USA: REDRESS FOR TORTURE LONG OVERDUE
Washington, DC – Geneva, 26 June 2010. On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and its member organisation in the United States, Human Rights USA, jointly call on the Government of the United States of America to show its commitment to abolish torture and other forms of ill-treatment by implementing effectively the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).
OMCT and Human Rights USA welcome the Obama Administration’s stated desire to bring U.S. policies in line with international human rights norms and, to that end, the decision last year to release previously confidential documentation of torture ordered during interrogations. We also applaud the decisions to release some detainees from Guantánamo Bay to third countries, transfer one terrorism suspect to New York to stand trial in federal court rather than by military tribunal, and order the closure of CIA secret prisons.
However, the administration continues to enforce policies that, as President Obama recognized during his presidential campaign, do not respect human rights. These include detention of suspects at the Guantánamo Bay facility, extraordinary rendition policies, and use of coerced testimony in military tribunals. The U.S. Government has yet to hold accountable government officials who ordered or provided the legal justifications for torture. In addition, the Obama Administration has thwarted efforts by survivors of torture like Maher Arar and Khaled El-Masri to access the courts in order to assert their rights, seek remedies, and secure accountability.
On this day dedicated to victims of torture and other ill-treatment, OMCT and Human Rights USA urge the United States Government to launch prompt, effective, independent and impartial investigations into the alleged torture and ill-treatment as well as other human rights violations that took place during the previous administration. The result of such investigations must not only be made public, but criminal prosecutions must moreover be brought against the suspected perpetrators of ill-treatment. If they are found guilty, a penalty proportionate to their crimes should be imposed.
Furthermore, the victims must be granted adequate redress for their suffering, including rehabilitation for physical and psychological impacts of the abuses, as required by the Convention against Torture. The U.S. Government should cease its practice of improperly invoking the “state secrets doctrine,” so that victims will be afforded fair and effective access to independent and impartial courts of law as well as ensured access to all relevant information concerning the reasons for their arrests and detention in order to allow them to effectively challenge the abuses committed and seek adequate redress, including compensation and rehabilitation. The U.S. Government also should avoid seeking “qualified immunity” for Government officials as a means of avoiding liability for torture and other human rights abuses that are already universally prohibited as a matter of law and therefore cannot be considered “official acts” entitled to immunity.
Lastly, the U.S. Government should issue formal apologies to each individual victim of these abuses. By assuming responsibility for these grave abuses of fundamental human rights, the Obama administration would send a strong message to the world that the United States of America takes its duty to protect human rights, including the absolute prohibition against torture, seriously.
Showing posts with label Maher Arar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maher Arar. Show all posts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, October 19, 2007
Maher Arar Testifies Before Congress
Yesterday, Maher Arar testified before a joint oversight committee of Congress. Arar is a Canadian citizen, a victim of "rendition to torture" carried out by the CIA, and survivor of 11 months of torture in a Syrian prison. The Canadian government has formally apologized for its role in his rendition and offered Arar and his family restitution. Arar's lawsuit against U.S. government officials responsible for his rendition and torture remains pending.
Since 2002, Human Rights USA has stood at the forefront of efforts to end rendition to torture. In November 2003, we were the first group to bring attention to the Maher Arar case in an op-ed written by our Executive Director, Morton Sklar, in the Toronto Globe and Mail. We were also the first – and, to date, only – group to successfully challenge the “rendition to torture” policy in U.S. courts. In Abu Ali v. Ashcroft, our lawsuit compelled the U.S. government to bring U.S. citizen Ahmed Abu Ali back from Saudi Arabia after 20 months of imprisonment and torture conducted there at the behest of the U.S. government. Abu Ali was returned to the United States within just three weeks after the D.C. District Court ordered the U.S. government to reveal the extent of its involvement in his arrest and imprisonment abroad.
Following our success in Abu Ali, Human Rights USA challenged the U.S. government’s use of diplomatic assurances to justify deportation to countries known for torture and other major human rights abuses. Recently, a federal judge held, in our case Khouzam v. Hogan, that “no showing has been made … that removal based upon diplomatic assurances by a country known to have engaged in torture is consistent with the [Convention Against Torture]....” Additionally, the court held that because the U.S. government had not given Khouzam an opportunity to challenge the reliability of diplomatic assurances, and because the government has failed to provide evidence to support its reliance on diplomatic assurances, the court would not bar Khouzam’s due process claims under the political question doctrine. Sameh Khouzam remains in detention in Pennsylvania pursuant to a stay of removal while his case remains pending before the court. Without this stay of removal, Sameh would be deported to Egypt, a country whose penchant for torturing detainees is well documented by the U.S. Department of State.
Human Rights USA secured an injunction against the refoulment (return) of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in the Feghoul case, and we are now building upon these and other successes to challenge the transfer to torture policy as it pertains to GTMO detainees. We are coordinating a collaborative and sustained effort with other law firms, law school clinics, and organizations to address the problems that attorneys are confronted with in securing protections against transfer to torture, including challenging the use of diplomatic assurances as a basis for transfer, the adequacy of the DTA status determination review process, and procedural issues that arise when pursuing DTA and habeas challenges contemporaneously. Human Rights USA continues to serve as a clearinghouse for advocates seeking to prevent rendition through litigation.
Since 2002, Human Rights USA has stood at the forefront of efforts to end rendition to torture. In November 2003, we were the first group to bring attention to the Maher Arar case in an op-ed written by our Executive Director, Morton Sklar, in the Toronto Globe and Mail. We were also the first – and, to date, only – group to successfully challenge the “rendition to torture” policy in U.S. courts. In Abu Ali v. Ashcroft, our lawsuit compelled the U.S. government to bring U.S. citizen Ahmed Abu Ali back from Saudi Arabia after 20 months of imprisonment and torture conducted there at the behest of the U.S. government. Abu Ali was returned to the United States within just three weeks after the D.C. District Court ordered the U.S. government to reveal the extent of its involvement in his arrest and imprisonment abroad.
Following our success in Abu Ali, Human Rights USA challenged the U.S. government’s use of diplomatic assurances to justify deportation to countries known for torture and other major human rights abuses. Recently, a federal judge held, in our case Khouzam v. Hogan, that “no showing has been made … that removal based upon diplomatic assurances by a country known to have engaged in torture is consistent with the [Convention Against Torture]....” Additionally, the court held that because the U.S. government had not given Khouzam an opportunity to challenge the reliability of diplomatic assurances, and because the government has failed to provide evidence to support its reliance on diplomatic assurances, the court would not bar Khouzam’s due process claims under the political question doctrine. Sameh Khouzam remains in detention in Pennsylvania pursuant to a stay of removal while his case remains pending before the court. Without this stay of removal, Sameh would be deported to Egypt, a country whose penchant for torturing detainees is well documented by the U.S. Department of State.
Human Rights USA secured an injunction against the refoulment (return) of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in the Feghoul case, and we are now building upon these and other successes to challenge the transfer to torture policy as it pertains to GTMO detainees. We are coordinating a collaborative and sustained effort with other law firms, law school clinics, and organizations to address the problems that attorneys are confronted with in securing protections against transfer to torture, including challenging the use of diplomatic assurances as a basis for transfer, the adequacy of the DTA status determination review process, and procedural issues that arise when pursuing DTA and habeas challenges contemporaneously. Human Rights USA continues to serve as a clearinghouse for advocates seeking to prevent rendition through litigation.
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