Emails discuss and include a cable from the U.K. Bar Association Chair and others expressing their opinion on interrogation methods utilized by the U.S. military in Iraq and Guantanamo. The U.K. Bar Association Chair stated that the "extreme interrogation" techniques utilized by the soldiers, which included hooding, sleep deprivation, isolation and nudity, amounted to torture and were in breach of rules on inhuman and degrading treatment.
DOS-001592
UNCLASSIFIED
ALI
Eley, Darlyce M
From: Dolan, JoAnn RELEASED IN FULL
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 4:21 PM
To: Cummings, Edward R (Main State); Buchwald, Todd F; Dorosin, Joshua 1; Thessin, James H
Subject: FW: UK Bar Assoc chair and others on GTMO, Iraq prisoner treatment
----Original Message--From: Malionek, Tom V Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 3:59 PM To: Al!der, Lois L; Bland( Jr, John I; Cook, Daphne W; Dalton, Robert E; Dennis, Michael 3; Dolan, JoAnn; Haines, Avril D; Legal-L-HRR-
dl Subject: UK Bar Assoc chair and others on GTMO, Iraq prisoner treatment
UNCLASSIFIED per E.O. 12958
Some cable header info removed for convenience:
UNCLASSIFIED
TELEGRAM June 24, 2004
To: SECSTATE WASHDC -ROUTINE
INR
Action:N
From:NVA (FBISRESTON 6241131 - PRIORITY)
FBIS RESTON
None
TAGS:N
Captions: None
Subject: US INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES IN IRAQ AMOUNT TO TORTURE,'UK EXPERTS CLAIM
None
Ref:N
SERIAL: EUP20040624000152
COUNTRY: IRAQ, UNITED KINGDOM, UNITED STATES
SUBJ:N
US Interrogation Techniques in Iraq 'Amount to Torture,'
UK Experts Claim
SOURCE: London The Independent (Internet Version-WWW) in English
24 Jun 04
TEXT:
[Report by Legal Affairs Correspondent Robert
Verkaik: "Techniques 'Amount to Torture'"]
[FBIS Transcribed Text]
Use of extreme interrogation by American soldiers on prisoners
in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq amount to torture and breach
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
REVIEW AUTHORITY: WILLIAM J GEHRON DOS-001592
CLASSIFIED
DATE/CASE ID: 14 DEC 2004 200303827
DOS-00159
UNCLASSIFIED
international law, lawyers and medical experts said last night.
Hooding, sleep deprivation, isolation treatment and the removal of
prisoners' clothes are all forms of torture or degrading treatment.
Many of these practices have been specifically banned by the international courts and torture conventions, which have been signed by the American administration. Peter Carter QC, chairman of the Bar's human rights committee, said that while some of the techniques, such as hooding and the use of dogs, are prohibited, other procedures, including the shaving of Muslim prisoners' beards, are an "attack on the dignity of the individual".
He added: "They are designed to destroy a person's belief in
their own dignity. They are the same kind of techniques adopted by
General Pinochet and the North Vietnamese when they captured
American soldiers they accused of spying."
Sherman Carroll, director of public affairs of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, said yesterday: "The documents from the White House authorised specific interrogation techniques by US forces abroad that amount to torture." Mr Carter said the interrogation practices adopted between December 2002, and dropped four months, later, brought the US into direct contravention of the international Torture Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed by Bill Clinton in his presidency.
But he said the "combined use" of interrogation techniques in
Guantanamo Bay and Iraq were in breach of rules on inhuman and
degrading treatment. Gareth Peirce, the lawyer who acts for Asif .
Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul, two of the British detainees freed from the
us naval base in Cuba, said: "Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul have
documented the procedures that were inflicted on them and (those)
include and exceed those procedures that the US said they have
authorised."
Several of the freed prisoners are considering legal action.
[Description of Source: London The Independent (Internet
version-WWW) in English -- independent newspaper]
THIS REPORT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND
DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT
OWNERS.
(endall)
End Cable Text
Tom Malionek
Analyst for Boundaries - Boundary Waters - Conservation - Environment - Fisheries - Human Rights - Maritime Matters
Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Treaty Affairs (L11)
5420 HST phone 202-647-1336 (direct) fax.202-736-7541
DOS-001593
UNCeASSIFIED