Charity condemns Obama policy backing rendition

[IndianaGreen]

Charity condemns Obama policy backing rendition

Tuesday 01 September 2009
by Paddy McGuffin

British legal action charity Reprieve has condemned a stealth announcement by the Obama administration that the abduction and torture of suspects will continue under its "extraordinary renditions" programme.

The announcement was made, with little fanfare, on the day a report into CIA torture methods was finally published.

The US government said the practice of abducting suspects and shipping them to countries which routinely practice torture would continue, but that it would "monitor" all cases "to ensure suspects are not mistreated."

These assurances hold little water with human rights campaigners. A number of British citizens and residents have been kidnapped, detained and tortured under the renditions programme.

Reprieve, which represents a number of victims of rendition and torture including British resident Binyam Mohamed, described the US announcement as a "major blow to global human rights and the fight against torture."

A spokeswoman for the charity said: "Far more than just a prisoner transfer system, rendition is the key to understanding how the US was able to get away with creating a full-blown torture programme and a global system of legal apartheid.

"Sadly, if rendition is indeed used under President Obama, the administration will undoubtedly be responsible for more torture and illegal detention for years to come."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/britain/Charity-condemns-Obama-policy-backing-rendition

[truebrit71]

1. Ah Yes! Smell that "Change we can believe in"....

:eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

2. Here is what Reprieve's Clara Gutteridge had to say

Obama's rendition shame

Clara Gutteridge
on Aug. 27, 2009

It appeared the US president had stopped the use of CIA prisons, but a closer look reveals the canker at his state's heart remains.

In the wake of newly released CIA memos providing further disturbing details on the CIA's overseas secret prisons programme for "terror suspects", the Obama administration is sneaking some far-reaching and dubious changes to US treatment of terror suspects through the back door.

A 2004 report by the CIA inspector-general, John Helgerson, reveals new details of torture of prisoners in CIA custody, where interrogators went far beyond rules of military engagement in their treatment of prisoners. During interrogations, CIA agents conducted mock executions, stuffed rags in prisoners' mouths and poured water over them until they choked, dragged prisoners along corridors, forced prisoners to inhale smoke until they vomited, and threatened at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill.

Further documents released today reveal a detailed legal analysis of "standard conditions" inside the CIA secret overseas prisons. CIA lawyers conclude that holding prisoners in isolation for years, with constant blindfolding, leg-shackling, 24-hour fluorescent lights, constant white noise and forcibly shaved hair, was all legal and legitimate. In addition, a CIA memorandum from 2007 shows that the prisons were still active by that date, even though President George Bush had announced in September 2006 that the CIA prison system was empty.

In the wake of these revelations, US attorney general Eric Holder is considering prosecuting those responsible for past abuses in the prison system, and Barack Obama has announced the end of CIA prisons once and for all. At first blush, the president's commitment to reform seems too good to be true: a new FBI-headed unit called the "High Value Interrogation Group" will conduct interrogations of "high value prisoners" that were formerly conducted by the CIA. The new taskforce will include members from the CIA, but will conduct its interrogations using only "non-coercive techniques".

Sounds good, but a closer examination reveals that the canker at the heart of the state has not been excised. Obama's people have also indicated that rendition – the forcible transfer of individuals to the custody of third-party states – will continue to be used by the US on terror suspects. Therefore, this new FBI unit could send people to regimes such as Morocco, Egypt and Syria and conduct interrogations on people being detained indefinitely by these old partners in the secret detention game.

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/2009_08_27claragutteridgecifblog

[joeycola]

3. I believe I have read something about this earlier=the continuation

of rendition in the Obama adm. I wonder what Holter will do?