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U.N. High Commissioner Criticizes U.S. Over Guantanamo

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 11:10:05 AM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, torture (all tags)
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Navanethem Pillay, a lawyer from South Africa who serves as the U.N.'s top Human Rights offical, criticized President Obama and the U.S. today over the continued detention of Guantanamo detainees:

In her most detailed statement on U.S. detention policy, the South African lawyer criticized President Obama's decision to hold some suspected terrorists in detention indefinitely without a trial. She also called for a probe into officials who participated in torture sessions or provided the legal justification for it.

"People who order or inflict torture cannot be exonerated, and the roles of certain lawyers, as well as doctors who have attended torture sessions, should also be scrutinized," Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement dedicated to victims of torture.

[More...]

In addition to asking Obama to hold those responsible for torture accountable, she said:

In May, Obama said some detainees deemed too dangerous to release might have to be held indefinitely.

"There should be no half-measures, or new creative ways to treat people as criminals when they have not been found guilty of any crime," Pillay said. "Guantanamo showed that torture and unlawful forms of detention can all too easily creep back in to practice during times of stress, and there is still a long way to go before the moral high ground lost since 9/11 can be fully reclaimed committed torture accountable

She called on Obama to release the detainees at Guantanamo who have not been charged or to find homes for them in other countries:

Pillay said that detainees who are not prosecuted and potentially face torture if they are sent back to their own countries "must be given a new home, where they can start to build a new life, in the United States or elsewhere.
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    U.N. High Commissioner Criticizes U.S. Over Guantanamo | 10 comments (10 topical)

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    Gitmo Detainees (1.00 / 0) (#6)
    by JLFuller on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 04:02:33 PM EST
    Of course the far left judge is going to complain. It is the judges thing to complain. But is SA going to take any of these Gitmo prisoners? NO! So let them all complain. These are prisoners taken in war. They should not have been fighting us. In fact they ought to be damned glad Americans captured them rather than killing them. The enemy would not be so accommodating if they captured Americans. Experience teaches us that.

    What is the leftist agenda? (1.00 / 0) (#7)
    by JLFuller on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 04:12:10 PM EST
    Leftists around the world hate what America stands for. It is a knee jerk response. Complain about something we do and the anti-Americans, foreign and domestic, jump up and scream their approval. I don't know why we even report their rantings let alone pay heed to them. Maybe someone in the People's Republic of Morin county and San Fransisco think they are important. But then who thinks the Morin county and San Fransisco comrades have value anyway? I guess we could offer them to the Dear Leader. Save Hawaii and take the Bay Area. Do you suppose it might work?

    I dont think the Dear Leader (none / 0) (#8)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 04:26:33 PM EST
    would want the Castro.  although I have heard he is a big fan of porn so its possible I guess.

    and it MArin county.  but that was funny.  I have a relative who lives there who calls it Moron county.


    Parent

    Any comments from her (none / 0) (#1)
    by oldpro on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 11:19:36 AM EST
    during Bush's term(s)?  Just wondering...not that I don't agree with her entirely.

    please read the article (5.00 / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 11:26:28 AM EST
    she has plenty to say about Bush.

    Parent
    Thanks. Will do. (none / 0) (#3)
    by oldpro on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 12:15:53 PM EST


    Parent
    OK. I read the article. It (none / 0) (#4)
    by oldpro on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 12:33:04 PM EST
    doesn't answer my question.

    Guess I'll have to do some research to see what she said, if anything, while these activities were current under Bush.

    Parent

    UN High Commissioner and Iran (none / 0) (#5)
    by diogenes on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 02:57:31 PM EST
    What is the UN high commissioner saying about Iran these days?

    It'a about American Values (none / 0) (#9)
    by mmc9431 on Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 05:12:44 PM EST
    I don't see this as a question of left or right. It a question of American principles.

    The right has no problem waving the flag and Constitution when it's to their advantage. (gun control for one) Yet when we've admitted to violating our own as well as international law, the principles of the country no longer matter.

    The left on the other hand complains and wrings it's hands and says there's nothing they can do about it.

    We constantly criticize Iran, China and the others for their human rights violations but we prefer to bury our own heads in the sand when we're the culpret.

    Last I heard... (1.00 / 0) (#10)
    by diogenes on Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 09:31:56 AM EST
    In GITMO, captured alleged enemy combatants aren't clubbed within an inch of their lives or shot, as happens to street protestors in Tianamen or Tehran.  Please get off your moral equivalence high horse.

    Parent
    U.N. High Commissioner Criticizes U.S. Over Guantanamo | 10 comments (10 topical)

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