systematically undermined as state agents have refused to comply with court directions or have lied in court.

The fate of some of the victims of arbitrary arrest, detention and enforced disappearance has been disclosed – some have been charged with criminal offences unrelated to terrorism, others have been released without charge, reportedly after being warned to keep quiet about their experience, while some have been found dead. However, many have been unlawfully transferred to other countries, without any judicial or other procedures, and in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits people being sent to countries where they face serious human rights abuses. Some were transferred to US custody and have ended up in the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay (Cuba), Bagram airbase (Afghanistan) or secret detention centres elsewhere. Others have been unlawfully returned to their countries of origin, where they may be at risk of further abuse. However, many remain unaccounted for – their fate and whereabouts are unknown.

The clandestine nature of the arrest and detention of terror suspects makes it impossible to ascertain exactly how many people have been subjected to arbitrary detention or enforced disappearance. The independent non-governmental organisation, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in May 2006 stated that over 1,000 people have been arrested in the "war on terror" in Pakistan. US President George W Bush has said on several occasions that "our ally, Pakistan, has killed or captured more than 600 terrorists".(3) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has mentioned some 700 terror suspects arrested, but these figures may not be accurate.

read the entire report: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA330362006

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