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Urge Congress members to ban ‘torture
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U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, has introduced a bill of crucial importance to our collective efforts to abolish torture. The bill needs and deserves our strong and urgent support. Rep. Markey is a senior member of the Committee on Homeland Security. As discussed below, after Sept. 11 the United States greatly increased its practice of “extraordinary rendition.” Under this practice, a person detained abroad or in the United States under suspicion of terrorist links, may be sent to a third country for interrogation even though that country is well known for its use of torture. In short, we have been engaging in a broad practice of “torture by proxy.” The extraordinary rendition practices are in fact a serious violation of both international treaties as well as U.S. domestic laws. Under Rep. Markey's bill, such practice would be expressly banned. Action Please call or write your members of Congress now to express your vigorous support for Rep. Markey's “The Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act.” The congressional switchboard telephone number is 202-224-3121. Your calls have impact! You may also send a written message via e-mail through our online Legislative Action Center. Message -- I urge you to give your strongest support to Rep. Markey's “Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act,” which would ban the practice of sending detainees to a third country known for its torture practices. -- Torture has been abhorrent to our national values since the days of the Framers of the Constitution. Patrick Henry himself stated that torture was left behind in the Old World for good cause, and if permitted here we are “lost and undone.” -- Sending persons to a third country where they will face torture is also illegal. It violates the Convention Against Torture, and it also violates U.S. criminal law, including the War Crimes Act and also the anti-torture statute. -- Your constituents not tolerate any U.S. practices which will cause a person to be subjected to torture. We flatly reject the policy of “torture by proxy.” -- These practices do not protect us; they endanger us by fomenting hatred against Americans abroad, especially our servicemen and women. Background In the post-Sept. 11 era, the U.S. government began to seize a number of “suspects” captured abroad and send them, without benefit of any court hearings of any kind, to third countries for interrogation. The selected third countries were all well known for their systematic use of torture. Often, a CIA or other intelligence official would even accompany the prisoner, and help prepare the questions to be asked. For good reason the practice is often called “torture by proxy”. This practice has resulted in the severe torture of a number of detainees. The case of Maher Arar received a great deal of publicity more than a year ago, yet the practice continued. Mr. Arar had been a Canadian citizen since his teens, and was happily married there and running a successful business. He was seized in JFK Airport in New York City and without a court hearing, was sent by U.S. officials to Syria for his interrogation. He was severely tortured and held in a tiny pit for nearly 10 months before his frantic family – with the help of the Canadian government – obtained his release without charges. Since then, numerous similar cases have been reported and documented. For other similar cases, and further information about this practice, see Jane Mayer's article in the Feb 14 issue of The New Yorker magazine, “Annals of Justice: Outsourcing Torture.” The practice of torture by proxy, or extraordinary rendition, is a violation of the Convention Against Torture, to which the U.S. is a signatory. With regards to persons detained in Iraq and Afghanistan it is also a violation of the Geneva Conventions. U.S. domestic laws include two criminal statutes making it a felony to conspire to subject a person to torture, whether directly or by an intermediary.
by Jennifer Harbury Posted March 7, 2005 |
