Prisoners detained by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere are still at risk of torture and ill-treatment, Amnesty International said on Friday. A year after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal caused an international uproar when US guards were photographed abusing detainees, the human rights group said the Bush administration has shown a chilling disregard for international law. "The conditions to facilitate torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, all of which are equally prohibited, remain in place," an Amnesty spokesman said. He added that basic safeguards against ill-treatment were not being met and cited secret detention and incommunicado detention as forms of inhuman treatment.
"Human dignity has fallen victim to the USA's 'war on terror' and interrogation regime, as the administration has not only rejected international human rights law, but also adopted a selective disregard for international humanitarian law," Amnesty said in a report.
It added that United States' approach to detentions is characterised by hypocrisy, an over-arching war mentality and a refusal to adhere to international obligations.
"The USA's policies and practices have led to serious human rights violations and have set a dangerous precedent internationally," Amnesty said.
The US State Department said in a report last week it was abiding by global anti-torture rules and any abuses of detainees in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were not systemic.
The US military says its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is humane and justified and says it has changed some of its policies in Iraq since the abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Amnesty said there is mounting evidence of torture by US forces but only a few, mainly low-ranking soldiers have been tried or sanctioned.
No American agent has been charged under the country's Anti-Torture Act or War Crimes Act, it added.
Comments
Comments are closed.