After the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States want only apprehended terrorism
suspects worldwide, flaunting the banner of "anti-terrorism." An AP story on
Nov. 16, 2005 said that since the start of the anti-terrorism war in 2001, the
United States had detained more than 83,000 foreign nationals, with 82,400 of
them under the custody of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq. And 700
captives were shipped to Guantanamo. Over the past four years, the U.S. has not
brought any indictment against them or brought them to court hearing. By March
2005, 108 people had died in custody. Up to date, there are still 14,500 foreign
nationals under U.S. custody.
In 2005, the scandal of the "secret prisons" set up overseas by the U.S.
government was revealed, causing an international uproar.The New York Times
carried an article titled Secrets and Shame on Nov. 3, 2005, criticizing the
overseas secret prison network concealed by the CIA. According to The Washington
Post, after the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA set up covert prisons, only known to a
handful of officials in the White House, Justice Department and the Congress, in
Thailand, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and some Eastern European countries, detaining
about 100 people believed to be terrorism suspects by the United States. Kept in
dark and underground cells, the prisoners in the "black sites" have no legal
rights and no one outside the CIA can talk with or even see them. Even officials
from the International Committee of the Red Cross are forbidden to have any
contacts with the captives.
To obtain intelligence from the captives, the CIA employed various kinds of
torture, such as forcefully grabbing the shirt front of the prisoner and shaking
him, slapping and belly slapping. Prisoners were forced to stand, handcuffed and
feet shackled, for more than 40 hours, and they were also left to stand naked in
a cell kept at around 10 degrees Centigrade and constantly doused with cold
water. The torture also included binding a prisoner to a board with plastic or
paper wrapped over his face and water poured over him (the British newspaper The
Independent, Dec.4, 2005).
In November 2002, a CIA officer ordered guards of the Salt Pit prison in
Afghanistan to strip naked a detainee, chain him to the concrete floor and leave
him there overnight without blankets. He froze to death (The Washington Post
newspaper).
The CIA frequently transfers terrorism suspects to other countries for
torture and interrogation aboard a secret aircraft. The British, German and
French media reported that the CIA plane carrying terrorism suspects had landed
in a British military airfield at least 210 times, and crossed German airspace
or landed in German airports at least 473 times. The CIA aircraft which took off
and landed near Paris also landed and took off in the Guantanamo naval base for
six times.
The U.S. government's violations of internationally-recognized norms and
human rights incurred strong international condemnation.At a press conference,
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbour sharply criticized the
United States for infringing human rights by setting up secret prisons and
transferring terrorism suspects without going through legal procedures under the
pretext of fighting terrorism, noting that such acts were eroding the global ban
on torture. On Dec. 20, 2005, the European Union, through a local court in
Milan, Italy, issued warrants for the arrest of 22 CIA agents suspected of
kidnapping in Italy. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter described the prisoner
abuse by the U.S. military in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo as
"embarrassing," and going against the rudimentary American commitment to peace,
social justice, civil liberties and human rights.
