Rights groups criticize CIA immunity on interrogations
CNN.com

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Human rights organizations reacted angrily Thursday to the Obama administration’s announcement that CIA officials would not be prosecuted for past waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics.

Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement in a separate statement as the administration announced it was releasing four Bush-era memos on terror interrogations that included the controversial practice of waterboarding.

“The president has halted the use of the interrogation techniques described in these opinions, and this administration has made clear from day one that it will not condone torture,” Holder said. “We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law.”

The attorney general promised that officials who used the controversial interrogation tactics would be in the clear if their actions were consistent with the legal advice from the Justice Department under which they were operating at the time.

“It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department,” Holder said.

Amnesty International said the release of the documents was welcome, but condemned the decision to block prosecutions.

“The Department of Justice appears to be offering a get-out-of-jail-free card to individuals who, by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s own estimation, were involved in acts of torture,” said executive director Larry Cox. “No civilized definition of ‘reasonable’ behavior can ever encompass acts of torture. Torture has long been recognized to be a violation of both national and international law, and no single legal opinion, no matter from what source, can change that.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit agency founded by attorneys who worked for the civil rights movement of the 1960s, also panned the decision not to prosecute.

“It is one of the deepest disappointments of this administration that it appears unwilling to uphold the law where crimes have been committed by former officials,” the organization said.

The center is pushing for prosecutions of high-level officials in the Bush administration.

“Whether or not CIA operatives who conducted waterboarding are guaranteed immunity, it is the high-level officials who conceived, justified and ordered the torture program who bear the most responsibility for breaking domestic and international law, and it is they who must be prosecuted,” the center said.

“Government officials broke very serious laws: For there to be no consequences not only calls our system of justice into question, it leaves the gate open for this to happen again.”

President Obama said officials involved in the questionable interrogations would not be subject to prosecution because the intelligence community must be provided “with the confidence” it needs to do its job.

“This is a time for reflection, not retribution,” he said. “I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

Amnesty’s Cox rejected that argument.

“The United States has had plenty of time for reflection — there is very little information in the newly released material that hadn’t leaked out long before,” he said. Obama “also said that the United States is a nation of laws. But laws only have meaning if they are enforced.

“The United States has laws prohibiting torture, and two-thirds of Americans support an investigation into what has been done in their name. That is not seeking to lay blame; that is a call for justice long overdue.”

Leon Panetta, Obama’s CIA director, told his employees in a memo that he would “strongly oppose any effort to investigate or punish those who followed the guidance of the Department of Justice.”

“Although this administration has now put into place new policies that CIA is implementing, the fact remains that CIA’s detention and interrogation effort was authorized and approved by our government,” he said in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by CNN.

Panetta added that the CIA would provide legal counsel for any CIA employee who is subjected to an investigation relating to previously authorized policies.

“This is an opportunity for CIA to begin a new and great chapter in our history of service to the nation,” he said. “You need to be fully confident that as you defend the nation, I will defend you.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, which had been seeking the memos, called on the Justice Department to release other Bush-era memos regarding interrogations. The group also is seeking the appointment of an independent prosecutor to investigate whether laws were broken by the Bush interrogation policies, as well as who knew about them and who authorized them.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterated that he wants a commission of inquiry to look into the matter.

“We must take a thorough accounting of what happened, not to move a partisan agenda, but to own up to what was done in the name of national security, and to learn from it,” he said.

Obama, who has said he does not want to criminalize policy differences between administrations, has not backed Leahy’s call for a commission, which is strongly opposed by Republican lawmakers.

The nation’s top intelligence officer, former Navy Adm. Dennis Blair, also weighed in on the issue, noting that he “experienced public scorn” for serving as a young officer during the Vietnam years, which he described as “an unpopular war.”

“Challenging and debating the wisdom and policies linked to wars and war fighting is important and legitimate. However, disrespect for those who serve honorably within legal guidelines is not,” he said. “I remember well the pain of those of us who served our country even when the policies we were carrying out were unpopular or could be second-guessed.

“We in the intelligence community should not be subjected to similar pain. Let the debate focus on the law and our national security. Let us be thankful that we have public servants who seek to do the difficult work of protecting our country under the explicit assurance that their actions are both necessary and legal.”

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Rights report cites abuses in Kurdish Iraq

(CNN) — The Kurdish region of Iraq has seen gains in human rights, but security forces “regularly abuse their authority” and women continue to be targets of violence, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

The international human rights group drew the conclusions in a report titled “Hope and Fear, Human Rights in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.”

