[Mb-civic] CBC News - AMNESTY LIKENS GUANTANAMO BAY TO 'GULAG'

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AMNESTY LIKENS GUANTANAMO BAY TO 'GULAG' 
WebPosted Wed May 25 08:10:20 2005

London---Human rights organization Amnesty International says the United
States should shut down its prison camp in Guantanamo Bay.

INDEPTH: Guantanamo Bay

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on America, the U.S. has used the
controversial jail, located at its naval base in Cuba, to hold people it
considers extremists. In most cases, no formal charges have been laid
against the prisoners.

In its annual human rights report, published Wednesday in London, Amnesty
said Guantanamo was a human rights failure.

"Guantanamo has become the gulag of our time," Amnesty Secretary General
Irene Khan said as she called for the closure of the camp.

Governments betraying human rights

About 540 prisoners from some 40 countries are being held at Guantanamo's
Camp Delta. Some 200 others have been released, with some of those now
jailed in their own countries.

                        FROM JAN. 11, 2005: U.S.
                      to free 5 from Guantanamo Bay

Khan said Guantanamo was exemplary of the U.S., and other governments
around the world, failing to uphold human rights despite paying lip
service to ideas of justice and democracy.

"Governments are betraying their promises on human rights. A new agenda
is in the making with the language of freedom and justice being used to
pursue policies of fear and insecurity. This includes cynical attempts to
redefine and sanitize torture," said Khan.

Darfur human rights catastrophe

Darfur in Sudan was a "human rights catastrophe," where the international
community's inactivity "betrayed" hundred of thousands of people, the
report said.

But it singled out the U.S. for failing to take "principled leadership"
on human rights.

According to Amnesty, the U.S. administration's failure to fully
investigate torture of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail
illustrated the "huge gap between rhetoric and reality" concerning
human rights.

INDEPTH: The Road to Abu Ghraib

"The U.S. administration's attempts to dilute the absolute ban on torture
through new policies and quasi-management speak such as 'environmental
manipulation,' 'stress positions' and, 'sensory manipulation,' was one of
the most damaging assaults on global values," Amnesty said.

Amnesty on Canada

The report also criticized Canada over a number of issues and
alleged abuses.

Amnesty said indigenous women and girls in Canada suffered a
disproportionately high incidence of violence.

 FROM OCT. 4, 2004: Canada accused of ignoring violence against
 aboriginal women


The report also mentioned "continuing concerns" about Canadian police
using Taser guns. Six men have died in incidents involving the
controversial devices, but their use has not been suspended despite the
government promising a review, Amnesty said.

                         FROM MAY 6, 2005: N.B.
                        police probe Taser death

Amnesty also criticized Canada for alleged police abuses such as the
killings of Dudley George and Neil Stonechild.

The organization listed Maher Arar as one of four Canadians who allege
Canada was complicit in their being tortured abroad by foreign
security services.

And the report highlighted controversial Canadian practices such as the
security certificates, used to detain six suspected extremists without
laying charges.

Amnesty's report covers 149 countries.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.