UN Human Rights Watchdog Criticizes U.S. Policies

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | June 25, 2009 at 03:34 am

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Navanethem Pillay, the top United Nations human rights advocate, appealed to the Obama administration to release Guantanamo prisoners or try them in a court of law.

She also said that officials that authorized torture must be held accountable.

The South African lawyer criticized Obama's plan to continue to hold prisoners without trial. She called for a probe into the Bush administrations harsh interrogation program.

"People who order or inflict torture cannot be exonerated, and the roles of certain lawyers, as well as doctors who have attended torture sessions, should also be scrutinized," she said.

UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- The United Nations' top human rights advocate, Navanethem Pillay, on Wednesday appealed to the Obama administration to release Guantanamo Bay inmates or try them in a court of law, and said officials who authorized the use of "torture" must be held accountable.

In her most detailed statement on U.S. detention policy, the South African lawyer criticized President Obama's plan to hold some terrorism suspects in detention indefinitely without a trial. She also called for a probe of officials involved in the Bush administration's harsh interrogation program.

"People who order or inflict torture cannot be exonerated, and the roles of certain lawyers, as well as doctors who have attended torture sessions, should also be scrutinized," Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement dedicated to victims of torture.

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MilleDrive (not verified)

at 06:05 on June 25th, 2009

Well, they cannot ofcourse be released just like that. It would however be nicer for them to be tried in proper courts rather than being kept in prison indefinitely without a trial.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:22 on June 25th, 2009

It.s a very difficult problem for the Obama Administration. He has been trying to have third parties accept those that haven.t been charged with some success. It's a Catch 22 situation thought regardless of what he does.

If he releases them in the US, he.ll have the GOP and the center of his own party criticizing him. The longer he keeps them imprisoned he has the left of his party on his back.

Spydermonkey

at 06:28 on June 25th, 2009

I have to agree with her.

If we don't hold people in our own country responsible for their actions, then we have no moral authority to hold other people or counties to account for their actions....

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:39 on June 25th, 2009

As I see it, 9/11 was a significant emotional event for all of North America and those policies in the early days were widely supported. As you recall hostages were taken and beheaded and there was a call for blood. I think some reasonable people in the centre of the political sphere must get together in a bipartisan way and sketch a road on how to move ahead. The rhetoric from the far right and left is not helping this situation,

What is amazing that this woman is South African and she saw the resolutions against her country regarding Apartheid. It seems they have moved forward and the rest of us should too.

Uwe Paschen

at 06:41 on June 25th, 2009

Hum, I am glad I did not say it this time.

Maybe some one will finally listen in Washington DC.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:53 on June 25th, 2009

I know what you're saying Paschen. I don.t know if the United States will ever sit down and unite politically. It is time to move forward though.

Albert Milliron

at 07:20 on June 25th, 2009

Congrats on Making the Front Page in US Politics

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 07:53 on June 25th, 2009

Thanks politisite

Amy Judd

at 07:23 on June 25th, 2009

I agree that officials that authorize torture must be held accountable.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 07:57 on June 25th, 2009

Thank you for your comments Amy :)

Barbara McPherson

at 08:34 on June 25th, 2009

ADL1989

at 09:44 on June 25th, 2009

I personally think Pillay is barking up the wrong tree. She needs to understand first of all we are at war against Terrorism. These people or most of them a terrorists, which means they will try to kill us actually without just cause. These prisoners should be treated in the harshest way known to man. So Pillay please take your comments elsewhere, cry to your plush pillows for," I am american and I will be damned if I will see my country go down the crapper because you feel sorry for Terrorists". ADL1989

The_Cynic

at 10:43 on June 25th, 2009

Then you have to charge them with acts of terrorism and, if they are found guilty, lock them up for the term set by a judge.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 09:45 on June 25th, 2009

Thanks for your comments ADL 1989.

duo

at 18:25 on June 25th, 2009

The sadists need to be more than "scrutinized." I am waiting today to see if the Obama USDOJ is going to come through on the side of open disclosure regarding my brother's secret incarceration in Shelby Co. Jail that ended in his death under yet undisclosed circumstances. There is NO EXCUSE to have treated Larry Neal this way. He certainly was no terrorist, but rather, he was a mentally and physically disabled U.S. citizen. His family is comprised of taxpaying U.S. citizens, and none of us are terrorists. But Larry was treated just like the Guantanamo Bay detainees, and his survivors' inquiries about his arrest and death has been met with the same government secrecy and cover-up.

DOJ, the timescale of 20 business days from May 28 ends tomorrow. Remember this?

USDOJ notified me by letter dated 5/28/09 and received today (June 1) that our FIOA regarding the secret arrest (from mid-July 2003 to date of the wrongful death of Larry Neal in Shelby County Jail on August 1, 2003) has been referred to the two offices below. The USDOJ indicated that these offices have 20 business days to respond timely:

Federal Bureau of Prisons - (202) 514-6655

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys - (202) 616-6757

Equal justice and open disclosure, remember?

FOI Request to USDOJ re: Larry Neal and The Cochran Firm Fraud
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/foi-request-usdoj-re-larry-neal-and-cochran-firm-fraud#comment-396151

Please recall what Dr. King said, "Just be what you said on paper."

I would think that since authorities are so interested in keeping Larry Neal's death and the denial of justice that followed wrapped in secrecy, they would have had sense enough to ensure the court process regarding this matter was fair and remained in court instead of allowing Larry's survivors to be followed, accosted in neighborhood businesses, denied 911 emergency services, subjected to cyberterrorism, online censorship, and many other infractions against our right to protection under US Code 18, 242 and 245.

It is time to release the records on prisoner deaths and abuses that happened in Guanatamo Bay and in Memphis, Tennessee under the Bush Administration.

And the FINAL SOLUTION proposed for the remaining Guantanamo prisoners that they be "allowed" to confess and be executed is crazy! Who on earth would believe these men (many of whom were mere boys when this thing started) would not be tortured into giving possibly false confessions or that some are not already so mentally ill from previous tourtures that they would confess to anything? And who believes that if 30 are lined up and shot, that lineup would not include those detainees with the most damning information whether they confessed or not? Get real. We are the same people who read the Supreme Court's decision DENYING American prisoners the right to DNA tests to prove their innocence, because GUILTY AND INNOCENCE DON'T MATTER TO SOME HIGHER-UPS.

If you are going to start lining up folks and shooting them, just say so. It is not hard for me to believe since I am a Georgia grandmother who was followed by four vehicles and a US DOT truck while driving with my six-year-old grandson to a Chevron station and waylaid there until relatives could come help me an hour after I called 911 and police never came! If folks do that to U.S. CITIZENS for asking about their handicapped relatives authorities killed and want to keep it quiet, I believe the Guantanamo Bay detainees are still in grave danger. And they certainly do not have to be terrorists to be executed, either. What on earth was the plan for my grandson and me? Here is some of the cyberterrorism I deal with trying to get accountability for Larry's wrongful death:

I don't know much about world government, but I wish someone would tell me the reason for a war continuing once the impetus for that war has been proved to be unfounded and same was admitted by former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Never Any Evidence Tying Iraq to 9/11, Says Former VP Cheney
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/never-any-evidence-tying-iraq-9-11-says-former-vp-cheney

With no evidence of a connection between Iraq and 9/11 and no WMD, what is the issue?

Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com