The Kurdish region has been an island of relative stability during the Iraq war, and the report said it has “witnessed growing prosperity” and has made progress in human rights. But serious problems remain, Amnesty said.

Asayish forces, as the local security forces are called, arrested and arbitrarily detained people, “including some who were tortured or forcibly disappeared and whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown,” the report said.

The report said the torture included electric shocks, sleep deprivation, kicking, suspension by the wrists and ankles, and beatings with fists, cables and batons.

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said the Kurdistan Regional Government “must take concrete steps to rein in these forces and make them fully accountable under the law if recent human rights gains are to prove effective.”

Amnesty said that Kurdish authorities have also failed to control the security wings of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the two major Kurdish political movements that make up the regional government.

The report, based on research from a fact-finding mission last year, said the Kurdistan Regional Government has made progress in human rights, citing, for example, the release of political prisoners detained without charges or trial.

It also cites legislation expanding freedom of expression and measures that strengthen women’s rights, and said several agencies are working to monitor and prevent violence against women.

But Smart said problems such as “arbitrary detention and torture, attacks on journalists and freedom of expression, and violence against women” haven’t ended and “need urgently to be addressed by the government.”

As for abuse against women, authorities must “redouble their efforts to overcome discrimination and violence against women,” he said, “and end the vicious cycle of so-called honor killings and other attacks on women by men who wish to subordinate them.”

According to official records, the report said, at least 102 women and girls were killed between the beginning of July 2007 and the end of June 2008 in the region.

“These include an unknown number of ‘honor killings’ — women who were killed by male relatives because their behavior was considered to have infringed traditional codes of ‘honor.’ Victims of ‘honor crimes’ include women who have objected to being forcibly married as well as women who were found having telephone contact with a man without approval of their family,” the report said.

The report said 262 women and children “died or were severely injured in the same period due to intentional burning, including suicides. Some women were reported to have been burned to disguise a killing.”

The report cites one woman who was strangled to death apparently by her brother “because of her suspected relationship with another man.” A 17-year-old female “was shot dead after she sought a divorce from her husband.” A 13-year-old girl burned herself to death “to escape forcible marriage to an adult man.”

“Such cases show how much more still needs to be done by the KRG authorities to give women and girls effective protection against violence from those who wish to control their behavior or force them into marriages against their will,” Smart said.

“No effort should be spared to prosecute and imprison those who commit violence against women, and to make clear that those who perpetrate these crimes cannot escape justice.”

The report also said that emerging independent press outlets that have criticized the KRG or have focused on the security forces, human rights violations and government corruption have been harassed. Journalists “have been detained, beaten and harassed” by security forces, and several newspapers have been sued by the KRG.

Commentary: Peru conviction is message to dictators everywhere

Editor’s note: José Miguel Vivanco is executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect people’s rights. A lawyer from Chile, he was educated there, in Spain and at Harvard Law School.

José Miguel Vivanco says conviction of Peru’s ex-president is a warning to those who deny human rights.

(CNN) — Peruvians are celebrating an extraordinary victory this week: the conviction of their former president, Alberto Fujimori, for death squad killings carried out during his rule in the 1990s.

The Peruvian Supreme Court found him guilty of egregious human rights abuses, including the massacre of innocent civilians, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison — a stiff message to other leaders that justice can eventually catch up to even the most powerful.

It is one of the first times a nation’s own independent courts have convicted a former leader for such serious human rights crimes and it sets an important precedent for a region that suffered so much from political violence and rights violations. Equally significant, the ruling came after a lengthy televised trial, which was clearly fair to the defendant — despite Peru’s previous history of authoritarianism and weak rule of law.

Fujimori came to office in 1990 on the promise of crushing a vicious Maoist insurgency but, in the process of restoring order, he corrupted and weakened Peru’s most vital government institutions — including parliament, the courts and law enforcement. Just a few years ago, Fujimori had near-total control of Peru’s judiciary.

For a decade, his government used bribery, extortion, and intimidation to concentrate power in the presidency, subverting the democratic process and eliminating normal checks by the judiciary, legislature, and media on government abuses.

He led Peru from 1990 to 2000, presiding over the war with the Shining Path guerrillas and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. He was convicted of authorizing killings and kidnappings by paramilitary death squads. Fujimori is to be tried separately on multiple corruption charges.

