Amnesty International Calls for Special Counsel to Investigate Charges of Torture in U.S.-Run Military Prisons

Interview with Samer Rabadi, of Amnesty International conducted by Scott Harris

After years of legal challenges to the Bush administration's policy of holding individuals it declared "enemy combatants" indefinitely without due process, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued two rulings in related cases. The court affirmed the legal rights of both U.S. and foreign citizens to challenge their detention before a judge or other neutral decision-maker. The decision rejected arguments made by the White House that the president should retain unchecked power to hold prisoners without charge and without access to the courts. The cases were filed on behalf of a U.S. citizen and 16 foreign-born men seized in Afghanistan during the U.S invasion there in 2001 and 2002.

In another area, Amnesty International has called for the immediate appointment of a special counsel to investigate claims that detainees held in U.S prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and other secret facilities have been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment. The human rights group says that current probes of the abuse are compromised due to the possible complicity of high government officials in authorizing torture techniques. Documents leaked in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib prison scandal provide evidence that Bush administration officials wrote legal opinions asserting that the president was not restricted by U.S. and international law prohibiting torture.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Samer Rabadi, deputy director of Amnesty International's Western Regional Office, who examines the recent Supreme Court decisions on the rights of detainees and explains why his group is calling for a special counsel to investigate torture allegations.

Contact Amnesty International USA at 1-800 AMNESTY or visit their website at www.amnesty.org



Related links:

"Democracy's Chance," by Nick Cohen, The Observer U.K., June 27, 2004

"The Court puts the White House in its Place," by Oona A. Hathaway, Newsday / Long Island, N.Y., June 29, 2004

"Supreme Court Deals Blow to War on Terror," Reuters, June 28, 2004

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