Oct 31 2008

A Break in the Case Against Torture?

From The Independent:


CIA officers could face trial in Britain over torture allegations

Senior CIA officers could be put on trial in Britain after it emerged last night that the Attorney General is to investigate allegations that a British resident held in Guantanamo Bay was brutally tortured, after being arrested and questioned by American forces following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has asked Baroness Scotland to consider bringing criminal proceedings against Americans allegedly responsible for the rendition and abuse of Binyam Mohamed, when he was held in prisons in Morocco and Afghanistan.

The development follows criticism of US prosecutors by British judges who have seen secret evidence of torture committed against Mr Mohamed, including allegations his torturers used a razor blade to repeatedly cut his penis. The Attorney’s investigation is expected to include allegations that MI5 colluded in Mr Mohamed’s rendition. Mr Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national and British resident, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, when he was questioned by an MI5 officer.

21 comments

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  1. getting the facts about the past eight years out is essential.

    If OUR government won’t reveal what has been done in OUR name, perhaps other governments who still adhere to the Rule of Law will.

  2. and criminal prosecution will come from other countries. After all the crimes committed break international law, even though we seem to feel they do not apply to us. If we have fallen to this point of ill repute the rest of the world can seek justice, they don’t have to pander to the same political reality.

  3. It would be much preferable that we would prosecute our own criminals in lieu of other countries doing so.  However, I am atthe point that I don’t care how it’s done, as long as it gets done, even, albeit, by another or other countries!

  4. Depends on who Obama’s AG is, and it depends on whether s/he is really going to go after torture, renditions, spying, surveillance, etc etc etc etc.  If not, we’re likely to find ourselves, after the victory hangover goes away, fighting with the administration about restoring habeas, closing Gitmo, ending the military commissions act, etc etc etc etc.

    Ask me again on Wednesday.  

     

    • RiaD on November 1, 2008 at 02:18
    • #

    an article this morning: Charles Taylor’s son convicted of torture.

    I thought this was an interesting quote

    The son of the brutal former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, has been convicted of torture by a US court in the first case of its kind on American soil.

    Charles Taylor Jr, also known as ‘Chuckie’ faces life in prison after being found guilty of torture, firearms and conspiracy charges in the first trial brought under a 1994 US law allowing prosecution for torture and atrocities committed overseas.

    seems like to me this sets precedent to convict Bush, Cheney, etc, etc

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