- Truly we live in dark times. A sure sign that the nights
are getting longer, even as springtime approaches, comes from the intensity
of anxieties about torture. All the time there are reports of new atrocities
- in Sudan, among British victims in Saudi Arabia, and of course in the
war on terror. Later this month in Geneva, the World Organisation Against
Torture will tell the UN Commission on Human Rights that "since the
attacks of September 11, numerous states have adopted or announced measures
that are incompatible with their obligations under international law".
At the same time that we face new atrocities in Madrid, we hear the voices
of the first Britons released from Guant·namo Bay where, according
to former detainee Jamal al-Harith, they endured a regime of unremitting
cruelty.
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- He describes systematic humiliation, clearly aimed at
corroding the humanity of the victims, and which included exposing devout
Muslims to insult by prostitutes.
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- The Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture
in Copenhagen was the first to provide systematic medical care for torture
victims, and to research its effects. "We thought that the aim of
torture was to obtain information," states the centre's Dr Inge Genefke.
"But no. The main aim of torture is to break down, to destroy the
identity, the personality."
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- After years of research, the centre concluded: "The
target group of government-sanctioned torture are leaders of ethnic minorities,
human rights fighters, union members, politicians, student leaders, journalists
and others."
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- These were all selected because they were leading personalities,
pursuing goals inimical to government policies. Once broken, these victims
"are full of anxiety, depressions ... their families suffer. Others
are intimidated, afraid of being exposed to the same treatment, and do
not dare to follow their more courageous exemplars."
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- Despite this, many argue that the war on terror justifies
such measures. Distinguished columnists have suggested that sleep deprivation
or lengthy interrogations, known as "torture-lite", ought to
be permissible.
-
- In late 2002, the Washington Post revealed: "Deep
in side the forbidden zone at the US-occupied Bagram airbase in Afghanistan
... sits a cluster of shipping containers protected by a triple-layer of
concertina wire. The containers hold the most valuable prizes in the war
on terrorism - captured al-Qaida operatives and Taliban commanders."
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- The newspaper went on to describe the process of "rendering",
which sends uncooperative prisoners to obedient allies where unsqueamish
interrogations are not deemed unlawful. Guant·namo Bay, outside
normal legal constraints, holds over 600 detainees who are beyond the reach
of judicial processes anywhere in the world.
-
- A rgument continues about whether the US base in the
British territory of Diego Garcia is also used for such interrogations.
The British government denies this, but the allegations continue, echoed
by numerous civil liberties groups.
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- Now, dictatorship is not the sole instigator of torture.
In the age of empire, behaviour that would have aroused universal disapproval
in the metropolitan power becomes "necessary" for controlling
the the subject nations. Since such behaviour might spread anxiety to the
domestic population, who regrettably have votes, it is best confined to
unapproachable zones or distant islands under strict military control.
In Bagram there is clearly a different law from that which applies in the
continental US. Alas, other governments, like the British, find it necessary
to condone this.
-
- But this behaviour spreads into the main body politic,
and rots civil freedoms there, too. It needs a high-security presence even
at home, such as has been established at Belmarsh. It needs fickle and
opportunistic politicians, who find difficulty in recognising what were
yesterday deemed to be universal, uncontested truths.
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- The war on terror is a perfect state of psychosis within
which the darkness can extend itself. It has no defined boundaries, no
fixed territorial enemies: it takes what yesterday were deemed to be simple
crimes, and extends them mentally to incriminate whole populations, social
groups or religions.
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- There is only one antidote to this creeping sickness:
the insistence upon universal human rights, within whose spirit torture
was outlawed by the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture. Forbidden are any
officially sanctioned acts "by which severe pain or suffering,whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person".
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- But, forbidden or not, the 3,000 captives accused of
sustaining al-Qaida have commonly been fitted with hoods and gags, tied
up in positions calculated to cause pain and distress and systematically
deprived of sleep.
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- Jamal al-Harith said: "The whole point of Guant·namo
was to get to you psychologically. The beatings were not nearly as bad
as the psychological torture - bruises heal after a week, but the other
stuff stays with you."
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- We should join forces with those NGOs which are already
demanding that the UN inspect those installations where maltreatment of
captives is suspected, and bring such installations under its own jurisdiction.
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- - Ken Coates is chairman of the Bertrand Russell Peace
Foundation and edits its journal, the Spokesman
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- www.russfound.org
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1168592,00.html
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