- The US-led "war on terror" is having a profound
effect on human rights in the Arabian peninsula, Amnesty International
said in a report published yesterday.
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- Coming at a time when Arab states are beginning to respond
to demands for human rights improvements, the "war on terror"
has revived old practices, the report said.
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- "Governments in the region are using it as a pretext
for restricting freedom of expression and political dissent ... generating
fear among journalists, government critics and people known or perceived
to have militant religious views."
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- Almost one-third of the 600 detainees held by the US
at Guant·namo Bay are thought to come from the Arabian peninsula
but thousands more are imprisoned in the region itself.
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- Abuses cited by the report include mass arrests, prolonged
detention without charge or trial (sometimes incommunicado) and torture.
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- "Families of detainees find themselves in endless
emotional turmoil, financial hardship, and stigmatised by association with
crimes for which their relatives have not been charged, let alone convicted,"
the report said.
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- Amnesty has been calling on the US and Gulf countries
to bring detentions within the rule of law.
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- "Under international law, these detainees must be
given immediate access to lawyers, allowed to contact their family and
to challenge the legality of their detention," spokesman Neil Durkin
said.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1245192,00.html
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