The landmark decision fits within a global trend of increasing accountability for former heads of state. Just 20 years ago, it was exceedingly rare for even the most brutal leaders to be brought to book. In the late 20th century, Mao Zedong, Idi Amin, Milton Obote, Ferdinand Marcos, Anastasio Somoza, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier and Mobutu Sese Seko, to name just a few, were never brought to trial.

Since then, however, the tide has turned. In October 1998, London police arrested General Augusto Pinochet on a warrant from a Spanish judge for human rights crimes. The arrest and the subsequent decisions by the British House of Lords to reject Pinochet’s claim of immunity were a wake-up call to tyrants everywhere, but more important, they gave hope to victims elsewhere that they too could bring their tormentors to justice.

In country after country, particularly in Latin America, victims were inspired to challenge the amnesty laws of the 1980s and 1990s that had allowed the perpetrators of atrocities to go unpunished and, often, to remain in power. Thanks to these efforts, former leaders in Argentina, and Uruguay have also faced human rights trials.

Pinochet’s arrest also strengthened a nascent international movement — spurred by the killings in Bosnia and Rwanda, and facilitated by the end of the Cold War — to make certain the worst abuses are punished.

After the creation of UN tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the world established the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so.

The ICC is now investigating crimes in the Central African Republic, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in March the court indicted President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan on charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur.

The Fujimori case stands out, though, because it was Peru’s national court system which demonstrated the will, capacity, and independence to try its former president.

A second panel of the Supreme Court will now review an appeal by Fujimori. One can hope the second panel will be as transparent and fair as the first.

Even after this verdict, impunity for past atrocities continues to be a major problem in Peru and throughout the region. It is likely, however, that yesterday’s verdict will help give momentum to efforts currently underway in many Latin American countries to bring other human rights violators to justice.

The verdict will also send a powerful message to current heads of state who may be tempted to use abusive tactics to resolve their political problems. As Fujimori discovered yesterday, crimes they may be able to get away with while in power can come back to haunt them years later.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of José Miguel Vivanco.

Amnesty accuses Austrian police of racism
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN Associated Press Writer

04-09-09

Apr 9th, 2009 | VIENNA — Immigrants and ethnic minorities living in Austria are more likely to be suspected of crimes than whites and are regularly denied their right to equal treatment by the country’s police and judicial system, Amnesty International said Thursday.

In a report released in Vienna, the human rights watchdog also said Austrian authorities do not effectively investigate and punish racially motivated police misconduct.

“Amnesty International is concerned that the Austrian criminal justice as a whole, and the police in particular, are failing to provide the same level of service to foreign nationals and members of ethnic minorities as it routinely provides the Austrian citizens,” the report said.

Based on case studies and interviews with lawyers, community leaders, justice system officials and others, the report also found that ethnic minorities in the Alpine republic are subject to a range of negative stereotypes and that these prejudices can impact the behavior of law enforcement officials.

“Amnesty International is concerned … that in everyday practice skin color too often appears to constitute a determining ground for police interventions in Austria,” the report said.

In particular, Amnesty said there was “considerable evidence” Austrian police has engaged in widespread discriminatory ethnic profiling over the past decade, particularly in its efforts to counter drug-related crime. Often, the targets are young black men, the group said.

“The majority of individuals of African origin that Amnesty International met with insisted that random identity checks, often involving searches, were still — despite a notable improvement over the last two years — a routine part of their existence,” the report said.

Interior Ministry Rudolf Gollia acknowledged that there had been individual cases of police misconduct toward foreigners, but insisted it wasn’t a widespread problem.

“We reject allegations of institutional discrimination or racism in Austria’s police,” Gollia said.

The report said Austrian law enforcement agencies often fail to give serious consideration to complaints from ethnic minorities and fail to investigate offenses against them effectively and impartially.

Two months ago, undercover police officers in Vienna attacked an American teacher they mistook for a drug dealer. Mike Brennan said he believed he was singled out because he’s black.

Police acknowledged the mix-up, but the officers were not suspended.

“I’m concerned about the officers still working,” the 34-year-old teacher told The Associated Press on Thursday, adding he was encouraged by Austrians who approached him on the street or in cafes to wish him well and apologize for what happened to him.

Heinz Patzelt, secretary general of Austria’s chapter of Amnesty International, said it would be easy for Austrian authorities to quickly improve the situation — if they acknowledged that racial discrimination was widespread and not limited to individual cases.

“Racism is a cancer that will spread and spread if it is not diagnosed,” Patzelt said.