Guantánamo, Iraqi prisoners photographs raise concern
Regional-USA, Politics, 2/17/2006

At the international level, the UN described the new photographs against the Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghreib prison as "raising concern" and called for opening an investigation.

Stefan De Jarik, the spokesman for Kofi Annan said that "all these photographs are of great concern, and we do hope that an investigation to this effect will be made as soon as possible."

The ICRC considered that the recent photos for torturing the Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghreib show flagrant violations of the human rights.

The spokeswoman for the international Red Cross (ICRC) Dorotia Chrimitsias added "we felt shocked as a result of the maltreatment and torture seen in the pictures." She added that these practices clearly violate the international law (Geneva Convention) which states the protection of civil detainees during armed conflicts.

These stances came after the US defense department on Wednesday admitted that the pictures are true. One official at the ministry said it does not have any new information about the violations practiced against the Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American military men.

The spokesman for the US State Department Adam Ereli said in an interview with al-Jazera satellite TV that the new photos are the same video shots and photos of the acts committed in 2003, describing them as pictures acts that violate the American military standards.

He indicated that the USA was not surprised by those photos, noting that Washington after the Abu Ghreib scandal had taken measures inside its military establishments in order to prevent the repetition of the scandal and sentenced several involved military personnel.

Amnesty International said yesterday that " urged governments, human rights defenders and its members around the world to send a clear message to the US government that it is time for Guantánamo to go. The UN experts also concluded that interrogation techniques authorized for use at the facility violate the Convention against Torture; that international human rights law is applicable to the facility and that the US is obliged to either bring the detainees to trial under US law or release them."

Susan Lee, Director of Amnesty International’s Americas Programme said "The report confirms concerns which AI has repeatedly raised with the US government. We have consistently called for the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay to be closed. The US can no longer make the case, morally or legally, for keeping it open.”

Amnesty International said "Guantánamo Bay is just the tip of the iceberg. The United States also operates detention facilities at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq and has been implicated in the use of secret detention facilities in other countries, also known as 'black sites'."

Amnesty International said "All these facilities, including Guantánamo Bay, must be opened to independent scrutiny. All detainees should have access to the courts and should be treated humanely. These are basic principles that cannot be overridden even in time of war or national emergency. To date the US has rejected any independent inquiry into its overseas detention facilities, nor has Washington been prepared to cooperate with a Council of Europe investigation into 'rendition' of terrorism suspects. The selective disregard for international law by the United States in the context of the 'war on terror' has enormous influence over the rest of the world."

The call by this UN organization demonstrates its typical impotence against the US on major issues, and can be seen as an illustration of how the UN is little more than a tool for use by the US and superpowers to do their bidding against small countries, and how the UN is unable to force these superpowers to do anything, even on a relatively minor issue in the scope of global issues the UN was created to deal with.

Previous Stories:
  US on Abu Ghraib prison photographs; Guantanamo detainee report   (2/16/2006)
  US on Abu Ghraib prison photographs; Guantanamo detainee report   (2/16/2006)
  UN Security Council gives Iraq money to UN, IAEA   (2/14/2006)
  With worldwide Muslim anger, US focuses on Syria and Iran   (2/9/2006)
  Zawahiri tape intent to show failed US attack   (1/31/2006)
  US: We are not allowing the Red Cross full access to accused detainees   (12/10/2005)

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