Saturday 13 December 2014

Are U.S. Torturers Above the Law? The answer is YES



The publishing of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture practices by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has raised the issue of whether agency employees who participated in or ordered the mistreatment could wind up being prosecuted for their actions overseas.

President Barack Obama has made it clear that he wants no part of a criminal case that would haul CIA officials before a federal judge and jury to punish those responsible for the waterboarding and other gruesome activities documented in the Senate report.

But these individuals could, in theory at least, be brought to justice under international law if they traveled to Europe and were arrested. Such prosecution could be performed by the International Criminal CourtThe New York Times reported.

But that kind of case has political implications for European leaders, who would run the risk of straining relations with Washington, DC over bringing charges against CIA workers or contractors.

“If I am someone implicated in the torture report, I am thinking twice about traveling to Europe anytime soon,” Steve Vladeck, a law professor at American University in Washington, told the Times. “It puts those governments in a sticky position if someone who is accused of torture presents themselves on that country’s soil.”

The U.S. is obligated under the International Convention on Torture to investigate any U.S. citizen accused of torturing someone, and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, said he welcomes the prosecution of CIA personnel who either ordered or carried out the torture against detainees.

“The convention lets no one off the hook — neither the torturers themselves, nor the policy-makers, nor the public officials who define the policy or give the orders,” said the commissioner in a statement.
-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

No comments: