UN rapporteur calls for prosecution of US officials behind torture

On the eve of the release of a 499-page executive summary on the torture protocols the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) undertook post September 9/11, a UN expert called for prosecution of those that participated in torture practices.

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ben Emmerson (pictured, UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré) said that the report confirms what the international community has long believed -- that a clear policy existed within the Bush administration to enable the gross violations of international human rights laws.

“It has taken four years since the report was finalised to reach this point,” said Ben Emmerson in a statement." He added that, "Now it is time to take action," going on to say that, “The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today’s report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.” Emmerson explained that, “The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the US Government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability.”

Emmerson specified that CIA operatives who participated in the programme should not be able to abdicate responsibility on grounds of higher authorisation, saying that they bear individual criminal responsibility for their conduct. However, the heaviest penalties should be reserved for those most seriously implicated in the planning and purported authorisation of these crimes, including former Bush officials who have admitted to a role in the programme.

The Feinstein report, dubbed so after Dianna Feinstein who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that compiled the document, includes graphic details about the sexual threats and harsh interrogation methods used on captured militants. It also details how the CIA resorted to “waterboarding”, mock execution and other forms of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against detainees who had been forcibly disappeared. The acts were carried out during secret detention programmes following the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001.

Under the UN Convention Against Torture and the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances), the US is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice, where there is sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction.

by Kevin Andrews

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