Sweden (may have) violated legal rights of terror suspects

[Stockholm]

The words "Sweden" and "human rights violations" do not often find their way into the same sentence. But authorities in Stockholm face mounting embarrassment over their decision, in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, to deport two Egyptian nationals suspected of having links to Islamic extremists without going through the usual legal channels.

The Swedish government has already admitted the extradition was a bad mistake because the assurances it sought from Egypt that the two men would not be mistreated appear to have been ignored. Now the tale has taken an extra twist following revelations that the deportations were conducted with at least the partial collusion of the US intelligence services.

Since the mid-1990s, the Central Intelligence Agency has organised dozens of so-called "extraordinary renditions" ­ deportations of terrorism suspects to Third World nations, often their home countries, where the rules of interrogation and imprisonment are not as constrained by human rights considerations as they are in Western democracies.

snip

The two men, who do not appear to have known each other, were seized in Stockholm on 18 December 2001 and put on a plane to Egypt five hours later. Their lawyers were not notified of the expulsion until they were airborne. According to an account in yesterday's Washington Post, the men were handled by two non-Swedes in suits, who appeared to be Americans, as well as half-a-dozen hooded security agents of uncertain origin.

They were flown out on a US-registered jet with permits to land at US military bases around the world. Two declassified Swedish documents, both heavily edited in their published form, allude to "help" from the Americans. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate, arguing that delivering suspects to countries where torture is routine and due legal process frequently circumvented is in itself an infraction of international law.

Sweden has admitted responsibility for the fate of the two, saying it should not have taken at face value Egyptian assurances that they would be treated fairly. Government officials have, however, refused to be drawn on the extent to which they bowed to US pressure.

The evidence of Egyptian human rights groups, Swedish diplomats and others suggests the men were subjected to electric shocks and other abuses.

snip

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=544683

[Stockholm]

1. Glad to see this story getting some press n/t

[Disturbed]

2. A safe bet...

that this type of thing is not unusual. The CIA is guilty of War Crimes as is the Military and the US Govt.

[Moderator]

3. Stockholm

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.


DU Moderator

[Southpaw Bookworm]

4. The Washington Post article

Was on yesterday's front page:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11976-2004Jul24.html

The airport police officer was about to close his small precinct station for the night, when two men wearing suits walked in. The visitors said the special Swedish security police had just arrested two suspected terrorists -- very dangerous men -- and needed a place to hold them until a plane could take them away.

The airport policeman recounted in an interview that he agreed to let them borrow his cramped office that night, Dec. 18, 2001, and stepped out of the way. But there was something strange about this operation. The two men in suits, who were soon joined by two uniformed Swedish police officers, did not speak Swedish, he said, and their English sounded distinctly American.

Another oddity: When the suspects arrived a few minutes later, they were escorted by a half-dozen security agents wearing hoods.

The hooded agents took the suspected terrorists into the precinct's dressing room. Inside, the agents cut off the prisoners' clothes with scissors, changed the men into red overalls and bound them with handcuffs and leg irons. Then they were hustled out the door and onto the tarmac, where a U.S.-registered Gulfstream V jet was waiting.