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DOZENS OF COUNTRIES AIDED US SECRET DETENTIONS: REPORT
A photo taken on November 19, 2009 shows a Lithuanian State Security
Department training center allegedly used by the CIA to interrogate
Al-Qaeda suspects from 2004 to 2005, in Antavilis, Lithuania
WASHINGTON, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - As many as 54 governments
throughout the world assisted the United States in its secret
detention and rendition operations in the aftermath of theSept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, according to a new human rights report
released Tuesday.
The report, released by the New York-based nonprofit advocacy
group Open Society Justice Initiative, accuses the United States of
engaging in torture and other abuses linked to these operations, and
thereby violating domestic and international law and "diminishing
its moral standing and eroding support for its counterterrorism
efforts worldwide."
The dozens of governments that participated in this program also
"violated domestic and international laws and further undermined the
norm against torture," according to the report, titled "Globalizing
Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition."
The report is the latest salvo in the ongoing debate in the
United States over torture and other rights abuses in America's
counterterrorism operations in the years following the Sept. 11
attacks.
Critics both inside and outside the United States have accused the
administration of former US President George W. Bush of using torture
to extract information from suspected terrorists.
They also say the United States under Bush knowingly sent suspected
terrorists to be interrogated in countries notorious for torture,
such as Egypt and Syria. This form of outsourcing is widely referred
to as "extraordinary rendition."
Upon first taking office four years ago, President Barack Obama
announced the United States would end the practice of torturing
alleged terrorists, but extraordinary rendition has remained an
element of the Obama administration's counterterrorism strategy,
according to a report last month by The Washington Post.
According to the report released Tuesday, the countries that reportedly
participated in US counterterrorism efforts provided services that
included hosting Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons, as well as
"detaining, interrogating, torturing, and abusing individuals."
They also assisted by permitting use of their domestic airspace
and airports for "secret flights transporting detainees, "providing
intelligence" leading to secret detention and extraordinary rendition,
and "interrogating individuals who were secretly being held in the
custody of other governments," according to the report.
The report claims to be "the most comprehensive catalogue of the
treatment of 136 individuals reportedly subjected to these operations."
"There may be many more such individuals, but the total number will
remain unknown until the United States and its partners make this
information publicly available," the report's authors wrote.
Russia has repeatedly said Washington's criticism of Moscow's domestic
rights record is hypocritical given the human rights abuses committed
by the US government during its counterterrorism operations.
The countries cited in the report as assisting the United States in
its secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations include:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany,
Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan,
Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania,
Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
From: A. Papazian
A photo taken on November 19, 2009 shows a Lithuanian State Security
Department training center allegedly used by the CIA to interrogate
Al-Qaeda suspects from 2004 to 2005, in Antavilis, Lithuania
WASHINGTON, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - As many as 54 governments
throughout the world assisted the United States in its secret
detention and rendition operations in the aftermath of theSept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, according to a new human rights report
released Tuesday.
The report, released by the New York-based nonprofit advocacy
group Open Society Justice Initiative, accuses the United States of
engaging in torture and other abuses linked to these operations, and
thereby violating domestic and international law and "diminishing
its moral standing and eroding support for its counterterrorism
efforts worldwide."
The dozens of governments that participated in this program also
"violated domestic and international laws and further undermined the
norm against torture," according to the report, titled "Globalizing
Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition."
The report is the latest salvo in the ongoing debate in the
United States over torture and other rights abuses in America's
counterterrorism operations in the years following the Sept. 11
attacks.
Critics both inside and outside the United States have accused the
administration of former US President George W. Bush of using torture
to extract information from suspected terrorists.
They also say the United States under Bush knowingly sent suspected
terrorists to be interrogated in countries notorious for torture,
such as Egypt and Syria. This form of outsourcing is widely referred
to as "extraordinary rendition."
Upon first taking office four years ago, President Barack Obama
announced the United States would end the practice of torturing
alleged terrorists, but extraordinary rendition has remained an
element of the Obama administration's counterterrorism strategy,
according to a report last month by The Washington Post.
According to the report released Tuesday, the countries that reportedly
participated in US counterterrorism efforts provided services that
included hosting Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons, as well as
"detaining, interrogating, torturing, and abusing individuals."
They also assisted by permitting use of their domestic airspace
and airports for "secret flights transporting detainees, "providing
intelligence" leading to secret detention and extraordinary rendition,
and "interrogating individuals who were secretly being held in the
custody of other governments," according to the report.
The report claims to be "the most comprehensive catalogue of the
treatment of 136 individuals reportedly subjected to these operations."
"There may be many more such individuals, but the total number will
remain unknown until the United States and its partners make this
information publicly available," the report's authors wrote.
Russia has repeatedly said Washington's criticism of Moscow's domestic
rights record is hypocritical given the human rights abuses committed
by the US government during its counterterrorism operations.
The countries cited in the report as assisting the United States in
its secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations include:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany,
Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan,
Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania,
Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
From: A. Papazian